A simple weather website

[Boo8meR]

Bookmarked. Thank you.

[zepphead80]

Shutter here, creator of Appalachian Trail Weather

Thanks for the shout out Lefty. I was sent an e-mail about my app from this thread. It's actually good to meet you, I've seen your website quite a bit, needless to say, I like it.

Harrison has a real concern though, the weather stations in town could be thousands of feet below a ridge. For that scenario I went though and calculated the lapse rate between the altitude of the weather station and the altitude of the shelter I use as a reference point. It's really not that much of an issue except for the Smokeys and the White Mountains where a 4000 ft difference can yield a 15 degree change. If it's 40 degrees at the weather station, but 25 up on the ridge, you've got a problem on your hands!

Weather is definitely a factor on the A.T. Make sure you all make smart decisions and look out for other hikers. You're going to hike rain or shine, my app and Lefty's website will just help you make a decision to do big miles while the weather is good or take a much justified zero if the weather is crap.

-Shutter

I was hoping to meet you! Thanks for responding to the thread, I really appreciate it. I might private message you at some point about the mobile app development process. I've been a programmer for a long time but am pretty new to web development. I definitely want to make this into an iOS app eventually, but constraints on my time are becoming tighter the closer I get to starting the trail.

Re: elevation...I have to research it but the NOAA forecasts certainly take it into account. I'm not sure how it's parameterized but it definitely gets factored in. Common sense goes a long way though...if it's really crummy at 2,000' elevation, it almost certainly is worse at 4,500' or 5,000' - not just in terms of temperature but also wind.