What's New

Every Forecast We Can Get New

September 17, 2026

Fog season out here is a stacking problem, not a single-model problem. The METAR, the NWS marine forecast, HRRR-AK for the next 48 hours, the island weather stations, and a local AI that talks like a bush pilot — we already run all of that. Now we’re adding Google DeepMind’s WeatherNext 3: a 64-member ensemble, 15 days out, two cells sitting right over St. Paul and St. George.

It is the newest public weather model Google will let us query. We are not dropping it on the approach pages yet. First it lives in the sandbox, where we score its wind against what actually happened and open the rest of the box — rain, cloud, pressure, temperature — just to see what came with it. It does not see fog, waves, or ice. Those still belong to the tools that do. HRRR-AK still owns the next two days on the weather pages.

                 What we’re stacking
                What already flies — PASN and PAPB METAR, HRRR-AK, NWS PKZ766, the PAUA2 and SGXA2 buoys, and the commentary that reads them
What we just plugged in — WeatherNext 3, scored against the METAR and the buoys, 15 days of wind spread, the extra surface fields in a separate “what’s in the box” page
The rule — keep every honest forecast we can reach, bench the new one until it earns a place, and never pretend a wind model is a fog forecast

            

The point is the same as it always was: use everything that is actually available — including the bleeding-edge stuff — and get the best picture we can for people who have to fly and fish here.

What’s in the box The scoreboard

The Armchair Dispatcher — Was the Old-Timers' Schedule Right? New

September 2, 2026

Everyone's heard it at the post office: back in the day the plane had to come early morning or late afternoon, and anything in between was asking for a scrub. We pulled three years of hourly weather observations for both runways and put the folklore on trial. The verdict: half right. Late afternoon really is the best window — 1 to 5 PM is the calmest stretch of the day at both islands. But the early-morning half is backwards: 3 to 8 AM is the worst time on the tape. The fog doesn't roll in at lunch; it sleeps over and burns off after it.

                 On the Page
                The tape — hour-by-hour odds of each island sitting below approach minimums in fog season, with the actual scheduled arrival times plotted right on the curve
The box score — June through September, month by month: an 8 AM arrival at St. Paul in July flies into 40% odds; the 3 PM slot, 11%
The variables — El Niño, whether the ice pack reached the islands, and how warm the water ran, season by season. Last winter the ice made it to both islands for the first time in the record — and this summer was the foggiest of the three
The wisdom — a rotating collection of overheard classics, from "Fuel stop?! We got fuel here!" to "Anyone else on standby till next year?"

            

It's all real data — the same approach minimums the approach pages use, scored against every hourly observation since September 2023 — but the spirit is strictly coffee-shop. Armchair dispatching is free; the real dispatchers answer to Part 135.

Take the Couch

Anchorage Center, in Writing New

August 24, 2026

The FAA keeps a remote radio site out here — an RCAG, "Remote Center Air/Ground" — that carries Anchorage Center's voice across the Bering Sea. If you've ever had a scanner on, you've heard it: controllers a thousand miles away talking to airliners crossing overhead. Our receiver listens to it, and now our own machine writes it down.

                 What You Get
                Every transmission, timestamped in Alaska time — silence is thrown away on the spot, so the page is nothing but radio
Click a line to hear it — the actual audio, or press play and replay the whole day in order
The traffic alongside it — a live map of what our St. George antenna sees while Center is talking
Two weeks of history — text and audio both, deleted automatically after that

            

A warning worth repeating: this is beta and experimental. The transcription is speech-to-text on scratchy VHF, and it will mangle callsigns, numbers and phraseology. Trust the audio, not the words — and never use any of it operationally. Like everything else here, it runs on our own hardware on the island: no cloud service, no subscription.

Open the Radio Log

Go-Arounds, Holds & Replay — Our Antenna Tells the Story New

August 21, 2026

Thursday evening AER66 came down the approach at St. Paul, got to 700 feet, and climbed straight back into the fog. It held for twelve minutes at 5,000 feet, gave up, flew to St. George, went around there too, and landed on the second try. FlightAware scored that day backwards on both islands. Our own ADS-B antenna saw every minute of it — so now the antenna has the last word.

                 What's New
                Go-arounds and holds on the Flight Patterns page — every missed approach and every holding pattern at either island since the receiver went up last October: 40 go-arounds and 10 holds so far, including one plane that circled St. Paul for 41 minutes
Replay — press play on any of them and watch it happen: the plane moves along its track with the clock, altitude and speed, at up to 120× speed. Scrub back and forth; share the link
The ledger checks the antenna — on Made It In?, a plane that got low at the field and then stayed off the antenna is scored as landed, whatever FlightAware's board says; one that climbed back out is a divert. Each receipt now carries a line like "our antenna: 1 missed approach 6:19 PM, went on to St. George"

            

The rule behind it is simple and came from ten months of tracks: every plane that lands here stays on the ground a good while, and a go-around is back on the screen within two minutes. Nothing in between. The patterns page used to wait for a watcher on the receiver to notice circling — it never once caught a missed approach. Now it doesn't have to.

Watch the Replays The Ledger

Made It In? — The Pribilof Flight Ledger

August 19, 2026

Everyone out here knows the drill: the flight is scheduled, the fog has other plans, and somebody spends another night in Anchorage. Now there's a public record of it. The new Made It In? page keeps score of every scheduled arrival into St. Paul and St. George — and whether it actually landed. Fun for nobody, useful for everybody: travelers get receipts, airlines get a scoreboard.

