Blowing alkaline dust creates problems in the Eastern Sierra of California. Lake levels have progressively receded over decades. Some, like Owens Lake, drained entirely. Mono Lake, without intervention, would’ve seen a similar fate.

In an effort to mitigate and regulate the issue of dust, The Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District formed. Colloquially known as the memorable GBUAPCD.

Their observation network includes a number of sensors. The Met One EBAM, Teledyne T640, ThermoFisher TEOM 1400. Tracking particulate matter air pollution is of primary focus. Specifically PM2.5 and PM10.

But sometimes all you need is a glance. For this the district maintains an installation of networked observation cameras. Each continuously snapping shots, one every 30 seconds, all day, every day.

The district compiles these series of snapshots into daily “Dust Cam Review” timelapses.

Vast blue. Freezing fog. Rolling lenticulars. White out snow squalls. Blooming flowers. Each day unique. Never repeating.

The Mono West Air Camera is now on view on the index of Reversed. Each day, the last timelapse from the previous day is made available on loop.

The footage is captioned by the day’s Area Forecast Discussion. The AFD is a synopsis of the near and longterm forecast as written by an expert meteorologist. This is different from looking at the forecast as determined by a model.

The meteorologist provides a softer forecast. One with human interpolation and nuance. Intuition is at play. Weather was, and continues to be, the primary challenge for agriculture. Predicting the weather was considered a form of alchemy. The effort spurred invention of modern telecommunication networks and scientific modeling.

At a moment of continued incoherence around people and technology, the Area Forecast Discussion, issued daily by someone thinking about the weather, is both a poetic and useful tool.

It’s hoped when you visit Reversed while the West Mono Air Camera is on view you’ll take a moment. Consider time. Yesterday at Mono Lake passing before you. The moment you find yourself in.

An awareness of moving through it all, and an appreciation what opportunity the future holds.

West Mono Air Camera is on view at the index of www.reversed.eco. Music in the video is “Future Friends” by Jonny Nash.