But nearly all of them are earthbound and fixed, showing one section of the sky. They also have blockage problems from houses, trees, and other objects.
We need a weather cam that avoids all these problems. The closest thing we have right now is the SpaceNeedle pano cam, which is wonderful (see below). But what about other locations?
Well, the weather cam master of the Northwest, Greg Johnson of Skunk Bay Weather, has come up with a solution: a weather cam drone. And he has put this cutting edge tool to the test with spectacular results...let me show you.
Here is the video from a flight this morning (Tuesday). Just glorious, with fog over the Hood Canal pushing over the northern Kitsap Peninsula. Snow-covered Olympics, Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound...it is all there. Like a high definition version? Check this out.
How about a close up of cold, dense foggy air running down a coastal slope and heading out over the Sound?
Want more? I don't blame you. Here is one on a cloudy day with showers.
Or how about a day with low-level snow?
This is cutting edge stuff.... I suggested to Greg that he run a thin power cord up to the drone and see how long it can stay aloft. Or add some weather sensors, to get a vertical temperature/humidity sounding. Drones clearly have value for meteorologists--perhaps we can convince Amazon to include weather sensors and cams on their delivery drones. But until that time Greg Johnson is giving us a fascinating view from northern Kitsap.
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Announcement
The Northwest Weather Workshop, the largest gathering of the NW Weather Community, will take place on April 27-28th at the NOAA facility in Seattle. This year the theme of the Friday session will be on Northwest wildfires, but sessions will include all aspects of NW meteorology. More information, including registration sign-up, is found at the website noted below. If you would like to give a presentation, please supply an abstract and title to me by March 25th. The gathering is open to anyone interested in the weather of the region..
https://atmos.washington.edu/pnww/index2016.php?page=main