                 What's on the Ledger
                The score — each island's season percentage of scheduled flights that actually made it in
The season, day by day — one tile per day: green when everything landed, red when the fog won, split when it was a fight
By airline — made it / cancelled / no-show, per carrier. This is the keeping-them-honest part
The receipts — every flight, every day, with its outcome. "Nothing scheduled — the fog won by default."

            

The counting is scrupulously fair: a flight still in the air is never scored as a miss, a delayed flight re-filed later the same day counts once, and only carriers that file plans can be tracked at all. The ledger starts August 19, 2026 with no backfill — so as the fog season grinds on, the picture only gets more honest.

Open the Ledger

How Far Do We Hear? — Reception Coverage, Now in 3D New

August 18, 2026

Our St. George ADS-B antenna has logged over 150,000 reception cells and heard aircraft out to 260 nautical miles. That record now has its own page: a compass-rose plot of the maximum range we've heard an aircraft in every one of 361 directions, with a separate ring for low-altitude coverage — the one that matters for island traffic.

                 And Then There's the 3D Viewer
                The whole reception volume — every altitude layer we've ever heard aircraft in, floating over the Alaska coastline. Spin it, zoom it, fly through it.
Color-coded altitude bands — jets above 40,000 ft reach out hundreds of miles; traffic below 5,000 ft hugs the island. You can see the physics of the radio horizon.
Replay the build-up — a timeline scrubber plays back how coverage accumulated, hour by hour
Three ways to look — density volume, detection cone, or raw point cloud

            

Sparse directions mean "nothing has flown there yet," not "we can't hear there" — the picture keeps filling in as traffic crosses each bearing. Fair warning: the 3D viewer is a heavier page, best on a decent connection.

Reception Coverage Open the 3D Viewer

Who's Flying In Today — Filed Flight Plans, Live New

August 18, 2026

Both approach pages now open with a Today's Inbound Flights card — every flight with a plan filed into St. Paul (PASN) or St. George (PAPB) today, straight from FlightAware. No more wondering whether the Saab is actually coming: if a plan is on file, it's on the card before the aircraft ever shows up on radar.

                 What Each Flight Shows
                Who it is — Aleutian Airways, Ace Air Cargo, Grant, charters — callsign and carrier, not just a number
The filed plan itself — aircraft type, filed altitude, time en route, and the actual routing (e.g. ANC TED J511 DLG EHM J619 SPY)
Where it stands — Scheduled, En Route, Landed, or Cancelled, with departure time and ETA in Alaska time
Today only — the card never dresses up yesterday's schedule as today's

            

Between the fog card, the ILS status, and now the day's inbound list, the approach pages answer the whole question in one look: is anyone coming, and will the weather let them in?

St. Paul Approaches St. George Approaches

Animated Wind Maps on Both Weather Pages New

August 18, 2026

The St. Paul and St. George weather pages now carry a live animated wind map — the flowing-particle style you know from windy.com, but built on the 3 km HRRR-Alaska model and centered on the Pribilofs.

                 How It Works
                Moving particles — wind direction and speed at a glance, with a color-coded speed layer underneath and a legend that matches
48 hours ahead — drag the slider through 3-hourly frames; every time label carries its day, so "4 PM" can't be mistaken for the wrong afternoon
Fresh 4× daily — regenerated from each new HRRR-Alaska model cycle
Built for island internet — the grid is thinned to keep the map light on satellite bandwidth

            

It sits alongside the HRRR fog & visibility outlook already on those pages — one card for whether you'll see, one map for how hard it's blowing.

St. Paul Weather St. George Weather

Fish Out of St. Paul? Meet Our Sister Site New

August 5, 2026

If you're in St. Paul and you fish, check out our sister site chagix.com — all things commercial fishing in St. Paul. It's the halibut fleet dashboard for IPHC Area 4C, built for the boats working out of here.

                 What's Over There
                Tides & sea temperature — live, for St. Paul
Weather, forecast and Wx maps — including a 3 km HRRR-Alaska fog and wind readout for the island
Bait & fuel — what's available and what it's running
AIS vessels and longliners — who's on the grounds right now
Skipper-reported sea conditions — from the fleet, not a model

            

Not the Game

Worth saying plainly, since the names match: chagix.com is the working fleet dashboard, not the fishing game further down this page. The game is Chagix̂ Chagix̂ here on Pribilof Traffic. Same word, two very different reasons to open your phone.

Visit chagix.com Pribilof Marine Traffic

Chagix̂ Chagix̂! — The Fishing Game, Redrawn New

August 5, 2026

The island fishing game has had its biggest overhaul since it went up. Every fish was redrawn, the ocean around them got busier, and catching anything is no longer just a matter of dropping a hook and hoping.

                 What Changed
                The fish tell you what they want — drop your line and any fish nearby shows whether it's after pollock or herring. Switch bait before your hook reaches it. Qalagax̂ (sculpin) still eat anything.
Every species redrawn — Chagix̂, Atxidax̂ and Qalagax̂ rebuilt from a shared art library and all facing the way they actually swim; the crab is now a proper red king crab
A livelier ocean — puffins work the surface, and a killer whale comes through now and then. The fish scatter when it does.
Phones get the whole game — the mobile version is no longer the cut-down one
Your best score sticks — each fishing spot remembers what you've caught there and shows it on the spot list

            

Cleaner Endings

Running out of time with an empty boat used to throw a plain browser alert and reload the whole page — the worst round got the ugliest exit. Every round now finishes the same way, and playing again puts you back on the water instead of refetching the site.

