Forecasts and windmeters through inReach

When you are out of cell range but have a Garmin inReach (or another device that can send and receive email over satellite), you can email wx@paraglidingwx.com for a text windgram or a short live windmeter summary. No app to install: compose on the device, read the reply in Garmin Messenger (or your mail client). The service is open to anyone with a valid reply address.

Replies to an inReach go through Garmin’s map/reply page, not a normal email thread. The bot uses the reply link in your message — a normal email to your inReach address never reaches the device (Garmin sends a “cannot send a direct reply” notice instead). Each incoming satellite message on your plan may count toward your allowance.

Text windgram (inReach Plus)

Put wg+ on the first line. The reply is a compact ASCII windgram (about 1600 characters) for today and tomorrow, 6am–8pm local, hourly. Use this from inReach Plus / Garmin Messenger, not a classic 160-character Mini.

How to pick a location

A takeoff, landing, or featured meter id (same aliases as windmeters, plus map site ids): wg+ spit, wg+ gondola, wg+ tunnel-bluff, wg+ log-sort. On the map, the site’s Notes tab shows the id to send.
Coordinates: wg+ 49.69,-123.17 (lat, lon; west longitude is negative).
Weather model (optional): hrdps1, hrdps25, or hrrr. Example: wg+ spit hrrr. If you omit it, the bot uses the first model that covers that point: hrdps1 → hrdps25 → hrrr.
Your inReach GPS: send a bare wg+ and leave location attached (Garmin’s Lat … Lon … footer). The bot uses that point.

North American ParaglidingEarth takeoffs and landings on the map also work by id or name slug, e.g. wg+ tiger-mountain or wg+ woodrat-mountain.

Local Sea-to-Sky / Pemberton ids

Takeoffs: gondola, al-habrich, tunnel-bluff, rainbow, clearwater, pemberton, millers
Landings: log-sort, feather, beer, brunswick, clearwater-lz, xsky, king-eddy, school-lz

Featured meter aliases work too (spit, pam, peak, tiger-n, …) — the windgram is at that station’s coordinates, not a live sensor reading.

Example reply

Reply to wg+ spit (layout only; numbers change with the forecast):

WG+ spit HRDPS1 12-13Sep local km/h
TODAY 12
      06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20
lft  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.0  1.0  1.5  2.0  2.3  2.5  1.3  0.9  0.9  0.7  0.0  0.0
rn     0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
cld   50   35    0    0    0    0    5   85   65   95  100   75   70   15   10
4k  28SW 27SW 26SW 25SW 24SW 23SW 22SW  22W  23W  25W  27W  28W  29W  29W  28W
3k  21SE 20SE 18SE 17SE 16SE 15SE 14SE  14E  15E  17E  20E  22E  23E  23E  22E
2k   26E  23E  21E  19E  18E  18E  17E  16E  15E  15E  18E  20E  23E  25E  24E
1k  11NE 12NE 13NE 12NE 11NE 11NE 10NE 10NE  8NE   6E   8E   8E 10NE  9NE  8NE
gst   14   14   16   17   22   18   16   13   11   12   12   10   10    7    6
10m  6SE   5E   6E   8E  12E  12E  11E  9NE   7E   9S   8S   6S   4S   3S   2S
TOM 13
lft  0.0  0.0  0.0  0.4  1.1  1.4  1.5  1.6  1.6  1.6  1.5  1.3  1.0  0.0  0.0
rn     0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
cld   90   60    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
4k  31NW 30NW  29N  28N  27N  26N  25N  24N  23N  22N  21N 20NW 22NW 24NW 23NW
3k  22NE 22NE  21N  21N  21N  19N  19N  20N  19N  17N  16N  15N 16NW 19NW 18NW
2k  19NE 20NE  21N 21NE 19NE 17NE  14N  15N  15N 14NW 13NW 13NW 15NW 16NW 15NW
1k   11N  12N  14N  13N  12N   8N   7N  6NW  6NW   6W   8W  11W  12W 11SW 10SW
gst    8   10    7   13    8    7   11   16   20   24   26   31   37   39   36
10m   7S 10SW  5SW   2N   6E  7SE   9S 12SW 14SW 17SW 18SW 21SW 26SW 26SW 22SW

How to read the grid

Two blocks (TODAY then TOM). Hour labels are on TODAY only; tomorrow uses the same local columns (06–20). Rows:

lft — thermal scale (m/s). cap if CIN is strong.
rn — rain (mm). 0 if none.
cld — total cloud cover (0–100%).
4k / 3k / 2k / 1k — wind speed + 8-point direction about 4000 / 3000 / 2000 / 1000 m above the site (km/h).
gst — 10 m gust (km/h).
10m — 10 m mean + direction, e.g. 18S (km/h).

