Date | Comment |
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Monday, April 22, 2024 | Website updated with numerous changes, including current weather conditions and historical flooding since 2016. |
Monday, April 21, 2024 | The Ambient Weather WS-2902 weather station onsite was replaced (with the same model) after nearly seven years of faithful and reliable service. |
Friday, April 12, 2024 | Chat box has been added for real-time communication about observations you're seeing. Chats persist for 24 hours from the time they're posted. |
You are facing westerly skies, overlooking the Allegheny River (mile marker 40.4) at Rosston Eddy Marina, located just outside of Ford City in Manor Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.
GPS coordinates are 40.751638 N, -79.551404 W or 40⁰ 45' 5" N, -79⁰ 33' 5" W.
Winter: Mostly boaters who never say die! Yes, some will boat as often as possible, especially anglers who tend to emerge on warmer rainy days, mostly launching from Crooked Creek. Once in a while, the river will freeze over. The ice jams are fascinating to see, but often come with dangerous flooding and debris.
Spring: Once temperatures rise, the water level drops and the ice melts or otherwise moves out, the crew at Rosston Eddy Marina place docks and boats into the river. This is generally quite a sight to behold; a handful of men deploy the entire infrastructure in less than a week's time. A lot of beautiful waterfowl and wildlife abound!
Summer: During prime boating season, you will see plenty of docks, boats, kayakers, anglers, and lots of human activity! Oftentimes, you'll also see a lot of small aircraft arriving and departing McVille Airport (upper left corner), which also provides flight lessons.
Autumn: After an exciting boating season, the docks and boats are removed from the water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removes their channel markers (buoys) in the water, and some anglers show up to fish again late in the season. Western Pennsylvania's beautiful foliage takes over to round out the season.
You're in luck! Only ten feet from the camera sits an Ambient Weather WS-2902 weather station, which reports conditions in real-time to Weather Underground and to WeatherCloud.
While flooding is not unheard of, it is not overly common; the Allegheny River widens significantly at Rosston Eddy, and water generally has plenty of room to spread out compared to areas upstream and downstream. You might be intrigued to learn that it takes approximately 45 minutes for water to reach the inflow of Lock & Dam No. 6 from the outflow of Lock & Dam No. 7. Flooding normally happens during springtime and when river ice thaws. When water reaches the anchor ring on the retaining wall, the river is at action flood stage (approximately 17 feet). Text overlays may be displayed during inclement conditions to show where the flood stages are in contrast with the water levels. You can also view the NOAA NWS Pittsburgh hydrology report for Lock & Dam 7 at Kittanning (upstream of us) and for Lock & Dam 6 at Clinton (downstream of us) to see up-to-date reports.
Recent crests are provided are from 2016 onward for the Lower Pool gages of Kittanning Lock & Dam No. 7 for weather events where water levels rose to minor flooding levels (approximately 21 feet) for Rosston Eddy. Unfortunately, records were inaccurate, unavailable or otherwise incomplete for the Upper Pool gages of Clinton Lock & Dam No. 6; that data was omitted.
Crest (ft.) | Date | Time (24h) | Cause |
---|---|---|---|
25.30 | 2024 APR 12 | 23:30 ET | Significant Rainfall |
23.78 | 2024 APR 04 | 05:45 ET | Significant Rainfall |
22.66 | 2024 JAN 26 | 06:45 ET | Seasonal Ice Jam |
21.30 | 2022 MAR 08 | 13:00 ET | Significant Rainfall |
27.52 | 2022 FEB 18 | 19:15 ET | Seasonal Ice Jam |
20.54 | 2021 JUL 18 | 14:30 ET | Significant Rainfall |
20.98 | 2020 MAR 30 | 02:45 ET | Significant Rainfall |
24.19 | 2019 FEB 08 | 17:45 ET | Seasonal Ice Jam |
20.17 | 2018 JAN 13 | 02:00 ET | Seasonal Ice Jam |
27.83 | 2017 JAN 13 | 07:15 ET | Seasonal Ice Jam |
No, it does not have any of those capabilities; unlike most politicians, it remains in a fixed position.
You may see labels in the video that highlight local landmarks and features; some include nautical mile markers (generally noted in parenthesis). These may change from time to time to highlight any significant item or activity within the camera's view, or may be turned off to provide a more unobstructed view.
There are other security cameras on-premise which emit infrared light. While not visible to the human eye, infrared light does cast illumination on other objects that this camera does detect. In most cases, you will see objects which appear as bright white lights, particularly when the camera is operating in black-and-white mode, which only occurs in very low light conditions. So, be sure to smile and wave next time you're visiting the marina...you're on camera!
Yes, you are...and there went Buddy Ebsen! No, we're just joking...however, this camera does a decent job at showing several celestial bodies, including those that appear dim to the naked eye. It's much darker at nighttime with less ambient light than what this camera would suggest through its imaging.
We're not entirely sure about the camera, to be honest. It was a cheap, off-brand 1080P 5MP IP68 camera we found for about $60 USD, capable of color at night (SONY STARVIS) and little else. We use RTSP to stream our video to IPCamLive, and they do a great job at streaming out to the rest of the world.
The camera sometimes generates electrical noise that interferes with an amateur radio station that is onsite. It may be turned off temporarily while the station is in operation, but will be back online when operations have wrapped up. We're working on a permanent solution to remediate that.
Why heavens, no! It's just an affectionate name for a private residence, which is also home to an occupant who finds himself immersed in several madcap projects...like this one! However, said occupant has been known to entertain, serve drinks, and be caught partaking of sparking libations...on occasion.