The Community Helps the Gualala Point Weather Station

by Kenyon Rupnik
A version of this article was published in the
Independent Coast Observer on April 10, 2026

*Chad Watts volunteered his labor and his 40-foot bucket truck to help replace a dead battery in the weather station atop the Gualala Point Regional Park Visitors Center.*

Visitors looking up at the Gualala Point Visitors Center will see a weather station on top sitting thirty feet up in the air. The solar powered station is a partnership with Sonoma County Regional Parks and Friends of Gualala River. It has sent local climate conditions to whale watchers, beach goers and kayakers for five years.

Last month the lithium backup battery wore out, signaling that it needed to be changed. It required a simple three-volt battery, but reaching the station was going to be anything but simple.

*Chad Watts with his PG&E bucket truck.*

Jeanne Jackson asked for help through the Gualala Trading Post, and Chad and Marianne Watts answered. Chad is a “trouble shooter” for PG&E stationed in Point Arena, and he and PG&E volunteered his forty foot bucket truck for the project.

On Friday March 27 he met Gretchen Jay, the park ranger, and Laura Baker and Kenyon Rupnik from Friends of Gualala River at the Visitors Center for unit maintenance and battery change. As the pictures show, Chad is no stranger to heights.

*Chad Watts talks with Laura Baker at the Visitors Center.*

Hopefully, the new battery will last another five years before needing a change. Gualala’s users of the weather station thank Chad and PGE for his expertise and the equipment that made an otherwise difficult job very easy.

The weather station is a project of Friends of Gualala River, Sonoma County Regional Parks and Further Reach. Gualala Point weather conditions can continue to be viewed at the Friends of Gualala River website. The weather link also has information from other Davis weather stations in the watershed and from real-time PG&E fire camera views.

Photos courtesy of Kenyon Rupnik