Touchet Weather Station
Anyone interested in winter weather in the Dayton area may or may not know about the Touchet weather station. Its a weather station near the Bluewood ski resort that sends current weather data to the Natural Rescources Conservation website. You can checkout snow depth, wind temperature, precip, and snow-water equivalent updated every hour, simply by clicking the link below:
Touchet Weather Station Weather Data
(scroll to the bottom on the page for the most recent data)Where is this weather station?
My brother and I were both curious exactly where this weather station was, what it consited of, and how it works. So, we got the GPS's out, used this info, hopped on the bikes, and went looking for it. I must admit, it was much more difficult to find then we originally thought. But we did successfully find it.
Here is my brother, Michael next to the weather station with the bikes.
NRCS hid this weather station well, unless you knew it was in the area you wouldn't have a chance in finding it. This is all we could see about 200 feet from the weather station.
Here is the official label marking the touchet snotell weather station equipment shed.
A variety of weather instruments. The most interesting one to me is the white round device on the left, its the snow depth measurement tool. By sending sound waves straight down and measuring how long it takes for the sound to come back, and determines the snow depth.
To determine snow/water content, the station uses these rubber balloons full of water called snow pillows. When the snow piles up on top of these, the weight increases increasing the water pressure inside of the snow pillow. The pressure is measured, and then calculated to determine the weight of the snow.Official details about Snotell equipment (very detailed!)
Please don't contact me wanting the location or clues on where the weather station is, in concern to prevent vandalism to the site. I will although tell you the coordinates on the NRCS website are off.
