Article from 9News Denver
Cameras at Colo. weather stations will aid pilots

The Colorado Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division and the Federal Aviation Administration built 13 weather stations in the Rocky Mountains almost 20 years ago, and now each station will get a camera to help the aviation community assess and respond to weather changes. The concept is modeled on a system in Alaska, the only state with such a setup in operation, and the cameras could be in place by September.
Full Story: https://www.9news.com/article/weather/weather-colorado/cdot-to-add-13-mountain-top-web-cameras/73-3310afb5-29a9-4bd6-80f3-d952fc2ee409



Here’s the website where you can see them when they go live. For now most are only METAR.
https://avcamsplus.faa.gov/map

Fantastic news, thanks for the heads up Ted!

I’m excited to see this technology coming to the Lower 48. The Alaska weather cam system has been a rousing success, and for years, iv talked to the FAA new technology guys at OSH about bringing these to the lower 48. Not invented here syndrome has been their response. So, maybe this is a start.....

There are many benefits to cameras that are strategically located. There are lots of highway cameras out there, which can be helpful in passes, etc, but often it’s tough to know where to look.

Montana Dept. of Aeronautics is working on developing a web site that cjontains links to as many cameras as possible in one location. Once that’s done, there’s a possibility that other camera sites in Montana could be added.

Stay tuned....I think this concept has a lot to offer.

Take a look at: https://avcams.faa.gov/

MTV

mtv wrote:I’m excited to see this technology coming to the Lower 48. The Alaska weather cam system has been a rousing success, and for years, iv talked to the FAA new technology guys at OSH about bringing these to the lower 48. Not invented here syndrome has been their response. So, maybe this is a start.....

There are many benefits to cameras that are strategically located. There are lots of highway cameras out there, which can be helpful in passes, etc, but often it’s tough to know where to look.

Montana Dept. of Aeronautics is working on developing a web site that cjontains links to as many cameras as possible in one location. Once that’s done, there’s a possibility that other camera sites in Montana could be added.

Stay tuned....I think this concept has a lot to offer.

Take a look at: https://avcams.faa.gov/

MTV

Wow,

I had no idea this didn't exist in the lower-48 until you said something Mike. Nearly all of my hours are in AK and I used those cameras all of the time. Last Sept I relocated to WA, but haven't had occasion to look at cameras because I haven't needed to fly through any passes yet (been busy getting the house/hangar sorted out), but sure enough, there is nothing in WA. Super lame.

Perhaps there are some private camera systems I could use (need to make a list) such as the ski resorts.

In SE AK, AP&T has a microwave network and a bunch of cameras:

https://www.aptalaska.com/webcams/

Thanks for sharing Ted!

This is fantastic news and a great system for enhancing general aviation safety in the mountains.

Anytime infrastructure is added to enhance and support what we do, my faith in humanity is boosted.

akschu wrote:
Wow,

I had no idea this didn't exist in the lower-48 until you said something Mike. Nearly all of my hours are in AK and I used those cameras all of the time. Last Sept I relocated to WA, but haven't had occasion to look at cameras because I haven't needed to fly through any passes yet (been busy getting the house/hangar sorted out), but sure enough, there is nothing in WA. Super lame.

Perhaps there are some private camera systems I could use (need to make a list) such as the ski resorts.

In SE AK, AP&T has a microwave network and a bunch of cameras:

https://www.aptalaska.com/webcams/

WA aviation does have some webcams. Not a great array, and could definitely use more at the passes, but at least it's not nothing:
https://wsdot.wa.gov/aviation/WebCam/default.htm
I've also found ski bums are almost bigger weather nerds than pilots, so for the E. WA/N. ID area this gets some mountain weather at a glance:
https://www.panhandlebackcountry.com/weather/

FWIW, every state I've traveled through bt GA or car has highway cams. Most have a reasonable view of the sky. Also, most mountain passes have DOT highway cams. What's lacking is just the metar like observations. IOW, while not Cadillac, it' stll good intel.

Are these different then the ones we already have?

http://www.flycolorado.org/index.php/mo ... s-cameras/

Yes, these are different.

The new ones are at the passes, whereas most (all?) of the ones on the site you reference are local (ski area, highway, town) cams (still very useful).

The FAA stuff in AK is excellent. It shows what you are looking at on a chart, the height of the mountains, and what it looks like on a clear day:

Bump, some stations seem to be up and running! Pretty helpful stuff.

akschu wrote:The FAA stuff in AK is excellent. It shows what you are looking at on a chart, the height of the mountains, and what it looks like on a clear day:

Screen Shot 2020-03-12 at 10.51.25 AM.png

Exactly.....that is the difference between a highway cam and a purpose installed aviation weather cam. The pass cameras are useful, but they're designed to offer insights for ground bound uses, not for aviation.

Aviation cameras are relatively inexpensive to install and maintain, the primary thing which affects cost is presence or absence of internet access and power, though solar works pretty well.

I really look forward to seeing more of these things installed down here, and I encourage all of you to look carefully at these and at the Alaska cameras for an example of what these things can do.

Then provide feedback to the FAA. That's what happened with the Alaska cameras. That program was initiated by a PhD Engineering Student in Fairbanks. He installed and ran cameras at three rural airports in interior Alaska. The response from the pilot community was resounding, and resulted in the senior Senator in Alaska putting together a bill to install more. And, feedback has been almost universally positive for this system.

MTV

I sent in a suggestion to both Garmin Pilot and Foreflight to add the wx cameras to the maps and/or airport info (where they have the freqs, diagrams, approaches etc). It seems like an easy addon that would be really useful