To Open The Sky
The Front Pages of Christopher P. Winter
Open Skies of North America
| United States → Alaska | PDT = UTC+9 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Pilot-Cams |
As a service to pilots, the FAA provides frequently updated views from 165 cameras at 86 sites across Alaska. Count 'em — 165 FAA Webcams! Recently the user interface was much improved. You no longer have to wait for all images to load, but can select one of four quadrants of Alaska to see a list of cameras for that region and their status. | 15M | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Anchorage | "The AlaskaCam view is looking east on 4th Avenue at G Street in Anchorage, Alaska ("The Busy Corner") from high atop the historic Alaska Building and is updated every twenty seconds." Seek out the hotspots in the image. | 20S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Juneau Downtown |
This camera faces northwest towards the center of downtown Juneau. Updates rapidly (better than the claimed 10 seconds) but must be manually refreshed. | 10S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Seward Harbor |
Live view from the second floor window at the Major Marine Tours Ticket Booth building on the boardwalk at the Seward Alaska Small Boat Harbor. Camera rotates back and forth through 120 degrees each hour. Image updates every 60 seconds, but does not auto-refresh. Archived photos include a panorama of the harbor view. | 60S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Arizona | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Canyon |
Grand Canyon National Park: View From Yavapai Point, elevation 7,084 feet. Visual range indicates air clarity. Update interval unknown. Live images have now resumed after contruction during 2006. | UIU | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → California | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allen Telescope |
Panoramic mosaic of Allen Telescope Array, located at Hat Creek Observatory in northern California. | 24H | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Antelope Valley |
"The first and only live streaming webcam in the Antelope Valley" That's the home of Edwards AFB, Lancaster, Palmdale and Mojave in southern California. The Palmdale camera is updated every three minutes, but requires you to install the "AXIS Media Control", an ActiveX control, from Axis Communications AB. You do so at your own risk. Two other cameras are available. | 3M | ** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Berkeley Bay View |
Looking west over San Francisco Bay from Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley. Weather information is overlaid on the screen, which refreshes automatically once per minute. A variety of other information is available. | 60S | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Big Sur |
Looking south along the Big Sur coast from the veranda of Nepenthe restaurant, the Santa Lucia Mountains to the east. Update interval unknown, but it's more than once once daily. Yes, you can sometimes see customers, but not clearly. |
24H? | *** |
| Checked 28 Jul 08 | |||
| Catalina Island |
Views of Avalon on Catalina Island, off southern California. "Twenty-six miles across the sea..." The camera is very versatile; it will zoom in on seven locations chosen from menu at the right. | 60S | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Fortuna River Lodge |
This camera at Fortuna River Lodge, at the mouth of the Eel River on the Northern California coast, switches up and down the beach at frequent intervals (about 10 seconds) during daylight hours. An August 2003 panorama showing the entire field of view is available in scaled-down form. It features hotspots that pop up tooltip=like information on local points of interest. As if that weren't enough, the site has the best set of links I've seen. I've copied a few here, but you should really check out the whole list. | 10S | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Lake Arrowhead |
Several views of California's Lake Arrowhead area. Updates every minute, but does not auto-refresh. | 60S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Mono Lake |
A view of Mono Lake, looking northeast from the Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area Visitor Center! Made possible by a partnership between the Mono Lake Committee and the U.S. Forest Service. There is now a "Mono Lake Dustcam" as well. | UIU | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Monterey Bay Aquarium |
Continuing its outreach to the public, the Monterey Bay Aquarium offers video streams from seven cameras covering its various attractions. The images are small but lively, and sometimes they include sound. | NRT | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Mount Shasta |
Mount Shasta rises to 14,162 feet in Northern California, USA. | 20M | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Mount Wilson Observatory |
View from Mt. Wilson, California, high atop the 150-Foot Solar Tower. 5 minute updates. Apparently turned off at night. (Also links to three solar science sites.) | 5M | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| VB Cam Demo |
Remotely switchable, zoomable & pannable views of San Francisco Bay and the Quail Ridge Reserve at UC Davis demonstrate NuSpectra Multimedia's technology. | UIU | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| San Gregorio |
Weathercam looking northwest from San Gregorio, California. The weather instruments are shown below the camera image. | UIU | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Yosemite Valley |
Live Web Cam Views of Yosemite Valley. Updated about once per minute. Now (early June 2006) some cameras have failed due to phone line outages in the high country. Look for fixes when the snow departs. | 60S | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Colorado | PDT = UTC+6 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pike's Peak | The peak named after explorer Zebulon Pike is perhaps the best-known mountain in a state filled with magnificent mountains. The image updates about once a minute during daylight hours. | 60S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Telluride | This awesome scene east of Telluride was captured in a still photo by Steve Garufi (aka Colorado Guy). See his unrivaled (AFAIK) collection of pictures from his trips around the state. Go here for more shots of telluride. | N/A | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| TundraCam | Used for research, TundraCam is a live "steerable" webcam located 27 km (17 miles) west of Boulder, Colorado at an elevation of 3528m (11,600 feet.) More specifically, it lies above timberline on Niwot Ridge in the Flatiron mountains. | UIU | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| SEE ALSO | |||
