Weather Information
Welcome to the Soaring Society of Boulder's Weather source. Use the links on this page to analyze and forecast the weather before heading out to the field. Local satellite images, soundings, forecasts and real time weather information.
1-800-992-7433 /2 /22
Ok, it is not a link but here is the recorded Thermal Soaring Forecast out of Denver. Dial the number, press 2 then 22 and have a pen ready. This information is also available here.
NCAR Foothills Lab Weather with English units
Heading for the field? This site gives you real time and very cool historical weather from NCAR Foothills Laboratory located about 1/2 mile from the field. It just does not get better than this! A web cam shows the approach to Runway 8 at 1V5 as well as current sky conditions.
NOAA RUC Soundings
The killer app of soundings. This JAVA based sounding can be for any location and gives you all the Skew-T information by pointing at the graphic with your mouse. Learning how this applet works and understanding the information it presents will really pay dividends. Try this out for a custom sounding anyplace including for Boulder.BlipMap
Dr Jack is the creator of the TIP (Thermal Index Prediction) and BLIP (Boundary Layer Information Prediction) programs for predicting thermal soaring conditions, and the WINDIP (Wind Information Prediction) and LWIP (Linear Wave Interpretation Page) pages for predicting mountain wave conditions. You can become a registered user or subscriber at this site and this is well worth the effort. GAH has also sponsored a BlipSpot at Gold Hill.This is the legendary Kevin Ford soaring forecast page. Designed for glider pilots, this page provides lots of excellent information all customized for the site of your choice. Thank you Kevin! Click here for a forecast customized for the Denver, CO region.
Air Sports Net Weather (FT. Collins)
Surface condition weather forecasting for air sports aviators
University of Colorado at Boulder Weather Site
Contains detailed tools for forecasting Colorado weather
This Boulder weather camera has moved to a new location and now provides excellent images of Long's Peak (14,522 ft).
Tundra Cam
See if the real time camera, located on Niwot ridge, has blown away again. Savvy users can use the temperature available at this web site, in combination with the GOES sounding, to see if it is soarable above the inversion. Low Speed Connection. High Speed Connection
Excellent site hosted by NCAR right here in Boulder. Of use to soaring pilots is the satellite page, the upper air Skew-T and the aviation pages. Spend some time here as the data is really excellent.
Is today going to be hotter than yesterday and what is the trend? Use this page to give you a good chart forecast of the next several days.
Prime general aviation weather sites. Great wind matrix, satellite and radar, etc. A good stop for general synoptic weather.
An official source of preflight weather and NOTAM information available to all registered pilots. Sign up for this service and get the latest WX and NOTAM information before you fly
Cirrus Software for DUATS Users
Free flight planning and weather briefing software available for registered DUATS users (any registered pilot). Allows you to to plan flights and receive legal FAA weather briefings. Connect via the web or simple dial up (800 number).
Great upper air sounding source along with other weather information.
High to low look out below. See what is happening in map form.
Current Conditions for Boulder
Time to pull the glider out?
This is a most excellent resource for satellite imagery of with animations and various presentation formats. A must see if you like to watch the cu's pop!
Get the low down on the big picture by taking a look at what the jet is doing.
Get wind speed & direction trends at all altitudes at this site downwind of the Rockies.
Aviation Digital Data Service - Good source for GA weather.
Denver NEXRAD loop for local heavy weather including T-storms.
Frequencies and phone numbers for mountain passes and airports in Colorado.
National Wind Technology Center
This is 80 feet a top one of the windmills down by Rocky Flats.
Upper Air SoundingsMore soundings. This site allows you to plot a sound for a specific spot, say the Boulder airport. Very neat.
Although this page is designed for soaring pilots in Georgia it has lots of great weather information and explanations. Worth a look.
A great tool for forecasting wave and convergence lift. First, the earliest time available is now 8:00am rather than 11:00am. There are transects at 270 deg out of Boulder and 230 deg out of Pikes Peak that give vertical velocity as a function of position along the E-W line. For reference, a vertical velocity of 100 cm/sec is approximately 200 ft/min uncorrected for the glider sink rate. Finally, there is a vertical velocity max transect to analyze potential maximum strength of the lift. Although these charts truncate at 18K, there is great information as to both location of lift as well as expected altitude to contact the lift. Usually, the RASP charts are available late at night prior to the forecast day.
General Weather and Forecast
Other Weather Sites of Interest
Welcome to The Weather Underground, Inc.
Soaring Society of Boulder members - if you have a favorite weather site send it to John Seaborn.
