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Okay so lemme tell you how this started. I was sitting in an NWAC avalanche awareness class — one my climbing community Rising Roots organized at The Mountaineers in Seattle — and I asked out loud: “how come something like NWAC avalanche forecasting doesn’t exist for climbers? Some kind of tool that helps us decide when conditions are solid without having to cross-reference a shitload of resources?” I had a quick conversation with a PhD student about weather data infrastructure, and then I sat with that question a little harder. WTF — why doesn’t this exist? ...

Let me tell you about the gauge that looked alive but wasn’t. I was building BETA — a climbing conditions tool for Cascade crags — and I wanted river data for the Skykomish corridor. Index Town Wall and Miller River Boulders both sit in that drainage. When the Skykomish is running high and angry, the approaches are a mess regardless of what the weather’s doing. That’s useful signal. USGS publishes real-time streamflow data through their National Water Information System, free, no API key. I found a gauge right near Miller River — 12132000 — that showed up on the map with an active status. Perfect location, exactly what I needed. ...

I added air quality data to BETA for wildfire smoke season. What I did not expect was to immediately discover a wood stove problem in the Skykomish valley. More on that in a minute. Why AQI for a climbing tool PNW wildfire season has gotten worse every year. Driving an hour to the crag only to spend the day breathing 180 AQI air is a real thing that happens, especially on the east side of the Cascades. I’d personally forgotten to check AQI before a trip more than once, so I wanted it surfaced automatically alongside the weather data. ...