Wondering where the best weather is for riding around you? Are you scoping out a new weekend travel destination? Wondering which trails won't be saturated by rain? Well, we have a new tool for you: the Trailforks Weather Map!
The weather map shows cities with trails available, along with a small summary of weather data that it's important to mountain biking, hiking, running, or other outdoor activities.
Clicking on the icon will bring up a pop-up that displays more information, including the rain history and weather forecast charts. It will also show the peak time for rain and wind, as well as recent trail reports in that region.
As you zoom out, fewer city markers are shown on the map to reduce the amount of clutter on the map. The more popular riding destinations remain on the map.
The right-side of the page shows the same data in table form. Clicking on a table row will pan the map to that city. Both places also have links to 3rd party weather sites for more detail, including Environment Canada and Drive BC for webcams.
You can move forward up to 5 days of forecast, or back to view historical data, by toggling the 'Prev' and 'Next' buttons on the right-side of the page.
The map also shows local webcams if they are available. Hover your mouse over the webcam to view a larger preview image. From here, you can check if there is snow on the ground or if there's rain in the area. When viewing the current day, some basic low res radar is shown on the map. However, there is an option to click on a link to open a popup of more detailed radar data from Dark Sky.
Use this tool to make better riding decisions, particularly in regard to riding certain trails in the rain!
For example, say it's forecasted to rain 5mm today, but looking at the historical rain chart, I can see it's rained 20mm+ for several days prior. Probably best to skip riding this area and let the trails dry out!
Because Trailforks spans the entire world, updating forecasts for such a large area is an issue. As a result, forecast data only updates 2-3 times a day. Historical data for the previous day updates during the night.