Web Camera
Two cameras support the web page. They provide different views.  Color and contrast are very hard to adjust for with the light changing throughout the day. You will notice color in the trees when the sun shines on them and they will be dark when the sun is behind the trees.

Camera #1 is located at a lakefront home across from the Forks and points toward the Sheriff's Tower with the Pines on the Left. 

Camera #2 is our original camera located on our deck deep in the first cove West of the pines. It points South towards the Forks Marina.

The small pictures on the main page is taken every minute and the latest picture is then uploaded every 15 minutes on roughly the Quarter hour. The larger picture is a live snap shot when you click on the link. It takes a moment to load. We stream live video for 30 seconds. Cameras are housed in a weather proof box complete with a heater and blower.

Water Temp
The water temperature is measured at our dock in a cove. The thermometer is located about 20" from the surface. During the dry season it is manually measured and contains the date of the measurement.

Equipment
We are using Davis Instruments Weather Monitor II with Weatherview32 software. This set up is a fully automated system. The rain gauge is equipped with a heater to melt snow. In addition we are using webcam32 software to record images. The system is connected to the internet by DSL. We use a dedicated computer to run the software and camera video. The computer has a uninterrupted power supply with 5 hr battery and our home has a propane generator, so when the power is out we are still online.

We now are archiving weather data. This data is saved daily for a 24 hr period.

Our stations contribution
We provide weather statistics to NOAA Cooperative Institute for Regional Prediction and the Citizens Weather Observation Program (CWOP). This information is used by our local office of the National Weather Service in Hanford to create more accurate weather forecast in our area.

Our Philosophy
The Weather Station and Camera serves the community. It provides residents and non residents an opportunity to see our special place in the forest, 24/7. The internet exposure has promoted our community to the rest of the world enabling visitors to see a potential place to live or visit. The station is operated as a hobby and Sponsorship's provide us the resources to improve the equipment and stay connected to the internet. The content is geared to provide visitors  information about the community and local services. Your comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Troubleshooting - Data is old 
The nature of the web page and pictures changing every 15 minutes poses interesting problems for Internet Service providers and your web browser. If you are not getting fresh pages with a time stamp within the last 15 minutes than an old page is being cached some where. Most of the time your browser is saving a copy so it can be displayed faster. Try clicking on the refresh icon or try using the shift key and click on refresh. Your browser should always give you a fresh look if you exit and restart the browser.
The other problem is some ISP's have a server cache to save on data traffic. If you still get old info then e-mail me.

Troubleshooting - Camera
The camera is a live system requiring a constant connection with the web. Sometimes our connection is lost. The system is supposed to automatically reconnect but it is not fool proof and we must reset the system manually.