| United States → Hawai'i | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haleakala Crater |
A live camera view of Haleakala Crater and the sea beyond, brought to you by the University of Hawaii's Haleakala Observatory, the USAF, and the National Park Service. | UIU | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Kuhio Beach |
Picture updates every two seconds. Musical selections are provided. | 2S | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Waikiki Beach |
Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii. Camera is located in front of the Duke Kahanamoku Statue. The picture is live, and music tracks are provided. | NRT | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Idaho | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sawtooth Mountains |
A view of the Sawtooth Mountains from Stanley, Idaho. | UIU | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Teton Valley |
Located on the west side of the Teton Mountains and just north of Driggs, Idaho. The semi-live picture and weather data are updated every 30 minutes during daylight hours. See also the All-mountain Webcams List. | 30M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Maine | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Damariscotta | Damariscotta, Maine from Hopkins Hill in Newcastle. Computer has failed after 8 years. Replacement expected soon. (For Maine webcams, "soon" means months or years.) | 5M | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Goat Island |
The Kennebunkport Conservation Trust provides this image from a tower located on Goat Island. A new image appears automatically every minute. | 60S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Mount Katahdin |
This image of Maine's Mt. Katahdin is captured from the Webcam. Live feeds are available for a contribution of $10 per year. Astute readers of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring will recognize this place name. Several views of Presque Isle and Caribou are available. | 30M | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| SebagoCam | This camera faces northwest by west across Maine's Jordan Bay at its widest point toward the Raymond Neck peninsula. Douglas Hill appears on the left-hand side of the picture. Shawnee Peak lies just to the right of the center of the screen view. Directly beyond, 50 miles in the far background, is Mt. Washington.
The camera came back on 11 May 08 after months of outage, was dead briefly, now is live. |
UIU | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| SEE ALSO | |||
| United States → Michigan | PDT = UTC+5 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sault St. Marie |
A rotating set of pictures from the locks in the Saint Mary's River near Sault Saint Marie in Upper Michigan. These locks allow transit between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes. Update interval 60S. | 60S | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Montana | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glacier Park |
Camera views of locations within Glacier National Park in Montana. (One, at Goat Haunt, is activated only in the summer months.) Update intervals unknown. Also check out the Montana Web cams page | UIU | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → New York | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo | View of downtown Buffalo, NY updates approximately every two seconds. (Camera is being moved to a new location. Archived photos are provided meanwhile.) | 2S | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Empire State Bldg. |
A round-the-clock live view of New York City's Empire State Building, one of the oldest, tallest and best known skyscrapers in the world. (Live view requires Java.) Zoomed view first five minutes of every hour. Apartment building in foreground will soon block the view. Apparently a new camera is in testing, summer 2008. |
5M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Empire State Bldg. |
You are looking at an image of the Empire State Building and the Manhattan skyline from the banks of the Hudson River in Hoboken NJ. A new image is taken every minute. The Empire State Building Web Cam is sponsored by NYCPlaywrights. | 5M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → North Carolina | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Mountain |
The Black Mountain Camera is placed to show Black Mountain and the beautiful Swannanoa Valley. It updates every 30 seconds from 7am until 9pm. | 30S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Boone Overlook |
This camera atop Howard's Knob in western North Carolina provides a great overlook of the city of Boone. It updates every 30 seconds from 7am until 9pm. Go here for more views of North Carolina's high country. | 30S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Lake James |
A view of Lake James in the Morgantown area. It updates every 30 seconds from 7am until 9pm. | 30S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| New River Gorge |
View of lower New River Gorge and Miller's Folly Rapid from Canyon Rim Visitor Center. | UIU | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Shining Rock |
Shining Rock Ledge forms the backbone of the Shining Rock Wilderness, now the largest Wilderness in North Carolina. The area boasts five peaks exceeding 6,000 feet (three within the Wilderness boundaries.) The image is updated "about every few minutes." | UIU | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Wrightsville Beach |
