When Old Man Winter makes his reappearance across the province in the fall, it’s time to make the shift into winter.
Did you know that some of our BC Highway Cams have to make the shift into winter too? It’s true.
Many of our cams are close to local power sources, making it easier for them to transmit data in all kinds of weather. But some of our more remote cams don’t have power close by and rely on satellite communications to send their images to the BC Highway Cams site. Unfortunately, when winter first rears its head, some of those satellite cams go down.
We spoke to the webcam guy and he explained why:
“The Fall-Winter and Winter-Spring seasonal transitions are the worst for the satellite systems. The wet snow freezes on the dish and transceiver and causes havoc. Also, low thick clouds full of snow attenuate the signal. Once it gets a little colder, it should be more consistent.”
This is what happened with on Hwy 3 on the Bombi Pass cam (seen above). When we arrived at the site we found the transceiver covered in ice. Once cleared, the cam was back in business.
Now you know.
Here’s a quick list of some of our other cams which use satellite to transmit images:
Duffey Lake Road
Heckman Summit
Strawberry Pass
Lempriere
Retallack
Do you have any other questions? Let us know in the comments below.
Crescent Spur Cam
