Turtle Mountain Weather Station

A small, automatic weather station was set up just west of the ridge crest about 100 metres south of South Peak. This station will enhance interpretation of data collected from other instruments.

The weather station has a datalogger (a small computer) with a number of sensors attached to it, a solar panel, battery and digital 900 MHz radio for data telemetry.

Data collected include:

• air temperature
• relative humidity
• rain fall
• wind speed
• wind direction
• barometric pressure
• solar radiation
• rock temperature.

The crackmeters are also connected to the datalogger through two multiplexer units so their data are collected along with the meteorological data.

The meteorological sensors are measured every 5 seconds, and the crackmeters every 15 seconds. The data are averaged every hour and sent via wireless radio link to the Crowsnest Pass provincial building in Blairmore. From there, the data are relayed by radio to the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre.

Results

Temperature

Temperatures have typically ranged between -10°C in January to +10°C in July, with significant variations throughout the year. Freezing conditions typically prevail from early November through to March, although areas blanketed by snow usually remained above freezing throughout the winter. Significant daily temperature variations were also common, with fluctuations as high as 29°C.

2005-2006 temperature fluctuations versus normal range. Click on graph to enlarge.

Measured and typical average monthly distribution of rainfall in the region of Turtle Mountain. Click on graph to enlarge.

Rainfall

The rainfall data collected for the South Peak weather station in comparison to historical monthly precipitation levels are shown below (average annual rainfall data are from the nearby Coleman weather station managed by Environment Canada). Climate averages provided by this station are based on data between 1971 and 2000.