Weather station, webcam unveiled at Lightship Overfalls
Want to check out the Fourth of July boat parade in the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal? Maybe see how Lewes is faring during a nor’easter? Well, now you can see what’s happening from the comfort of your home thanks to a new live webcam on the crow’s nest of the Lightship Overfalls.
The Overfalls Foundation unveiled the webcam along with a new weather station Aug. 26 during a ribbon-cutting event at the lightship.
“These ships used to serve as weather stations,” said Overfalls Foundation President Mike Safina. “They would provide a weather report every four hours to the base Coast Guard station.”
That was the key aspect of the project. The idea of mounting a webcam on the crow’s nest was not new, but the board didn’t want to do it without a good reason.
“What we’re talking about now is bringing the ship back to life,” Safina said. “This restores one of the missions of the ship. Our hope is the local boaters and fishermen will take advantage of it.”
The live feed and current weather conditions can be found at overfalls.org.
The weather station is also an official station at weatherunderground.com, while the webcam can also be found with other Delaware live cams at visitdebeaches.com.
To make the project happen, the foundation needed help. Comcast installed a network line for free. The foundation also used the services of Shore Security and Link Layers to bring the equipment online.
Foundation member Chuck Patalive served as team leader for the project. Other members who helped include Al Klineburger, who initially had the idea for a camera, as well as Tom Wrubel, Don Gansauer, Vince Apostolico and Dale Pease.
The camera follows a set path, panning along the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, zooming in toward the drawbridge, then across Canalfront Park. It also shows a portion of the Overfalls’ deck and patio area. The foundation is able to focus the camera on specific locations, and they anticipate using the camera to show the Fourth of July Boat Parade and fireworks as well as other events along the canal and in the park.
