What is measured?
Temperature, humidity, air pressure, and at some sites wind speed.
In short
The site shows observed conditions from the range
Tararua Wx does not use a public weather feed. It shows readings from project-run nodes placed in the mountains, so visitors can see what the air is actually doing up high rather than only at lower-altitude stations.
How does it travel?
Nodes pass short messages across a long-range radio mesh until they reach home.
How fresh is it?
The public site is rebuilt every 15 to 30 minutes, so it is recent rather than live.
1. Weather nodes
Small stations sitting out in the weather
Each weather node is a compact field station. It includes a Meshtastic radio, power, and sensors that can measure the local conditions around a hut, saddle, or ridge.
That matters because mountain weather can change quickly, and conditions on the range are often very different from what you might see in town.
A typical node
01
Weather sensors
Measure air temperature, humidity, pressure, and sometimes wind.
02
Radio link
Sends short telemetry messages over long-range, low-power radio.
03
Remote location
Placed where visitors care about the actual mountain conditions.
2. Mesh networking
Messages can hop from node to node
Meshtastic uses a mesh network. Instead of every weather node needing a direct line back to home, one node can relay a message onward for another.
In simple terms: if one station cannot reach the gateway in a single hop, nearby nodes can help carry the reading along the ridge until it gets there.
Example mesh path
3. Data journey
How a reading gets to this site
Once a node has taken a reading, the rest of the path is mostly about getting it safely into one place, then turning it into a fast public website.
01
Readings are taken
A node samples the local weather on the range.
02
The mesh carries them
Meshtastic relays the message across nearby nodes if needed.
03
A gateway receives them
One node at home bridges the radio mesh into the home network.
04
Home Assistant stores them
That gives the project a reliable place to keep current and past readings.
05
The site is rebuilt
A scheduled Astro build pulls the latest values and publishes static pages.
End-to-end flow
4. Update process
Why the site updates in steps
This website is rebuilt every 15 to 30 minutes instead of updating every second. That keeps the public site simple, fast, and reliable.
It also means the most recent reading on the mountain may appear here a little later. If the build system or home network is briefly unavailable, the last successful version of the site can stay online until the next update works.
A typical cycle
- Nodes keep sending fresh readings through the mesh.
- Home Assistant stores the latest state and history.
- A scheduled build fetches that data.
- The rebuilt static site is published.
- Visitors load a fast page with the latest successful update.
Keep in mind
Observed conditions, not a forecast
Tararua Wx is designed to show real measurements from the range for general interest and trip planning context. It is not a forecast and should not be used on its own for safety-critical decisions. Always check official forecasts and use your own judgment before heading into the hills.