Play Chagix̂ Chagix̂!

Home Page Rebuilt & Streamlined New

August 5, 2026

The front page has been rebuilt from scratch. The old layout had grown into one long undifferentiated wall of links — every tool on the site competing equally for attention, no matter how often you actually used it. The new page is organized, darker, and considerably quicker to scan.

                 What Changed
                Grouped into sections — Aviation, Aircraft Tracking, Weather, Marine & Ice, Cameras & Maps, and More, each with its own accent color
Daily Data up top — yesterday's highlights promoted to a hero card instead of being buried mid-list
NEW badges that expire themselves — each card carries its own added-date and the badge disappears after 30 days, so nothing sits marked "new" for a year
Dark hub styling — matches the approach pages, weather pages, and the rest of the converted site
Works properly on a phone — two columns on small screens, three on tablets, four on desktop

            

Elsewhere

There's also a new card pointing at pribilof.info — a small directory page linking the other sites built alongside this one, including Over Alaska and Chagix. If you came here looking for one of those, that's the shortest route.

Visit the Home Page pribilof.info

Flight Patterns — Spotting Survey Flights New

August 5, 2026

Most aircraft crossing the Bering Sea fly a straight line and keep going. A few don't — they circle, fly back and forth over the same water, or work a grid. That flying usually means something specific: a fisheries survey, a marine mammal count, aerial mapping, a search, or an aircraft holding while it waits on weather.

The new Flight Patterns page watches the St. George ADS-B receiver continuously and flags those flights on its own. Nobody has to be looking at the radar when it happens.

                 What It Detects
                Racetracks — long back-and-forth legs over the same stretch of water, the classic survey or patrol pattern
Circles & orbits — an aircraft holding, or turning repeatedly over one spot
Survey grids — systematic parallel passes covering an area, typical of mapping work

            

What the Page Shows

Detection log: every pattern found, newest first — callsign, pattern type, altitude, number of legs, and the area covered
Plain-language position: each detection is placed relative to the islands, e.g. "13.2 NM S of St. Paul," rather than raw latitude and longitude
Radar link: one click opens that specific aircraft on the live tar1090 map
Live map: everything currently in receiver range, with any aircraft actively flying a pattern highlighted in amber
Honest about outages: if the receiver goes down the log stays readable and says plainly that it's showing last known data — it doesn't quietly show you stale numbers as if they were current

The First Catch

The system's first detection was AER66 on July 28 — a racetrack pattern flown at 4,000 feet covering roughly 52.7 square nautical miles, about 13 miles south of St. Paul. That is what a survey run looks like from the ground.

Detections are genuinely uncommon, so the page will often be quiet — that's expected. It's watching around the clock either way, and the log keeps everything it has ever found.

View Flight Patterns

Approach Pages Redesigned — PASN & PAPB New

April 5, 2026

The approach pages for St. Paul Airport (PASN) and St. George Airport (PAPB) have been completely redesigned from the ground up. The old pages were functional but buried the most important information. The new design puts what pilots and planners actually need front and center.

                 What's New
                Flight category hero — VFR / MVFR / IFR / LIFR displayed large and color-coded at the top, with how long it's been in that category
Live METAR strip — raw METAR string with observation age in minutes, amber warning when data is over 90 minutes old
Conditions grid — wind, gusts, visibility, ceiling, temp, dewpoint, altimeter, and weather phenomena all in one clean view
Cloud layer pills — each cloud layer shown individually with type, height, and ceiling flag
AI conditions summary — bush pilot-style commentary generated by local Ollama AI, updated every 30 minutes
Wind compass — live SVG compass showing runway orientation and wind arrow with speed barbs
Runway wind components — headwind and crosswind breakdown for each runway end, with favored runway badge
Instrument approach cards — each approach (ILS, LOC, RNAV GPS) gets its own card showing above/below minimums, ceiling vs required, visibility vs required, and crosswind status
Flight category history — color-coded timeline bar showing how long the airport has been in each category, with a detailed row list
NOAA forecast strip — next 4 forecast periods with temperature, wind, and precipitation probability bar
Nearby airport badge — live flight category for the other island at a glance
Live refresh indicator — pulsing dot showing data is live, with seconds-since-last-update counter

            

Both pages update every 60 seconds automatically. No refresh needed. Check them out: St. Paul Approaches · St. George Approaches

New: Bering Sea Ice Page New

April 3, 2026

We've added a dedicated Sea Ice page for monitoring Bering Sea ice conditions around the Pribilof Islands. Sea ice near St. George is rare — typically only December through April — but when it arrives it matters for fishing, travel, and safety.

What's on the Page

NWS Alaska sea ice maps, live webcam, latest timelapse video, and the full Bering Sea text forecast — all in one place, updated automatically.

