About the Allenspark 1.7E Weather Station and Wild Basin Webcam

The Allenspark 1.7E Weather Station and Wild Basin Webcam are made available on the web for the benefit and enjoyment of our friends and neighbors around the world by Stan and Margaret Huntting and Software from SRHuntting, Inc. We are located 1.7 miles East of the village of Allenspark, Colorado at an elevation of 8,530' (2,600m) msl.

The view from the webcam (looking WNW) is the view from our home, perched on a ridge just east of the Continental Divide. Visible in the webcam's home position are five prominent summits, all within the boundaries of Rocky Mountain National Park.

From left to right: Isolation Peak (13,118'/3,998m), Tanima Peak (12,420'/3,786m), Mount Alice (13,310'/4,057m), Chiefs Head Peak (13,579'/4,139m) and Mount Meeker (13,911'/4,240m). Hiding just behind Mount Meeker is the highest point in RMNP, Longs Peak (14,259'/4,436m). Further left (South) are Copland Mountain (13,176'/4,016m), Meadow Mountain (11,632'/3,545m) and St Vrain Mountain (12,162'/3,707m). These last three can be viewed by taking command of the webcam, and then clicking the 'St Vrain Mtn' button (Preset button #1).

These high peaks surround and define the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park, a wilderness treasure of dense conifer forest, rushing streams, waterfalls, glacier-carved lakes and alpine tundra. At its deepest (most westward) point the peaks that rim Wild Basin are 10miles/16km from the webcam. The two nearest peaks, Meadow Mountain and Mount Meeker, are 4.3miles/6.9km and 7.2miles/11.6km distant, respectively.

The weather station is based on a Davis 6152 VantagePro². The Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS) is mounted on a steel tower, 13'/4m above ground level, in the clear, on a prominent rise about 50'/15m north of our home. The ISS reports by wireless link to the Davis station console, located next to my computer. The software that gathers and reports the weather observations is my own, using the DLL supplied by Davis. The observed conditions are updated to the web every five minutes, around the clock.

The Davis anemometer is about 3'/1m above the ISS. Located 6'/2m lower on the same tower, but lacking a computer interface, is a 'Maximum Vigilant' anemometer. This analog anemometer consistently registers peak wind velocities that are somewhat greater than those reported by the Davis anemometer. The Davis anemometer appears to average winds over a 2-3 second period. Only the observations from the Davis anemometer are reported here.

The temperature and humidity sensors are housed in a passively ventilated radiation shield. Due to the almost-ever-present wind at this site, passive ventilation is generally adequate to provide accurate temperature and humidity observations. But, when the wind is calm and sunlight is strong (Global Insolation > 300 W/m²) the indicated temperature could be high by as much as 2°C/4°F.

The rain collector is not heated. It will not register rainfall while collector temperature is below freezing. Indicated rain from snowfall followed by warming that melts the snow is usually understated to a significant degree. The 10-Day and 56-Week charts also include the more accurate "CoCoRaHS Precip", hand-measured once each day, at 07:00, using a standard issue 4" rain guage. CoCoRaHS Precip accurately measures the water equivalent of snowfall.

Global Insolation is measured using an add-on Davis Solar Radiation Sensor. Since this instrument measures the intensity of light falling on a horizontal surface it is subject to large errors when obscurred by snow collected on the horizontally oriented sensor. Direct Insolation is computed from Global Insolation by compensating for the angle of the sun.

The webcam is a Panasonic BL-C30A Network Camera. The home position image is refreshed to the web every five minutes, from 30 minutes before local sunrise until 30 minutes past local sunset. The camera has pan and tilt capability and these are current made available to all web users by clicking on the take command link and any of the 'Preset' buttons, 1-8. Access to the webcam will remain open to all only as long as it is not abused.