A great view of the Banks Channel in Wrightsville Beach, NC. It updates "every few seconds." Go here for more views of North Carolina's high country. | UIU | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Oregon | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astoria | Astoria, OR weather info & Webcams — Two cameras present real-time coverage with pan/zoom/tilt controls and some 7 preset locations. The site also provides sun, moon & tide times and a weather-radar map of the entire state. Just one question: Who is Goonie? | NRT | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Columbia Gorge |
A view of the Columbia River Gorge and air quality data provided by the USDA Forest Service | UIU | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Hood River |
The KATU Gorge camera is located high on the bluffs on the north side of the Columbia River across from the city of Hood River. From this location provided by the Hood River Inn you can see up and down the Gorge to the east and west, into the Hood River area, and you have a gorgeous view of the north side of Mt. Hood. | UIU | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Tennessee | PDT = UTC+5 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase Knob |
A view from Purchase Knob in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This is a National Park Service air-quality camera (USDA Webcams are a separate system.) Here is the main page for USDI NPS air-quality Webcams (currently at 17 locations.) | 15M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Vermont | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Champlain |
Looking west from Burlington, Vermont across Lake Champlain to the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. Updates every 15 minutes. Part of an 11-site realtime air pollution and visibility monitoring network that runs from Newark, New Jersey to Acadia & Presque Isle, Maine. | 15M | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Washington | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Juan Islands |
A very commercial site (but no popups) provides up to 10 cameras at Friday Harbor and various other locations around the Puget Sound paradise of the San Juan Islands. | UIU | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Seattle | Atop Seattle's famous Space Needle sits this controllable camera. It will pan, tilt and zoom, within limits, or you can point it at listed landmarks. Requires Flash 6 or newer. (I don't know how they handle multiple users.) | UIU | ***** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → West Virginia | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dolly Sods |
A USDA Forest Service air-quality camera, overlooking the Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. Like those at the other 12 USDA air-quality sites, this image is updated every fifteen minutes. These sites offer many features. | 15M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| United States → Wyoming | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric Peak |
The Summit Lighthouse Webcam of Electric Peak, in Wyoming's Grand Teton mountains. Updates every 10 minutes between 7 AM and 6 PM, mountain time. | 10M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Grand Tetons |
A view of the Grand Tetons from Lost Creek Ranch near Moose, Wyoming. Updates every 10 minutes. | 10M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| Canada → Alberta | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banff | This camera on Sulphur Mountain overlooks the Town of Banff, Alberta. Cascade Mountain looms beyond, and part of Lake Louise is visible. The camera updates every 5 minutes and operates 24 hours per day. | 5M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Three Sisters |
The canmorealberta.com website has been discontinued and the domain is now for sale. | N/A | N/A |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| Canada → British Columbia | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown Vancouver |
A view from the offices of TCI in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, updated every 5 minutes from dawn to dusk. Scroll down to see it. (The image slightly overflows my 1024x768 screen on left and right.) | 5M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| Canada → Nova Scotia | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Breton Island |
This site features two cameras located at L'Ardoise on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. They offer views to the east and to the southwest (toward Nova Scotia proper.) | 30S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Loch Lomond |
Loch Lomond, Nova Scotia. Updates every 15 minutes between 5AM & 9PM. The domain name changed, probably within the past couple of months. | 15M | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| Canada → Nunavut | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Devon Is. Mars Camp Camera 1 |
HMP Research Station — Camera 1 | 1M | *** |
| Devon Is. Mars Camp Camera 2 |
HMP Research Station — Camera 2 | 1M | *** |
| Devon Is. Mars Camp Camera 3 |
HMP Research Station — interior of office tent | 1M | *** |
| Devon Is. Greenhouse Camera 1 |
HMP Research Station — Greenhouse camera 1 currently surveys the outside of the greenhouse, perhaps as an early warning of polar bears. (Currently offline) | 24H | *** |
| Devon Is. Greenhouse Camera 2 |
This is a view inside the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse where one or two internal Webcams monitor the automated growth of lettuce. (Currently offline) | 24H | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
| Mexico | PDT = UTC+7 * |
| Link | Notes | Update | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acapulco | Hay ocho mil cuentas en la ciudad.... | 60S | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Playa Médano |
A view of the luxurious Villa del Arco resort at Médano Beach, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and the curve of beach beyond. | 5M | **** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 | |||
| Popocatepetl | Spanglish: Absent heavy clouds or technical problems, este cámara shows a view of the north face of el volcán famoso de Méjico Popocatepetl, con su glaciar. Updates cada minuto. Aquí es the volcano's monitoring site. | 60S | *** |
| Checked 09 Jul 08 |
