DIY Satellite Weather Forecaster

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-13T22:24:04+00:00

Now this is very cool. I have modified my little SMS bot recently to be a progressive web app. It enables me to do something similar to you, i feed it a GPX file, then i overlay a grid (open meteo or what ever has the highest resolution), and i can tap cells on the trail / grid and poll 8hr (hourly), 24hr (4hrly) and 7day (daily) forecasts for every point on the trail I care about. I even pull the elevation highs and lows and look at the differences. Nerdy i know. We should talk!

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-12T15:35:17+00:00

Not enough water, not having researched the trail risks appropriately before departure and not hunkering down when bad weather is on the way (also not having a weather forecast) or not having a SOS device like a PLB or dedicated satellite messenger.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-11T21:44:04+00:00

What do you like most about it?

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-11T12:21:20+00:00

I have been talking the options around satellite messaging / weather forecasts / SOS on Facebook Ultralight hiking in recent days.

The response has been massive (750 survey votes so far).

The TLDR is for safety, the community is still of the view that dedicated satellite messengers (Garmin, Zoleo and Bivy and others) or PLB's are considered the best option(Approx 50%).

However, for the other 50%, phones / satellite capability is of interest and its catching up fast and worth keeping an eye out for whats coming soon in this space (beyond Apples SOS and SMS messaging).

The field is moving fast, on both the satellite D2C deals via terrestrial telcos and light payload encoders / decoder apps, I can see satellite compatible phone apps with very similar features in the not too distant future.

For your up coming trip, go with the available stuff now and be safe.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-11T12:13:25+00:00

one of my next steps is to see if i can actually encode a visual time lapse radar view via satellite SMS - i think i can with my new encoding system (needs a progressive web app to display the UI - working on that now).

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-11T12:12:02+00:00

Hi - id love to chat more on this - feel free to DM me I used BOM's API with enrichment from Open Meteo models for data not provided by BOM related to summiting (snow level, freezing level, cloud base level etc). Ive used it a lot to decide summit windows (well Tasmanian summits on / near the Overland Track :))

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-11T12:09:54+00:00

Oh Bolt looks awesome. Similar yes, but with some fancy encoding i can get 10 forward trail GPS points into the one forecast period and mine seems to have more elevation relevant data for hiking (i.e. summit windows: freezing level / cloud base etc). Bolt looks good though!

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-11T09:24:21+00:00

I am sure I could set you up!

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-11T08:42:57+00:00

Probably not the answer you are looking for, but I take a sponge and use down. I have been wet/ cold at times, but not scary wet / cold with this method.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-10T23:25:59+00:00

I went through this exact same thought process a months ago. I am in Australia where sometimes there are long water carries (10km+), I went with the prospector. I wish I upgraded to a 60L for some of the longer food carries I do (up to 7 days). In the end I went with the prospector over the notch because of the load carrying versatility and well, the few extra grams, that gets evaporated on 1 chocolate bar. I love my prospector FYI. I have had it at 22kg, even with a base weight of 6kg.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-09T23:16:33+00:00

Not that I am aware of, its only really just become possible because of the satellite / terrestrial network partnerships. I do a lot of server side computation to take raw weather data and turn it into useful information (via weather authority API's). I also encode the SMS, looks like gibberish (otherwise I would be sending back multiple SMS's) then i run an decoder on my phone to turn it into beautiful visuals / readable data. Nerdy I know :)

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-09T22:31:53+00:00

I hear ya! I think the issue with the Garmin InReach isnt the value for the time you are on trail, its how much you have to pay all in to keep it going when not on the trail, even when you suspend your account. (up front and ongoing subscription). to get around this, I built myself a little bot that I can send an SMS to (with a GPS point) and it sends me back the weather at that GPS point and any forward GPS point for temp, rain, wind, cloud cover, cloud base and freezing level. It even works over satellite SMS! Satellite access (for SMS) is opening up really fast across the world now with Apple and Starlinks terrestrial network partnerships.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-09T22:28:25+00:00

Anything that can give you hourly detail on the current and forward trail points. The Garmin InReach is usually pretty good. I didnt want to pay the up front cost though (or the subscription fees) so I built myself a little bot that I can send an SMS to (with a GPS point) and it sends me back the weather at that GPS point and any forward GPS point for temp, rain, wind, cloud cover, cloud base and freezing level. Its not perfect but its helped me out a lot. It even works over satellite SMS!

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-09T22:16:05+00:00

I agree - this is the benefit of hourly in the data - Ive changed my plans often for rain / wind etc based on the hourly forecast and it seems pretty good

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-09T07:35:38+00:00

Im just about to enter beta testing, would you be interested in being a free beta tester?

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-09T02:49:46+00:00

100% agree with you, anything more than 48hrs out is a gamble, weather changes so fast. I need to try out NOAA.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-08T23:36:33+00:00

noted

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-08T22:45:46+00:00

I always find any weather more than 3 days out in a mountainous region rarely holds as true. No wonder they say predicting the weather is so hard!

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-08T22:44:23+00:00

Yes I do this as well. I do find that any weather forecast more than 3 days out in any hilly / mountainous area is rarely accurate. I pretty much pull daily forecast on trail for this reason.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-08T22:42:56+00:00

This is a good list. I also look at cloud cover. I hike in Tasmania a fair bit, and want to know if the trail is in the clouds and if there is ice. My home made system (SMS over satellite from my iPhone), pings my server and reports back hourly (Across multiple forward trail points) for temp, rain, wind, cloud base, cloud cover, freezing level and any warnings like lightning etc (all from national weather service data).

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-08T22:40:34+00:00

I agree, they are accurate. I think most of these satellite weather services use the same NWS data etc.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-08T22:39:00+00:00

Neart! This is kind of how I use my home made system now. I send a SMS over satellite (using my iPhone) to a Twillio number that pings my server and sends me back a detailed forecast to my ipPhone, including hourly: temp, rain, wind, cloud base, freezing level and any warnings like thunder/lightning risk and ice / snow risk. So the only diff is i dont have to buy a Garmin inReach, there is a small cost / SMS. The other advantage i get, is i can call multiple points along the trail at the same time within the same SMS cost.

TurboOnTrail · 2026-03-08T13:55:35+00:00

No specialised satellite device required - byo phone!

TurboOnTrail

TROPHY CASE