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The Weather Trail
11/18/2002
Listen in RealAudio 
Most nature trails focus on nature, plant life, animals, fitness, or geology. But there is one
trail in North America dedicated to explaining the atmosphere above it. Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton
for The Weather Notebook.
The Walter Orr Roberts Weather Trail opened a couple of years ago in Boulder, Colorado at the
National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR. The Center is located atop a mesa at the
edge of the Rocky Mountains where it overlooks the skyscrapers of Denver and the high plains
of eastern Colorado. The weather trail includes 11 signs along a half-mile loop between the
building and the mountains.
Each sign takes advantage of one of the weather features that pass over Boulder. Cold fronts
which sweep in from the north. Thunderstorms and tornadoes that can cruise the plains to the
east. Wave clouds that gather along the peaks to the west, often painted in Technicolor by the
setting sun. Each sign on the Weather Trail explains a different weather feature, so there is
bound to be a sign correlated to the actual sky on practically any day. The trail also points
out how climate varies with altitude, shaping at least five different ecosystems near the
trail: grasslands, shrub lands, creek beds, Ponderosa pines, and Douglas fir.
The trail is open every day of the year, and is handicap accessible. After visiting the trail,
you can also find weather-related exhibits inside the NCAR building. And by the way, if you're
ever over in Gstaad, Switzerland, be sure to check out the only other weather trail in the
world. The Gstaad trail inspired NCAR to bring the atmosphere down to earth here in the
States.
The Weather Notebook is produced by the Mount Washington Observatory, funded by the National
Science Foundation and underwritten by Subaru, the beauty of All-Wheel Drive. Thanks to Melody
Nester, our marketing manager.
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