The first line is place, model (HRDPS1, HRDPS25, or HRRR — whichever was requested or auto-picked), and local dates. Speeds are km/h. Email wg+ help for a short reminder on the device.

Windmeters by email

Ask for a short text summary of a live windmeter from ParaglidingWX (featured sites and many public stations in western North America). Meter replies stay within about 160 characters so they still fit a classic Mini.

How to request a reading

Send an email to wx@paraglidingwx.com.
Put a station id in the subject or message body (first non-empty line). Examples: spit, pam, wu:ISQUAM26.
You should get one reply within a few seconds with current wind info (or help text if you send help).

Example reply

SPIT 19:08 South. 5min 33G37 33G37 32G36 31G37 33G40.

SPIT — station short name.
19:08 — time of the latest sample (station local time).
South — wind direction (8-point compass).
5min — typical spacing between samples in the history that follows.
33G37 … — recent mean and gust (km/h), newest to oldest. Gust is omitted when it equals the mean.

Speeds are always km/h.

Station ids

Send help by email for a compact list on the device. On the map, open a windmeter popup—the header shows inReach · … with the id to use (tap inReach to open this guide). Takeoff and landing Notes show inReach · wg+ … the same way.

Featured aliases

Short names for stations we highlight on the map:

spit — Squamish Spit
pam — Pam Rocks (ECCC)
peak, harmony, seventh, rhl, symphony — Whistler Blackcomb lift stations
tiger-n, tiger-s, tiger-lz — Tiger Mountain (WA) Tempest sites
rmr — RMR subpeak
bridal — Bridal Falls LZ (WindNerd)
poverty, monroe, canyon, cove — CUASA (Utah) sites

Other meters on the map

Use a prefix and the id shown in the windmeter popup (or network id):

h:1234 — Holfuy station number
wu:ISQUAM26 — Weather Underground PWS id
t:70138 — Tempest location id
wn:bridal-lz — WindNerd slug
eccc:WAS — Environment Canada station code (Pam is pam or eccc:WAS)
avcan:19 — Avalanche Canada station id (hourly; also ac:19)
madis:KSEA — NOAA NWS / MADIS station id (also nws:KSEA)

Some ids work without a prefix: a bare Holfuy number (1286) or a WU-style id (ISQUAM26) is accepted when it is unambiguous.

Limits & fairness

Live-meter replies are capped at 160 characters so they fit classic inReach SMS-style delivery. wg+ replies are capped at about 1600 characters (Plus / Messenger).
Rate limit: about 8 requests per sender address per 10 minutes, to keep the service available for everyone.

Data sources

Live-meter readings come from the same feeds ParaglidingWX uses on the map: hand-picked sites (Spit, Pam Rocks, Whistler lifts, Tiger, RMR, CUASA, and others), plus Weather Underground PWS, Tempest, Holfuy, Environment Canada, Avalanche Canada highway/backcountry stations, and NOAA NWS (MADIS) sites. Update cadence and reliability vary by station.

Text windgrams use HRDPS ~1 km, HRDPS 2.5 km, or HRRR (same zarr forecasts as the map), in that order unless you name a model. Open-Meteo is only used outside those domains. Lift is a simplified w* / CAPE scale, not a full parcel sounding.

Planning only

Sensors fail, lag, ice up, or sit in sheltered spots. Forecast grids are models, not observations. This service is a planning aid, not a go/no-go call. See the site disclaimer.

Test without satellite

From any browser or mail client you can email wx@paraglidingwx.com with body spit, help, or wg+ spit. Developers can also dry-run: https://www.paraglidingwx.com/api/inreach-wx?q=spit or https://www.paraglidingwx.com/api/inreach-wx?q=wg%2B+spit (JSON only, no email).

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