Webcam capture

Our "Snow-people" looking a bit sad as the weather starts to warm a bit.

Some Random Stuff As We Head Toward the End of February
February 23, 2009

I imagine in some parts of the country it's starting to be spring already, but in our corner of the Rockies we are just about at the end of the middle of winter. I'm ready (and I know some of my co-workers are) for a few sunny days and some greenery to be showing up. Today we are expected to have warmer temperatures and could even see some rain. It's sure gray enough outside to start the downpour any minute.

A few that aren't ready for springtime are our snowmen. They are starting to feel the effects of the few above freezing days that we have had lately. It's a bit sad to see them with empty eye sockets and their big black eyeballs rolling around on the ground in front of them. We try to keep them looking good, but it looks like over the weekend they kind of got away from us.

I was in the office briefly yesterday and a family came and stayed in the view for a while chatting on the phone with someone in Wisconsin. It's amazing what good little park ambassadors these guys are. I don't think I mentioned it in a blog yet but a kindergarten class in Tallahassee, Florida adopted "Snowball" (the kids named him) and sent him the nice scarf he is sporting. I hope the kids won't be too sad when he starts to melt in the rain we are going to get.

You may have noticed some changes in the Headquarters Webcam. I replaced the old one with an updated model that has a much sharper image. We even put in a new one and zoomed in on the snowmen so they could have their own cam.

That brings me to another point. Is snowman the correct name? I've been told in a few emails that I should be calling them snowpersons or snowpeople. I understand the point, but I grew up making snowmen and it's just a hard habit to break. No offense is meant when I use an old and outdated term. In any case we have enjoyed making our snow creations and have especially enjoyed the response they have generated from everyone that visits the page and checks in. Thanks for all of your notes.

Bill Hayden

Webcam capture by Steve Berg

View from Apgar Mountain

Good Morning from Apgar Mountain
February 3, 2009

Some mornings down here in the gloom and overcast it's hard to imaging just how spectacular it is just a few thousand feet up. This morning Steve Berg sent in this awesome image from the Apgar Mountain Webcam. Click on it for the larger version. Thanks Steve!

People have been asking how they can submit webcam captures since there isn't a way to include them on the comment for on the website. If you see something amazing on the cams, go ahead and save the image and send them to us at this email address. bill_hayden@nps.gov If the image is a keeper we will add it to the Photo of the Day Gallery and you will see it pop-up online at some random point in the future.

Back to the Apgar Mountain Webcam again, yesterday some staff members skied up to the top and performed a simple camera reset. Back a few weeks ago there was a nasty bower bump that hit the camera. When that happens the haze control goes berserk and the image gets all cloudy looking. I can tweak that a little from down here at HQ, but the image quality isn't as good as it could be. Once the camera was reset yesterday the image immediately looked better. It sure looked great this morning in the picture that Steve sent in!