WeatherRidge

HELP & EXPLANATIONS

PRESS ? ANYWHERE

Continuous Multi-Day Timeline Reconnaissance

SPOT Mode delivers deep-dive meteorological reconnaissance for a single scouted location across multi-day horizons, unifying 5 synchronized weather graphs, ranked best departure windows, and multi-activity comparisons.

Key Features & Controls

Multi-Day Horizon Range (D / Shift+D): Toggle seamlessly between 1 DAY, 3 DAY, WKND, 7 DAY, and MAX (14–16 days).
5 Synchronized Weather Graphs:
- Temperature & Humidity: Hourly temperature line with twilight/night shading and relative humidity curve.
- Precipitation: Probability of precipitation (PoP), rain rate bars, and cumulative accumulation.
- Wind & Gusts: Sustained wind speed curve with prominent gust rings where gusts exceed base wind.
- Cloud & UV: Cloud cover percentage and UV index curves.
- Air Quality & Visibility: US AQI smoke rating and optical visibility in miles.
Unified Crosshair & Smart Hovertip: Scrub hours (← → / J K) or step full days (Shift + ← → / Shift + J K) with an organized 2-column card showing Condition Index, weather icon, parameter values, and multi-line factor status with solar phase pill.
BEST WINDOWS Recommendation Engine (B / Shift + B / C): Surfaces top consecutive hours ranked by comfort, with slider-adjustable window duration (+ / −), score threshold, and count.
Activity Rail & Single-Activity FOCUS Mode (X): Compare your favorite activities side-by-side on mini-ribbons, or collapse into Focus mode to maximize vertical graph space.
Location Scouting (/): Search and load any place with /, save the scouted location to favorites with Shift + F, remove a selected favorite with Ctrl + F, or switch to HOME (H), WORK (W), or cycle Favorites (F).
Model Selection (M) & Refresh (L): Cycle available weather models (HRRR, GFS, ECMWF, etc.) and force reload weather data.

Primary Use Cases

Multi-Day Window Scouting: Finding the single best morning or afternoon window across a 14-day horizon for outdoor activities.
Storm & Front Timing: Pinpointing exactly when precipitation starts, when wind shifts, and when clean air returns.

Time-Indexed Track Forecasting

Route Mode evaluates weather comfort along a GPX track or multi-waypoint journey, calculating your exact arrival hour at every point along your travel path based on start time, terrain drag, and climbing pacing.

Key Features & Workflow

GPX Track Upload (⌘O / Ctrl+O): Drag and drop any .gpx file directly onto the map, or select from built-in sample trails and saved routes (S).
Elevation Profile Overlay: Renders an interactive elevation profile colored by waypoint Condition Index scores along the journey distance.
Relative Wind Vectors: Calculates Headwind, Tailwind, and Crosswind relative to track direction at every waypoint.
Waypoint Walking (Ctrl + ← →): Cycle forward and backward along waypoints to inspect arrival weather cards and localized condition forecasts.
Route Review (R) & PDF Export (P): Inspect detailed turn-by-turn metrics, waypoint pacing breakdown, and export printable summary sheets.

Pacing Engine & Naismith Elevation Math

For foot and mountain activities (Hiking, Trail Running, Backpacking), Kairos uses an enhanced Naismith-Langmuir algorithm to assign precise arrival hours to GPX route waypoints:

Time = (Distance ÷ Effective Speed) + (Ascent ft ÷ 2,000)
+ (Descent ft ÷ 3,000 if slope grade > −12°)

Ascent Climbing Time: Adds +1.0 hour per 2,000 ft (600 m) of elevation gain.
Steep Descent Penalty (Langmuir Rule): Downhill grades steeper than −12° (>21.25% slope) add braking penalty time (+1.0 hour per 3,000 ft downhill).
Terrain Surface Multiplier: Scales base speed per surface: Paved (1.0×), Gravel/Dirt (0.95×), Singletrack (0.85×), Rough Scramble (0.60×).
Environmental Lapse Rate Offset: Corrects temperature for true GPS pass elevation versus smoothed model terrain (ΔTemp = −3.5 °F per 1,000 ft / −6.4 °C per 1,000 m).

Primary Use Cases

High-Elevation Mountain Passes: Knowing exact arrival temperature, wind, and storm risk when arriving at a 12,000 ft summit or pass at 1:00 PM.
Road Cycling & Bikepacking: Timing departures to maximize tailwinds and avoid riding directly into severe crosswinds or heavy rain fronts.

