write to us with questions about Great Basin National Park resource management
articles on Great Basin National Park resource management projects
Great Basin National Park Home Page
Great Basin Weather Stations
By Ben Roberts

Because of the elevational gradient at Great Basin National Park (approximately 5,280 to 13,063 ft) weather conditions vary greatly, even on the same day. It may be snowing at Wheeler Peak Campground and warm and sunny at the Baker Administration site.

The park maintains several weather stations used for general weather collection, fire weather predictions, air quality monitoring, and environmental education. The park, in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, plans on the installation of a new long-term weather station as part of the U.S. Climate Reference Network. This new network consists of multiple sites around the country with an emphasis on high quality data collection expected to last at least fifty years. Sites were selected based on historical weather stations (Lehman Caves has been collecting weather data since the mid 1940's) and other indicators of long term weather and climate. Due to the long climate record obtained from tree ring data from bristlecone pines (4000 + years), Great Basin National Park makes a great site!

The Long Now Foundation owns property adjacent to Great Basin National Park on Mt Washington. The Long Now Foundation seeks to promote "slower/better" thinking and to foster creativity in the framework of the next 10,000 years. Long Now Weather Station is located at 11,000 feet on Mt. Washington. Live weather data can be accessed from: http://epoch.longnow.org/weather/

Several of the park weather stations can be accessed for real time and historic data.
Baker Flat Weather Station is located near the park housing area at 6841 feet. This site is used primarily for fire weather forecasting. Live weather data can be accessed from: http://www.met.utah.edu/cgi-bin/roman/meso_base.cgi?stn=BKFN2

Mather Weather Station is located near Mather Overlook at 9268 feet. This site is used primarily for fire weather forecasting. Live weather data can be accessed from: http://www.met.utah.edu/cgi-bin/roman/meso_base.cgi?stn=MTHN2

Resource Management Weather Station is located at the Resource Management office at 6725 feet. Information is used for resource education. Live weather data can be accessed from: http://www.aws.com/aws_2001/asp/obsForecast.asp?id=GRBSN&units=0

Ben Roberts heads the Physical Sciences at Great Basin National Park.