Free, Off-Grid Weather Reports With InReach Explorer

[leadin]Adventurers Dave and Amy Freeman are spending a full year in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota, living in the wilderness and testing gear as a part of their daily existence. In this review, Dave discusses accessing free weather reports with the Delorme InReach Explorer satellite communicator.[/leadin]

Checking the weather is part of many people’s daily routine. In the backcountry, weather takes on a whole new level of importance, but getting reliable forecasts can be difficult when you’re off the cell phone grid.

About a year ago, I started carrying a Delorme InReach Explorer. The unit allows me to send and receive text messages from just about anywhere on the planet through satellites. It is a handy piece of gear for safety and communication.

But my favorite feature is the ability to get weather forecasts for your exact location, sent to you on demand.

My wife and I have spent the last four months in the wilderness. Almost every morning while enjoying coffee I send a simple text message — “wx now” — to the address wx2inreach@gmail.com.

Before starting in on my second cup of coffee, the InReach chimes and an updated weather report has arrived. It’s that simple.

Text For Weather Reports

There is no cost involved other than the normal fees for sending and receiving messages with your InReach. Plus, you can program preset messages into your InReach — by setting “wx now” as one of your preset messages you will only be charged the incoming weather report text and not be charged for your outgoing text.

By adding additional characters to your text, you can change the type of information that is sent as part of the forecast. Get information like temperature, precipitation chance and type, wind and cloud cover, catered to your needs.

The developer’s website explains all of the options that are available.

If you plan to spend significant time in the backcountry, keep updated with a real-time weather forecast, even off the grid, with your Delorme InReach Explorer. It’s an awesome underutilized service.

–Dave Freeman and his wife Amy are spending a year in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in an effort to protect the Boundary Waters from a series of sulfide-ore copper mines that are proposed along the edge of our nation’s most popular Wilderness. Throughout their “Year in the Wilderness” they are sharing regular reviews on GearJunkie.com. Dave and Amy were named National Geographic Adventurers of the Year in 2014.