Spatial Weather Intelligence

Region Mode evaluates atmospheric comfort across a broad geographic area surrounding your focal location. Instead of checking single isolated forecasts, Kairos scores a high-density spatial grid so you can spot regional weather gradients and microclimates at a glance.

Key Features & Workflow

Dynamic Map Grid: Renders color-coded score dots (0 Avoid → 100 Ideal) scaled specifically for your selected activity profile (Hiking, Cycling, Skiing, Paddling, etc.).
Focal Anchor (WHERE / /): Search any place name or click anywhere on the map to anchor your focal point and recenter the surrounding grid.
Batch Multi-Point Sampling: Queries high-resolution model points in parallel to evaluate conditions across surrounding peaks, valleys, and coastlines.
Timeline Hour Stepping (J / K or Shift+N): Scrub the 48-hour timeline or use keyboard shortcuts to see how comfort shifts hour by hour.
Spot Inspection (Meteograms): Click any grid point to open its 24-hour SpotWX-style meteogram breakdown, wind vectors, and solar twilight shading.
Best Locations Drawer (B / Shift + B): Instantly ranks and cycles forward / backward through the highest-scoring locations in the scouted area.
Activity Studio & Filters (A / E): Customize parameter thresholds, weights, and solar phase preferences.

Primary Use Cases

Finding Microclimate Openings: Deciding whether to head to the coast, inland basin, or mountain ridges to escape rain, low marine clouds, or extreme heat.
Day Outing Scouting: Finding the single best destination and optimal hour within a 50-mile radius for rock climbing, gravel riding, or trail running.

Map Marker Legend

HOME

WORK

FAVORITE

POINT/WP

S/F START/FINISH

Multi-Variable Condition Index Scoring Engine

Kairos evaluates 10 raw forecast variables (Temperature, Wind Speed, Wind Gusts, Rain Probability, Precipitation Rate, US AQI, UV Index, Visibility, Cloud Cover, Humidity) against activity-specific tunables to produce a single, intuitive 0 – 100 comfort rating.

Per-Parameter Scoring Curves (`scoreOne`)

Ideal Range [iMin, iMax]: Scores a perfect 1.0 (100%) when raw conditions sit within your ideal bounds.
OK Range Ramping [tMin, tMax]: Linear ramp down from 1.0 to 0.0 (hard) or 0.15 (soft) between ideal and acceptable threshold limits.

HARD vs. SOFT Parameter Dynamics

HARD Parameters (Weight ≥ 3): Dealbreaker safety factors (e.g. high winds, freezing rain, storm risk). Out-of-bounds values drop the parameter score to 0 and apply a severe continuous multiplicative safety breach penalty:
breachPenalty *= 0.25 × exp(−3 × normDist)
SOFT Parameters (Weight < 3): Comfort preferences (e.g. cloud cover or humidity). Values past threshold decay smoothly without sudden zero-cliffs:
tailScore = 0.15 × exp(−1.5 × normDist)

Power Curve Rescaling & Solar Phases

Active parameter scores are weighted, averaged, rescaled via a quadratic power curve to emphasize quality differences, and multiplied by the breach penalty:

Final Condition Index = (Weighted Average)² × breachPenalty × 100

Solar Elevation Phases: Evaluates daylight vs. solar angles (Day, Golden Hour, Civil Twilight, Nautical, Astronomical, Night) to weight or filter out-of-phase hours.

Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Models

Kairos fetches hourly weather data directly from Open-Meteo APIs, providing multi-model selection across regional high-resolution mesoscale models and global ensembles:

Supported Models & Specifications

HRRR (3 km / ~1.8 mi): NOAA High-Resolution Rapid Refresh. 18–48 hour forecast range, updated hourly. Outstanding resolution for mountain topography, coastal breezes, and convective storms across CONUS.
GFS (13–25 km / ~15 mi): NOAA Global Forecast System. 16-day (384 hour) global range. Standard global baseline for medium- and long-range planning.
ECMWF IFS (25 km / ~15 mi): European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. 10-day (240 hour) global range. World gold standard for atmospheric accuracy.
AROME (1.3 km / ~0.8 mi): Météo-France (France & Western Alps). Ultra-high resolution 2-day alpine model.
ICON-D2 (2.2 km / ~1.4 mi): DWD (Central Europe). 2-day high-resolution model.
GEM HRDPS (2.5 km / ~1.6 mi): Environment Canada (North America). 3-day high-resolution coverage.
ICON-EU (7 km / ~4.3 mi): DWD (Europe). 5-day regional coverage.