Features

Ice Concentration Map (CT.jpg): Current ice coverage across the Bering Sea from NWS Alaska Forecast Center
Ice Forecast Map: Predicted ice conditions for the coming period
Stage of Development Analysis: Ice type and age analysis
NWS Text Forecast: Bering Sea section of the official NWS Alaska sea ice forecast, fetched every 6 hours and displayed in the page header
Live Webcam: North shore webcam auto-refreshes every 30 seconds — useful for visually confirming ice on the shoreline
Latest Daily Timelapse: Most recent timelapse video to watch ice movement when ice is nearby
Auto-refresh: Maps refresh daily with a cache-busting datestamp; date badges show when each map was loaded

Visit it at pribiloftraffic.com/seaice/ — also linked from the SeaSky STG hub.

AIS History Database - Complete Vessel Tracking System New

November 19, 2025

We've launched a comprehensive vessel tracking history database that automatically logs every AIS detection in the Pribilof Islands area! This system provides detailed analytics, visit patterns, and fishing activity tracking for all vessels.

What's Tracked

For ALL Vessels: Position history, visit sessions, dwell time, closest approaches, and all-time statistics.
For 19 Tracked Fishing Vessels: Fishing activity detection (speed ≤5 knots), fishing vs. transiting time, detailed session stats, and 30-day rolling summaries.

Key Features

Live Statistics Dashboard: Unique vessels, total detections, visits, and currently active vessels
Active Visits Display: Real-time view of vessels currently in the area with duration, distance, and speed
Tracked Vessels Summary: Detailed cards for 19 monitored fishing vessels with comprehensive statistics
Fishing Activity Analysis: Automatic detection of apparent fishing operations (speed ≤5 knots)
Interactive Filtering: Sort by recent activity, hours in zone, sessions, or fishing activity
Historical Links: Direct links to chagix.fish for multi-year tracking data

Tracked Vessels

We monitor 19 longline fishing vessels that frequently operate in the Pribilof Zone: ALASKA MIST, ALASKAN LEADER, ARCTIC PROWLER, BARANOF, BEAUTY BAY, BERING LEADER, BLUE NORTH, BRISTOL LEADER, CLIPPER ENDEAVOR, CLIPPER EPIC, CLIPPER SURPRISE, FLICKA, FRONTIER EXPLORER, FRONTIER MARINER, FRONTIER SPIRIT, LILLI ANN, NORTHERN LEADER, SIBERIAN SEA, and US LIBERATOR.

Two Databases

General AIS Database: Tracks all vessels with position history, visit sessions, and dwell time calculations.
Tracked Vessels Database: Special detailed tracking for monitored fishing vessels with fishing activity analysis.

Automatic Updates

The system runs automatically every 5 minutes, logging all vessel detections, updating visit sessions, identifying fishing activity, and generating JSON data for the web interface. The webpage auto-refreshes every 2 minutes to show the latest data.

CLI Query Tool

For advanced users, we've included a command-line tool (ais_report.py) that can query the databases for statistics, active visits, vessel history, long-duration vessels, and detailed tracked vessel reports.

Explore History Database View Live AIS

Technical Details: SQLite databases, Python automation, JSON APIs, responsive web interface with dark mode support. All timestamps use America/Anchorage timezone (AKDT/AKST). Data retention is indefinite with automatic cleanup of stale sessions.

Share Buttons Now Site-Wide - Spread the Word!

November 12, 2025

We've added share buttons to over 20 pages across Pribilof Traffic! Now you can easily share weather conditions, approach status, timelapses, and more directly to Twitter/X with one click.

What Gets Shared?

Each share button is smart and includes relevant data:

Weather Pages: Current temperature, wind speed, wind chill from SGXA2 (St. George) and PAUA2 (St. Paul)
Approach Pages: Real-time status (Above/Below Minimums, Sensors Down), visibility, and ceiling
METAR Sensor Status: Uptime percentages for both airports with #NWS #NWSAlaska tags
Timelapses: Links to daily/weekly/monthly videos with #Timelapse #Wildlife tags
Marine Traffic: Current vessel count near the islands
AI Weather Observer: AI vs NOAA forecast comparisons

Hashtags for Discoverability

Every share includes relevant hashtags to help people discover the site:

#PribilofIslands #Alaska #BeringSea
#BushAviation #Aviation #Weather
#NWS #NWSAlaska (for sensor status)
#MarineTraffic #Fishing (for vessels)
#Timelapse #Wildlife (for webcam content)

Help Promote the Site!

Found something interesting? Hit the purple share button on any page to post it to Twitter/X! Every share helps more people discover weather and wildlife from the remote Pribilof Islands.

Pages with Share Buttons

Home Page

Weather Pages (2)

Approach Pages (8)

METAR Sensor Status

Timelapse Videos

Webcam Live

Marine Traffic

AI Weather Observer

Island Battle Widget

Daily Data Surprise

News Page

SeaSky Hub

SkyStats Page Redesigned - Now with Embedded Dashboard! New

November 11, 2025

The SkyStats page has been completely redesigned with a cleaner, card-based layout and an embedded live dashboard! No more text-heavy descriptions—now you can see the actual statistics right on the page.

Embedded Live Dashboard: View real-time aircraft statistics directly on the page via iframe
Card-Based Layout: Clean, visual presentation of features with icon cards
Less Text, More Action: Condensed information into digestible cards instead of long paragraphs
Mobile-Friendly: Responsive design with "Open Full Dashboard" button for better mobile experience

What Can You See?

