ParaglidingWX — Live wind stations

Live wind stations

Wind markers on the map show recent or live speed, gust, and direction from real sensors—not model output. Tap a marker to open a popup with the latest reading and, for most sources, a wind graph over the last day or so. Many pins also list which nearby takeoffs or landing zones they are linked to.

Markers appear when you zoom in (typically zoom 8–10+, depending on the source). Readings refresh while the station stays on screen. Uptime and accuracy depend on each provider.

On the map

• Featured stations — hand-picked sites pilots use often (see below). Labels show current speed and direction when data is fresh.
• Public observation networks — Weather Underground personal weather stations, Tempest / WeatherFlow installs, Holfuy automatic stations, Environment and Climate Change Canada sites, and Avalanche Canada highway / backcountry weather stations. These show up near flying sites in North America when you are zoomed in.
• Spit (Squamish) — opens a dedicated bottom panel with the full Spit wind graph instead of the generic live-wind popup.

Data sources

ParaglidingWX pulls from several networks. Each has its own update frequency and quirks.

• Featured stations — hand-picked sites for paragliding, including Spit (Squamish; chieflap.vercel.app), Pam Rocks (Howe Sound, Environment and Climate Change Canada, hourly), Whistler Blackcomb lift areas ( whistlerpeak.com), CUASA Utah ( sierragliding.us), and Revelstoke Mountain Resort Subpeak. More sites can be added over time; the list is not limited to BC.
• Weather Underground — personal weather stations near takeoffs and landing zones in Canada, the USA, and northern Mexico. Updates are usually every few minutes. The map label shows the latest reading; the popup includes a graph for roughly the past day. Stations are linked to nearby site names on the map.
• Tempest / WeatherFlow — home and field Tempest stations within about 3 km of a takeoff or landing zone. Live wind and charts for roughly the last day, usually in ~5-minute steps.
• Holfuy — automatic weather stations in Canada and the USA. On mobile, a station that is not responding may show “tap to open Holfuy” instead of a numeric label.
• Environment and Climate Change Canada — government weather stations near flying sites. Observations are typically hourly. Pam Rocks and similar featured stations may appear once without a duplicate pin.
• Avalanche Canada — selected highway, Parks Canada, Kananaskis, and similar stations that report wind. Data is hourly; gust is shown when available.

How good is this windmeter?

For many Weather Underground, Tempest, government (ECCC), and NOAA NWS (MADIS) pins—not Holfuy or the featured resort / Spit feeds—the live-wind popup can show a short quality summary and a link: “How good is this windmeter?”

That compares past observations at the station to past forecast wind at the same time and place (HRDPS 1 km, HRDPS 2.5 km, and HRRR where available). It answers: “When I look at the forecast for this spot, how well has this sensor matched the model lately?”

Popup summary

When quality data exists, the live-wind panel shows two lines:

• Mean wind — how closely mean speed has tracked the forecast, plus a simple good / fair / poor colour rating.
• Gust — the same for gusts.

Green, amber, and red reflect how well the station has agreed with the forecast recently. The summary picks whichever forecast model has worked best at that station.

Full station page

The link opens a detail page for that station, with:

• Scatter plots — each dot is one hour: forecast on the horizontal axis, observation on the vertical. Points on the diagonal mean agreement; spread means noise or bias.
• Direction rose — when enough data exists, a chart of how often the wind direction differed from the forecast.
• Compare to — switch between HRDPS 1 km, HRDPS 2.5 km, and HRRR at that location.

You can also browse all stations, a map of best model by area, and pooled stats by source.

What it does not mean

• It is not a live “trust score” for the reading you see right now—it is based on historical hours in the archive.
• A station with few samples, a bad mount, or terrain very different from your launch may still look “good” or “poor” in ways that do not match your site.
• Holfuy, Spit, Whistler Blackcomb, CUASA, RMR, and other bespoke feeds are not included in the quality comparison today.
• Always cross-check with local knowledge, other stations, and the windgram before flying.

Add a windmeter

If you have a windmeter (or a public feed we could use) near a flying site and would like it on the map, please message me via the About page contact form with the station name, coordinates, and how the data is published (Weather Underground, Tempest, Holfuy, a web page, and so on).

Important

Live wind is for planning and awareness only. Sensors fail, lag, ice up, or sit in sheltered or exposed spots that do not represent your launch. Do not rely on a single pin for go/no-go decisions.

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