Hourly Atmospheric Variables

Each model query fetches 13 hourly variables used directly in Kairos comfort scoring: temperature_2m, apparent_temperature, relativehumidity_2m, precipitation_probability, precipitation, windspeed_10m, windgusts_10m, winddirection_10m, visibility, us_aqi, uv_index, cloudcover, and weathercode.

Powered by Kairos

WeatherRidge is powered by the Kairos weather engine. Kairos (καιρός), ancient Greek for "the right, opportune moment," as distinct from chronos, clock-time. Weather is exactly that kind of moment: the engine exists to find it.

How scoring works

Each activity has tunable parameters (temperature, wind, rain, visibility, smoke, UV…). For every one you set an ideal range (scores 100) and a wider ok range; beyond that it drops toward 0. Parameters set to HARD are the ones you are unwilling to compromise on: when one falls outside its ok range it does not merely lower the score, it collapses it, and the further out it goes the harder it bites. The map colors each point 0 (avoid) → 100 (ideal). Adjust the sliders, then SAVE to keep them; RESET restores the built-in defaults.

How a route is scored

A route is not one place, it is a sequence of them, so it is scored differently from a point on the map.

Time counts, not distance. Waypoints sit at even distances along your track, but you do not travel them at even speeds. A steep two-hour climb and a twenty-minute descent can be the same number of miles on the map, and they are not the same amount of weather. WeatherRidge weighs each stretch by how long you are actually out in it, using the same pacing that produces your arrival times, climbs and rest stops included. Bad weather on a long grind counts for more than the same bad weather on a quick coast down.

A bad stretch cannot hide behind a good average. A route that is pleasant for five hours and dangerous for one is not a pleasant route, but a plain average calls it one. So the score blends two things: mostly the trip as a whole, plus a real share for its worst sustained stretch, measured over a quarter of your travel time. A rough patch that lasts drags the score down hard. A momentary dip does not, because a momentary dip is not what wears you out.

Genuine danger is flagged, not averaged. Comfort is something you can trade off. A hard limit is not. Wherever a waypoint breaches one of your HARD parameters, that start time carries a red mark above its bar on the start-time strip, whatever its score. Read the score for how good the trip is, and the mark for whether it is one you should take at all.

IDEAL is a share of your time, not a count of points. On a route it reads as a percentage: how much of the trip you spend in conditions that hit every one of your ideal ranges. A tally of waypoints would let "most of them are perfect" sit next to a low score and look like a contradiction, when both are simply true of a trip with one long rough stretch. On the map, where each point is a place rather than a moment in a journey, IDEAL stays a count.

One practical consequence: because the score follows exposure time rather than the number of samples, changing SAMPLE EVERY sharpens the picture without moving the answer. Sampling more finely tells you more about your route. It does not quietly restate how good it was.

Keyboard & tips

Press ? anywhere for the full shortcut list: hour stepping, map clicks, waypoints, panel controls.

API keys

Optional, under MAP & OVERLAY's API KEYS. Thunderforest enables the Cycle Map/Landscape/Outdoors basemaps. Everything else works with no keys at all.

Data sources

Forecasts: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0; NOAA NBM, HRRR, RRFS, AROME, ICON-D2, GEM HRDPS, GEM Global, ICON-EU, GFS, ECMWF) · Basemaps & place names: © OpenStreetMap contributors · Nearest-city data: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) · Elevation-corrected route temps, wind direction, and air quality included.

Feedback

Spotted a bug or want a feature? Email a 🐞 bug report or a 💡 feature request. The email opens pre-filled with your current map view so it's easy to reproduce.

Terms & License

View the Terms of Use & Liability Waiver.

WeatherRidge

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⚠️

TERMS OF USE & LIABILITY WAIVER

WeatherRidge · RECREATIONAL SAFETY DISCLAIMER

1. INFORMATIONAL & RECREATIONAL USE ONLY

WeatherRidge is a weather scoring and route decision-support tool provided solely for informational and recreational planning purposes. It is NOT a life-safety application, official emergency alert system, or substitute for professional meteorological forecasting, official avalanche bulletins, or local search-and-rescue advice. Do not rely on WeatherRidge for emergency, mission-critical, or life-threatening situations.