The live SkyStats dashboard shows comprehensive aircraft tracking statistics including:

Above Me: The 5 nearest aircraft with full routing information
Aircraft Counts: How many aircraft flew over in the past hour, day, and all-time
Speed & Altitude Records: Fastest, slowest, highest, and lowest aircraft detected
Route Data: Top airports, airlines, countries, and most common routes
Interesting Aircraft: Military, government, and notable civilian aircraft

Want to Know How Many 747s Flew Over?

Check out the live dashboard! See aircraft types, registration numbers, routing information, and detailed statistics about every plane that flies over St. George Island.

View SkyStats Dashboard

Chagix̂ Chagix̂! - A Game of Chance Now in the Sandbox New

November 1, 2025

Over 3,600 Lines of Code!

A fully-featured browser-based fishing simulator built from scratch with real-time weather, tides, equipment progression, and online leaderboards. All running in your browser!

We're excited to announce Chagix̂ Chagix̂! (Unangan for "fish fish"), a game of chance and skill now available in our experimental sandbox. This isn't just a simple fishing game—it's a comprehensive simulation of fishing in the Bering Sea waters around the Pribilof Islands.

The Numbers

3,627

Total Lines of Code

2,672

JavaScript (Game Logic)

521

HTML (Interface)

434

Python (Leaderboard)

Game Features

Multiple Fish Species - Catch halibut, salmon, rockfish, and more with unique behaviors
Real-Time Weather - Dynamic weather affects fishing conditions and catch rates
Tide System - Fish behavior changes with tidal cycles
Equipment Upgrades - Earn money to buy better rods, reels, and bait
Online Leaderboard - Compete with other players worldwide
Unangan Language - Learn fish names in the indigenous language
Progression System - Level up and unlock new fishing spots

Why It's in the Sandbox

This is an experimental project—a labor of love and a technical showcase. We're still tweaking gameplay balance, adding features, and squashing bugs. Your feedback helps shape the game's development!

Play Chagix̂ Chagix̂! Now

Note: Chagix̂ Chagix̂! left the sandbox. Play it from Games on the home page.

Help Train Our Weather AI - Pattern Recognition Now Live! New

October 26, 2025

You Can Make a Difference!

Help us build the world's first crowdsourced St. George Island weather pattern database. Your contributions will train AI to automatically recognize rainbows, squalls, storms, and more!

We're launching an exciting new project where YOU can directly contribute to improving our weather AI! The Pattern Recognition system lets visitors help label webcam images to build a training dataset.

How It Works

View Random Images - See webcam captures from St. George Island
Label What You See - Select from 9 categories: Rainbow, Snow Squall, Rain Squall, Rough Seas, Clear Sky, Fog, Dramatic Clouds, Night/Dark, or Normal Conditions
Submit Your Vote - Your contribution is saved and counted
Build Consensus - After 3+ votes with 60% agreement, images are validated

Why This Matters

Train Future AI - Validated images will train our AI to automatically detect weather events
St. George Specific - Generic AI models don't understand our unique Bering Sea conditions
Improve Accuracy - More labeled data = smarter AI = better automatic detection
Citizen Science - Be part of building something unique for remote Alaska

What We're Looking For

🌈

Rainbows

❄️

Snow Squalls

🌊

Rough Seas

☁️

Dramatic Skies

Takes Just 30 Seconds!

Each image takes about 30 seconds to label. Even labeling 5-10 images helps build our dataset. Your local knowledge of St. George weather is invaluable!

Start Labeling Now

What You Get

Track Your Contributions - See how many images you've labeled
Never See the Same Image Twice - Smart system remembers what you've labeled
Help Build Something Unique - Be part of creating the first St. George weather pattern database
Future Benefits - Once trained, the AI will automatically flag interesting moments for the Historical Gallery

Start contributing: https://pribiloftraffic.com/seaskystg/patterns/

Goal: 50 validated images to start training our first AI model!

AI Weather Observer - Forecast Verification System New

October 26, 2025

Introducing the AI Weather Observer - an intelligent system that analyzes webcam images to verify NOAA weather forecasts for St. George Island!

How It Works

Twice daily (11:55 AM & 5:55 PM AKDT), our AI vision model examines the webcam image and compares what it sees with the NOAA forecast and SGXA2 sensor data.

What the AI Analyzes:

Sky Conditions: Clear, cloudy, overcast, fog
Visibility: How far can it see?
Precipitation: Rain, snow, or clear
Sea State: Calm, choppy, or rough (focusing on distant ocean, not shoreline)
Temperature: SGXA2 vs forecast (±3°F = accurate)
Wind: SGXA2 vs forecast (±5 mph = accurate)

Key Features:

Accuracy Tracking: Historical database tracks forecast accuracy over time
Visual Verification: See the exact webcam image the AI analyzed
Honest Comparisons: AI calls out forecast misses, not just successes
History Page: View past observations and accuracy trends
Efficient AI: Uses Moondream vision model - runs on local GPU

Why This Matters

Weather forecasts for remote Bering Sea islands can be challenging. This system provides ground truth verification, helping us understand forecast reliability and catch interesting weather phenomena the AI spots in real-time.

View the AI Observer: https://pribiloftraffic.com/aistgwx/

Part of: SeaSky STG Hub - St. George Island Webcam Enhancement Projects

Technical Infrastructure Page - Behind the Scenes New

October 26, 2025

Ever wondered what powers Pribilof Traffic? We've created a comprehensive Technical Infrastructure page that showcases all the hardware, software, and systems running 24/7 to bring you real-time data from the Pribilof Islands!

