Camp at Pikes Peak Installs AcuRite Atlas™
Glen Aspen Scout Ranch is a high camp at nearly 9,000 feet, located just outside Woodland Park, Colorado. The Pikes Peak Council acquired the beautiful 200-acre ranch in 2008 and made it available for use by Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, and associated crews. While the Ranch is only 35 minutes from Colorado Springs, you’d think you were a hundred miles away!
Problem:
About 750 Scouts visit the Ranch each year, and there was very little weather information for the area, especially with the quickly changing and unique weather experienced at that high elevation. The nearest official weather station is roughly 20 miles away, located at a nearby air force base. Usually, it did not reflect their actual weather experienced in the mountain valley. So historically, their solution was to depend on their trusted weather rock hanging from a rope. If wet, it’s raining. If moving, it’s windy. Laughable as it is maybe, they were in dire need of a real weather station with real-time weather data and weather monitoring tools.
Solution:
With the help of Scouts from Troop 9, the Ranch installed a sturdy post and got the AcuRite Atlas™ up and running in no time. The wireless weather station instantly started reporting to both the HD display and the Access unit for remote monitoring. Through My AcuRite, the camp weather station data is accessible for the Scouts and crews through the app or website.
Results:
The camp rangers use the Atlas weather system for monitoring the weather conditions to ensure the safety of the Scouts on property. They are able to monitor lightning strikes in the area and have enabled alerts for when to move the Scouts inside for safety. Wind speed is an important consideration in the decision to allow for fires for cooking and warming. The weather tracking tools through the display and My AcuRite help them monitor these conditions. The onsite camp weather data represents their local weather conditions more realistically than the data reported from the nearby official weather station, and is much more helpful than the old weather rock! The AcuRite Atlas™ has improved the camp safety for the Scouts!
Learn what the Scouts are up to by visiting their Facebook page. The Scouts are impressed with the Atlas system and the variety of data that the system collects. Many Scout units document the weather conditions in their own records, especially the overnight low temperatures. This helps them better understand the weather lesson plans and can even help them achieve their weather merit badges!
