Weather station on Little Black

This past Sunday (January 12th, 2020) we got the year off to a fine start with another Holfuy weather station installation, this time at Little Black.  After about a year and half of working with the park rangers there (well done Jeff Brown!) we agreed on a spot, set up a date, and rallied the troops.

8 local pilots showed up to help, which means there was plenty of divvying up of work, and other than Konstantin (who decided not only to dig most of the second hole himself but also hike up from the bottom), no one had to do a ton of physical labor.  That didn't stop the fellas from trying.

Here's one of the Karnezis bros getting deep in the first hole.  We struck converging slabs of rock about 20" down and needed 36" of depth for the pole.

David found another, better hole location and got to work.  Digging was much easier on the second one, and we were quickly down 3' and getting ready to place the pole and pour concrete.

A serious discussion commenced amongst the various concrete chieftains as to whether we should mix the concrete and then pour it, or follow the instructions on the bags and pour the concrete in, the pour water on top.  Yep, serious business.

We managed to come to agreement by doing a little of everything; mixing, pouring, shaking, tamping, blending, etc.  Heck, we even just left it alone for about 15 seconds.  As David said, it doesn't really matter what we do at this point, the concrete will set up just fine.  We guyed the pole, then...waited.

​This was a lot like a government job.

As it turned out, it was as good a time as any to pull the Holfuy weather station out of the box and put it all together.  Here's Jeff going through the various parts (ultrasonic anemometer, solar power box, and thermometer.)

Once the concrete had set enough, Jeff brought over his ladder, climbed up, and mounted the station.  This is the 5th station he's mounted, so it's all old hat to him now.  Steve R. did his data and internet wizardry, and with that, the station was live.

​You can add that to your bookmarks, or just bookmark all our weather stations, or learn a little bit more about how to assess the local weather. 

With the station up and the weather looking good to fly, we gathered in for a quick group pic (minus the Karnezis bros who had to bail earlier due to work commitments) to commemorate the crew.  Thanks also to Greg Hunter, who loaned the generator and jackhammer, and the Black Mountain Park Rangers, who gave us road access to the top.

Well done to all!  All the work was volunteer, but all the equipment was paid for by the club.  ​Remember to renew your membership, or if you just flat out like what we do we also accept donations. 

These plain-jane weather stations cost around $1,100, and the recent El Cap one with all the extra sensors was about $1,600 (supported in part by the San Diego River Park Foundation.)  The annual cell plan for each station is around $36.

If you have a site in San Diego that you think would be appropriate for a weather station to support free flight, please reach out and contact us, we love working with others and building our understanding of the sky!