What's Inside

Detailed breakdown of our distributed network: Raspberry Pi nodes, Docker containers, AI models, Python scripts, and data sources.

Infrastructure Highlights:

2 Raspberry Pi Nodes: PAPB (Downtown St. George) and PASN (St. Paul Harbor)
15+ Docker Containers: ADS-B, ACARS, AIS, Ollama AI server
3 AI Models: Weather Observer, Pribobs Commentary, Bush Pilot Commentary
20+ Python Scripts: Data collection, monitoring, automation

What You'll Learn:

Remote Data Collection: How we track aircraft, decode ACARS, monitor marine traffic
AI & Machine Learning: Local GPU-powered models analyzing weather and generating commentary
Docker Applications: Complete containerized stack for data processing
Python Applications: Custom scripts running everything from webcam archival to sensor monitoring
Data Sources: NOAA, METAR, ADS-B, ACARS, AIS - where all the data comes from
Web Infrastructure: Nginx, SSL, databases, and automation

Location Details

PAPB (Downtown St. George): ADS-B, ACARS, Webcam
PASN (St. Paul Harbor): AIS Marine Traffic

Explore the tech: https://pribiloftraffic.com/technical/

See exactly how we collect, process, and display real-time data from one of the most remote locations in Alaska!

St. George Webcam Timelapses Now Live! New

October 22, 2025

The first St. George Island webcam timelapse is now available! Watch an entire day compressed into a beautiful 60-second video.

Smart Daylight-Only Capture

Our timelapse system automatically filters out boring nighttime footage, showing only daylight hours from 1 hour before sunrise to 1 hour after sunset. This means you see the island come alive at dawn and settle at dusk - no black screens!

Watch Timelapses

How It Works

Automatic Daily Videos - Generated every night at 10 PM Alaska time
Intelligent Filtering - Uses astronomical calculations to determine sunrise/sunset times
Seasonal Adaptation - Longer videos in summer (more daylight), shorter in winter
30 FPS Smooth Playback - High-quality H.264 encoding at 30 frames per second
Weekly & Monthly - Coming soon: longer-term timelapses showing weather patterns

Technical Details

The system captures images every 15 seconds throughout the day. For October, this means:

~12 hours of daylight captured (9 AM - 9 PM)
~1,800 images per day during daylight hours
60 seconds of video showing the entire day
67% reduction in nighttime images automatically excluded

First timelapse available: October 21, 2025 - Watch the fog roll in, the light change, and the island's daily rhythm!

St. George Live Conditions Dashboard New

October 21, 2025

We're excited to introduce the St. George Live Conditions Dashboard - a comprehensive, real-time view of everything happening on St. George Island!

All-in-One Dashboard

View live webcam, weather data, forecasts, and marine traffic all in one beautiful, auto-updating page.

View Live Dashboard

What's Included

Live Webcam - Updates every 15 seconds with click-to-fullscreen on mobile
Wind & Temperature - Real-time data from SGXA2 weather station
Sunrise/Sunset Times - Accurate astronomical calculations for St. George
Marine Traffic - Live AIS vessel tracking near the island
7-Day Forecast - Complete weather outlook with temperatures and conditions
Marine Forecast - Pribilof Islands nearshore waters forecast
Timelapse Videos - Quick link to daily/weekly/monthly timelapses

Mobile-Optimized

The dashboard is fully responsive and works great on mobile devices. Tap the webcam image to view it fullscreen - perfect for checking conditions on the go!

Part of SeaSky STG

This dashboard is the second active project in the SeaSky STG webcam enhancement hub, which also includes:

Timelapse Videos - Daily, weekly, and monthly compilations (already live!)
AI Weather Observer - Coming soon
Object Detection - Track aircraft, vessels, and wildlife (coming soon)
Historical Gallery - Best/worst weather moments (coming soon)

Quick Links:

New Marine Traffic Hub with AI Commentary NEW

October 21, 2025

We've launched a unified Marine Traffic Hub that combines AIS vessel tracking from both St. George and St. Paul Islands with AI-powered commentary about current marine activity in the Bering Sea!

Features:

✅ Unified Dashboard - View vessels from both islands in one place
✅ AI Marine Observer - Real-time commentary about vessel activity, similar to our weather observers
✅ Vessel Alert System - Flashing red banner when vessels approach within 20 nautical miles
✅ Detailed Vessel Info - Name, type, distance, heading, speed, and callsign for each vessel
✅ Unlimited Range - Track all vessels detected by our VHF AIS receivers
✅ Direct Links - Quick access to individual island AIS maps for detailed views

Our two VHF AIS receivers continuously monitor marine traffic around the Pribilof Islands. The AI observer analyzes vessel positions, types, and movements to provide engaging commentary about what's happening on the water—from fishing vessels and Coast Guard cutters to cargo ships passing through the Bering Sea.

View Marine Traffic Hub

METAR Sensor Status - Real-Time Weather Station Monitoring New

October 20, 2025

Introducing METAR Sensor Status - a comprehensive monitoring system that tracks the health of individual weather sensors at both PAPB and PASN airports!

Individual Sensor Tracking

Visit the METAR Sensor Status page to see real-time status of all four sensors at each airport: wind, temperature, visibility, and pressure.

