I use these weather resources to learn about general conditions in an area of interest, and to determine current conditions before heading out on a trip.
Current and Historical Conditions in Alaska
The AOOS Sensors Portal combines weather observations from multiple agencies throughout the state. The prototype sensors map lets you create ‘data views’ for regions you re-visit. The historical sensors layer lets you explore seasonal trends.
Weather forecasts and models
Windy
Windy is a slick site that allows you to compare station observations with multiple models.
Meteoblue
Meteoblue has some clever features like a ‘where2go’ map that shows you the best weather in your region.
SpotWx
SpotWx is a simple and elegant interface for exploring model parameters at specific coordinates.
Forecasts
Curious which forecasts are most accurate in your area? Try ForecastAdvisor (not useful in remote locations).
On the trip
- Using your in-town contact
- Garmin inReach weather service
- wx2inreach is an incredibly powerful service for the inReach that allows you to schedule and receive text forecasts from various sources, elevations, other locations, etc.
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Weather via the Garmin is an excellent feature/service. I used it on spring and fall trips in AK last year (Arctic Refuge and Wulik Peaks). I found it to be very accurate. However, you need to ignore the text field that says things like “heavy rain” when the data says 10% chance of 0.1″. The data fields are accurate and that one text field is very misleading – ignore it!