February 2008

WEATHER STATIONS IN ACTION:

Argentine Vantage Pro2s Enjoy New Heights

Among the beautiful photographs offered at Miguel Doura’s Cerro Aconcagua online art gallery are stunning shots of the highest mountain outside of Asia, and the best weather station in the world.

Miguel Doura’s Vantage Pro2 is at, what he calls, “the world’s highest art gallery.” Miguel and his Vantage Pro2 spend the months of December, January and February at a base camp for climbers of Mt. Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas, near the Argentine city of Mendoza. From the Plaza de Mulas base camp at 4,300 meters (14,110 feet), it is just a 2,600-meter (8,530-foot) stroll to the summit at 6,962 meters (22,841 feet).

Besides offering weather data for climbers, Miguel has an art gallery on his Aconcagua Now website. Climbers and desk-bound weather enthusiasts alike can also see forecasts, satellite images and images from the webcam. If you are thinking that perhaps the most important weather data Miguel’s Vantage Pro2 offers climbers is temperature and wind chill, think again.

“I am measuring a UV index of 16 every sunny day at midday!” (The EPA categories list an index of 0-2 as “normal;” a value of 10 or higher is “very high.”) That’s some powerful sunshine.

Mercobras, our Argentine dealer, set this Vantage Pro2 up on the moon. Or maybe that was the Andes.

Miguel’s Vantage Pro2 isn’t the only one watching the high Andes weather in Argentina. Guillermo Perez, of our Argentine dealer, Mercobras, sent us this shot of a high tech (and high site) Vantage Pro2 Plus installation at a gold mining site near Mulas Muertas, La Rioja, in the province of San Juan. This Vantage Pro2 Plus is at 4,950 meters (16,240 feet). Mercobras techs installed a configuration that would power the Vantage Pro2 Plus and Weather Envoy through extreme weather conditions, including winds of 200kph (125 mph), using their own tower and mounting accessory designs

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