Real-Time Status - See which sensors are working or down at PAPB and PASN
Downtime Tracking - Shows how long sensors have been offline
Historical Database - All sensor checks logged to SQLite database
Uptime Statistics - Calculate monthly and yearly uptime percentages
Incident History - Track all sensor outages with start/end times
Collection Start Dates - Shows when data collection began for each airport
Auto-Refresh - Page updates every 2 minutes automatically

Why This Matters

Individual sensors can fail while the METAR station remains partially operational. This page helps pilots and operators understand exactly what weather data is available. When sensors fail, planes can still land, but pilots need to know which data sources are reliable.

Check it out: View Sensor Status →

SkyStats - Comprehensive ADS-B Statistics Dashboard New

October 19, 2025

Introducing SkyStats - a powerful aircraft tracking statistics platform that provides detailed insights into all the air traffic flying over the Pribilof Islands!

Real-Time Aircraft Statistics

Visit the SkyStats dashboard to explore comprehensive statistics about aircraft detected by our ADS-B receiver on St. George Island.

Above Me - Live view of the 5 nearest aircraft with full routing information
Aircraft Counts - Total aircraft seen in the past hour, day, and all-time
Route Tracking - Complete routing data including origin and destination airports
Top Airlines - See which airlines fly over the islands most frequently
Geographic Stats - Unique countries, airports, and most common routes
Interesting Aircraft - Military, government, police, and notable civilian aircraft
Speed & Altitude Records - Fastest, slowest, highest, and lowest aircraft tracked
Top Airports & Countries - Most common domestic/international airports and origin/destination countries

Built with Modern Tech

SkyStats uses Go, PostgreSQL, Svelte, and DaisyUI to process aircraft.json data from readsb, with route enrichment from adsb-db API and interesting aircraft detection via plane-alert-db. Open source on GitHub!

Check it out: Launch SkyStats Dashboard → | Learn More →

Daily Data - Your Daily Digest of Island Highlights New

October 19, 2025

Introducing Daily Data - an AI-powered page that automatically finds the most interesting things happening around the Pribilof Islands every day!

AI-Generated Highlights

Visit the Daily Data page to see yesterday's coolest moments, automatically discovered and presented in easy-to-read cards.

Interesting Aircraft - Catches bizjets, military planes, and aircraft with fun tags like "Must Be Nice!" and "Flying Rust Bucket"
Weather Extremes - Highlights crazy wind gusts, temperature swings, and brutal conditions
Marine Traffic - Spots vessels near the islands in the middle of the Bering Sea
ACARS Messages - Live datalink messages from aircraft overhead
Live Webcam - During daylight hours, links to the St. George webcam with fun comments
AI Commentary - Enthusiastic intro that points out the coolest stuff and encourages exploration

Updates Every 4 Hours

Fresh highlights appear every 4 hours, so there's always something new to discover. The webcam link automatically appears during daylight (8 AM - 8 PM Alaska time) and disappears at night.

Check it out: The Daily Data button is now featured at the top of the homepage with a purple gradient and star ⭐ - you can't miss it!

Monthly Weather Records & Enhanced System Monitoring New

October 19, 2025

Two major updates to help you track weather patterns and system reliability across the Pribilof Islands!

Monthly Weather Records

The Islands Comparison page now displays monthly weather records for both St. George and St. Paul Islands. Track the highest gusts, strongest winds, warmest and coldest temperatures for the entire month!

Monthly Tracking - Records automatically reset on the 1st of each month
Complete History - Data available from October 1, 2025 onwards
Side-by-Side Comparison - See which island had the most extreme conditions
Real-Time Updates - Records update every 30 seconds as new data arrives

METAR Sensor Monitoring

The System Status page now tracks individual METAR sensors! See exactly which sensors are working and how long each has been down.

Individual Sensor Tracking - Wind, Temperature, Visibility, and Pressure sensors monitored separately
Downtime Logging - Shows "down for X days" or "down for X hours" for each sensor
Partial Outage Detection - PAPB METAR often has some sensors working while others are down
Visual Status Indicators - ✓/✗ for each sensor shown inline
Sensor Downtime Section - Yellow warning boxes at bottom of page show current issues

4 Sensors Tracked

2 METAR Stations

18 Days of Records

10min Update Interval

Check it out:

Bush Pilot Approach Commentary New

October 18, 2025

We've launched an exciting new feature: AI-powered bush pilot commentary for both PASN and PAPB approach pages! Get real-time, entertaining updates about approach conditions with traffic awareness and local personality.

What's New

Every 30 minutes (or every 2 minutes when traffic is detected), our local AI generates bush pilot-style commentary analyzing approach conditions, runway winds, and nearby aircraft for both St. Paul (PASN) and St. George (PAPB) airports.

Traffic Awareness - Detects approaching aircraft within 15 miles and overhead cruise traffic within 50 miles
Dynamic Updates - Switches to 2-minute updates when active traffic is detected
All Approaches Monitored - PASN: ILS 36, RNAV 18/36, LOC/DME BC 18 | PAPB: RNAV 11/29, VOR 11
Runway Wind Analysis - Calculates headwind/crosswind components and favored runway
METAR Validation - Honest "no data" commentary when weather station is offline
Island-Specific Humor - PASN: reindeer, fur seals, auklets | PAPB: puffins, blue foxes, Flyby Mary Ann, Emil
Overhead Traffic - Mentions cargo flights cruising overhead when no active approaches
Local AI Processing - Runs on Ollama (Llama 3.2 3B) with zero cloud costs

2 Airports

7 Approaches

15mi Traffic Radius

$0 Monthly Cost

Check it out:

Traffic Alert Feature

When aircraft are detected approaching either airport (within 15 miles, below 7,000 ft, and descending), a red alert banner appears with real-time callsign, distance, altitude, and bearing. The commentary switches to urgent mode with 2-minute updates!

