Wave Buoy on display at the Birch Aquarium UC SanDiego Photo: TownLift

Founder Mike Ruzek says Hawaii buoy data used by the popular powder forecasting platform is not affected by the federal shutdown plan.

PARK CITY, Utah — After a New York Times report raised concern about the dismantling of a federal ocean-monitoring system, the Park City resident behind Powder Buoy said the Hawaii buoys central to his snow-tracking model are expected to remain online.

Mike Ruzek, founder of Powder Buoy, posted on Instagram that he had received a wave of messages following the national report about the administration’s plans to dismantle a weather buoy program.

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“I am happy to say that the National Buoy Data Center confirmed to me that the Hawaii buoys are not part of this shutdown and will continue,” Ruzek wrote.

The concern struck a local nerve because Powder Buoy has built a following among skiers who track ocean energy off Hawaii as an early signal of potential powder in the Rockies. On its website, Powder Buoy states that it utilizes NOAA buoys in Hawaii to track the same energy that surfers use to anticipate waves, applying that information to snow forecasting in mountain towns, including Park City.

As TownLift previously reported in its Trailblazers series, Ruzek’s work sits at the intersection of surf culture, ski culture, and weather obsession — translating distant ocean movement into a kind of long-range stoke for powder hunters.

The broader federal action centers on the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a National Science Foundation-funded ocean monitoring network. The Associated Press reported that parts of the system are being drastically downsized, including systems in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and Greenland. The National Science Foundation has described the move as a “descoping” of the program, while scientists have warned it could reduce access to real-time ocean and climate data.

For Powder Buoy followers, Ruzek’s update narrowed the impact: The Hawaii buoys he watches are not part of the shutdown, according to his post.

“When the buoy pops,” Powder Buoy tells its followers, “two weeks later you’re going to want to clear your calendar.”