2. WEATHER FORECAST & DATA LIMITATIONS

Weather forecasts, radar tiles, AQI, UV, smoke, wind vectors, and activity Condition Index scores displayed in WeatherRidge are derived from third-party mathematical prediction models (Open-Meteo: NOAA NBM, HRRR, RRFS, ECMWF, GFS, AROME, ICON-D2, ICON-EU, GEM HRDPS, GEM Global). Weather conditions can change rapidly and unpredictably. Microclimates, terrain elevation shifts, mountain weather, and localized storms may differ significantly from model predictions. No guarantee is made regarding data accuracy, timeliness, or availability.

3. ASSUMPTION OF RISK & PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Outdoor activities (including hiking, bikepacking, cycling, kayaking, SUP, trail running, skiing, backcountry travel, powersports, and aviation) carry inherent risks of severe physical injury, hypothermia, heat stroke, lightning strike, drowning, equipment loss, or death. You are solely responsible for evaluating actual ground conditions, carrying proper safety equipment, checking official weather/safety advisories, and exercising sound personal judgment.

4. "AS IS" WARRANTY & LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

WeatherRidge IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE DEVELOPERS AND CONTRIBUTORS OF WeatherRidge DISCLAIM ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INJURIES, CLAIMS, LOSSES, OR SEARCH-AND-RESCUE EXPENSES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THIS APP.

5. DATA & MAP ATTRIBUTIONS

Forecast data via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0). Map tiles & place data © OpenStreetMap contributors, GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), and Thunderforest.

ACTIVITY STUDIO

WEIGHT: H Hard limit (0 outside OK) S Soft penalty Off (ignored)

BANDS: OK Range Ideal Range (100%)

WEIGHT: click to cycle

Off: parameter ignored entirely

SSoft: nudges score down gently; never collapses it

HHard: collapses entire hour score into Avoid

BANDS

OK range (acceptable)

Ideal range (no penalty)

SCORING RESPONSE TRAPEZOID

KEYBOARD

Arrows move one cell, scrolling only at the edge

Tab / Shift+Tab walk every setting in a row, phases and weight pills included, left to right then down

Enter / Shift+Enter move down / up the column

Space toggles a checkbox, cycles a weight pill

Ctrl (or Cmd) + Up/Down nudges the value under the cursor

Tab from the search box enters the list at the first match

EDITING

GRID types values, CHART drags them. Both write the same numbers

Drag the handle at a cell's corner to fill down or up the column

Blue outline = edited since the last SAVE. UNDO discards all of it

Hover any column header for its full definition

CLICK ANYWHERE TO CONTINUE

WeatherRidge

KEYBOARD

LLoad forecast

/Search a place

BBest locations / windows

Shift + ← →Step forecast hour

Shift + ↑ ↓Step forecast date

MWeather & map

FCycle favorites

?All shortcuts

Show at Start-up

HELP & EXPLANATIONS

Continuous Multi-Day Timeline Reconnaissance

Key Features & Controls

Primary Use Cases

Time-Indexed Track Forecasting

Key Features & Workflow

Pacing Engine & Naismith Elevation Math

Primary Use Cases

Spatial Weather Intelligence

Key Features & Workflow

Primary Use Cases

Map Marker Legend

Multi-Variable Condition Index Scoring Engine

Per-Parameter Scoring Curves (scoreOne)

HARD vs. SOFT Parameter Dynamics

Power Curve Rescaling & Solar Phases

Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Models

Supported Models & Specifications

Hourly Atmospheric Variables

Powered by Kairos

How scoring works

How a route is scored

Keyboard & tips

API keys

Data sources

Feedback

Terms & License

WeatherRidge

SYSTEM SETTINGS

TERMS OF USE & LIABILITY WAIVER

1. INFORMATIONAL & RECREATIONAL USE ONLY

2. WEATHER FORECAST & DATA LIMITATIONS

3. ASSUMPTION OF RISK & PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

4. "AS IS" WARRANTY & LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

5. DATA & MAP ATTRIBUTIONS

Per-Parameter Scoring Curves (`scoreOne`)