AI-Powered Weather Commentary

October 17, 2025

We've introduced an exciting new feature: AI-generated humorous weather commentary on our Islands Comparison page!

How It Works

Every 30 minutes, a local AI model (Llama 3.2 3B) analyzes current weather conditions on both St. George and St. Paul Islands and generates entertaining, island-specific commentary that compares the two islands.

Local AI Processing - Runs entirely on our server using Ollama (no cloud costs!)
Island-Specific References - Mentions local landmarks like High Bluffs, Ulakia Hill, Polovina Hill, and the Harbor
Wildlife & Locals - References puffins, blue foxes, fur seals, and even local resident Emil
Real Weather Data - Uses actual conditions from SGXA2 and PAUA2 weather stations
Humorous Tone - Colorful, slightly sarcastic commentary that makes weather fun!
Updates Every 30 Minutes - Fresh commentary 48 times per day

48 Updates per Day

4-6s Generation Time

$0 Monthly Cost

100% Local Processing

Check it out: Islands Comparison Page

New Islands Comparison Page

October 17, 2025

Ever wonder how different the weather is between St. George and St. Paul, even though they're only 40 miles apart? Our new comparison page shows you at a glance!

Live Comparison Stats - Temperature difference, windier island, better flight conditions, and wind chill comparison
Side-by-Side Current Conditions - Real-time weather from both islands displayed together
Airport Conditions (METAR) - Flight category, visibility, clouds, and wind for PAPB and PASN
Weekly Records - Highest gusts, warmest/coldest temps for both islands this week
Auto-Refresh - Updates every 30 seconds with the latest data

Visit: Pribilof Islands Weather Comparison

PAPB Approaches - Complete Overhaul

January 17, 2025

St. George Island approach pages have been completely modernized to match the PASN implementation!

New Approaches Hub - Central page showcasing all 3 St. George approaches
Flight Category Badges - VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR indicators with color coding
Modern Wind Compasses - Resized and optimized (220px desktop, 160px mobile)
Back Navigation - Easy return to approaches hub from individual pages
Fixed Ceiling Display - Shows "Unlimited (Clear)" instead of "99999 feet"
Removed Trend Analysis - Cleaned up outdated 6-hour trend displays

View approaches: PAPB Approaches Hub

PASN Approach Pages - Standardized

October 17, 2025

All 4 St. Paul approach pages now have consistent modern features:

ILS 36 - Complete modernization with new dedicated JavaScript
RNAV 36, RNAV 18, LDBC 18 - Added Font Awesome icons and collapsible disclaimers
Consistent Layout - Separated wind compass and runway analysis sections
Modern UI - All pages use approach-specific JavaScript files
Mobile Responsive - Optimized for all screen sizes

View approaches: PASN Approaches Hub

PlaneFence & Plane-Alert Showcase

January 17, 2025

New showcase page highlighting our aircraft tracking services:

PlaneFence - Low-altitude aircraft tracking (under 10,000 ft)
Plane-Alert - Special interest aircraft monitoring (military, Coast Guard, emergency services)
Educational Content - Explains ADS-B technology and how tracking works
Community Benefits - Shows why these services are useful for islanders

Learn more: PlaneFence & Plane-Alert

Weather Page Improvements

October 17, 2025

Both St. George and St. Paul weather pages received major updates:

Weekly Highlights - Shows highest gust, warmest/coldest temps, and more for the current week
Removed Duplicate Dependencies - Cleaned up Font Awesome and CSS references
Added Missing Components - Status badges, back-to-top button, mobile menu
Removed Empty Sections - Deleted placeholder Marine Forecast sections

Simplified Navigation

October 17, 2025

We've simplified navigation across all pages for a cleaner, less cluttered experience:

Just Home Button - Simple, uncluttered navigation bars
Updated 16+ Pages - Consistent navigation across the entire site
Better UX - Homepage is well-organized with all services easily accessible

ACARS Hub - Mobile Improvements

January 17, 2025

Better mobile experience for ACARS tracking:

Direct Link Button - Opens full ACARS page in new tab
Mobile-First Design - Hides iframe on mobile, shows button only
Better Performance - No struggling with embedded iframes on small screens

Under the Hood

Ongoing

Continuous technical improvements for better performance and reliability:

Cache-Busting - Prevents mobile browser caching issues
Dark Mode Support - Enhanced readability in dark theme
Independent Commentary Loading - AI commentary loads even if weather APIs fail
Alaska Timezone - All timestamps now properly display in AKDT
Error Handling - Graceful fallbacks when data is unavailable
Responsive Design - Optimized for desktop, tablet, and mobile

By the Numbers

Site-wide Statistics

30+ Files Modified/Created

7 Approach Pages Updated

2 New Hub Pages

100% Mobile Responsive

Coming Soon

Future Enhancements

We're always working on new features and improvements. Some ideas in the pipeline:

Historical weather commentary archive
Seasonal AI personality adjustments
Enhanced marine forecast integration
User-submitted local weather reports
More AI-powered features using local LLMs

Have suggestions? Let us know!