Windchaser Gorge

A free wind-conditions dashboard for the Columbia River Gorge, scraping Victor the Inflictor and The Gorge Is My Gym daily and rendering a kiteboarding-focused summary.

Files

• index.html — the dashboard itself
• scraper.py — scrapes both sources, writes summary.json
• summary.json — sample data (real data once the daily Action runs)
• requirements.txt — Python deps for the scraper
• .github/workflows/daily-scrape.yml — runs the scraper once a day, commits the result

Deploy: step by step

1. Initialize git locally

cd /Users/stevenjohnson/code/windchaser-gorge
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

2. Create the GitHub repo

Go to https://github.com/new

• Repository name: windchaser-gorge (or anything you like)
• Keep it Public (required for free GitHub Pages) or Private (Pages works on private repos too if you're on GitHub Free — either is fine)
• Don't initialize with a README/gitignore — you already have those locally
• Click Create repository

3. Push

GitHub shows you the exact commands after creating the repo, but they'll look like:

git branch -M main
git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/windchaser-gorge.git
git push -u origin main

If it asks for credentials and password auth fails (GitHub disabled that years ago), it means you need a personal access token or to have the GitHub CLI / Git Credential Manager set up — GitHub's push error message links directly to the right doc for whichever case applies.

4. Enable GitHub Pages

In your repo on github.com:

• Settings → Pages (left sidebar)
• Under "Build and deployment", Source: select Deploy from a branch
• Branch: main, folder / (root)
• Save

GitHub will build and give you a URL like https://YOUR_USERNAME.github.io/windchaser-gorge/ within a minute or two. Add that to your phone's home screen and you're done for hosting.

5. Confirm the Action is enabled

Actions are on by default for repos you own, but double check:

• Settings → Actions → General → under "Actions permissions", make sure "Allow all actions and reusable workflows" (or similar) is selected, not "Disable actions"

6. Run it once manually to seed real data

• Go to the Actions tab → Daily Gorge Wind Scrape (left sidebar) → Run workflow button → Run workflow
• Wait ~30 seconds, refresh — you should see a commit appear from gorge-dashboard-bot updating summary.json
• Reload your Pages URL — it should now show real scraped data instead of the sample fallback

From here, it runs automatically every day at the time set in the workflow file (currently 14:00 UTC — adjust the cron line if you want it earlier/later relative to when both sites post their forecast).

Does running the Action cost money?

No, not for this. GitHub Actions gives every account 2,000 free minutes/month on private repos, and unlimited minutes on public repos. This job runs once a day and takes well under a minute, so you're using roughly 30 minutes/month at most — nowhere close to any limit either way.

Checking your Actions usage

• Personal account-wide usage: github.com → click your profile photo (top right) → Settings → Billing and plans → Plans and usage → look for "Actions" under usage this month
• Per-repo usage: in the repo → Settings → Billing and plans isn't per-repo on personal accounts, so the account-wide page above is the one that matters — but you can watch individual run durations in the Actions tab of the repo itself