3 min read

Trace Labs Challenge #5

Trace Labs Challenge #5

Hey everyone — 404Yeti here, lacing up the snow boots for another Trace Labs OSINT challenge. Today’s task mixes visual verification with temporal analysis, which is a very real-world OSINT skill set.

Objective

Determine:

  1. The location shown in a webcam still
  2. The temperature at 7:56 PM on 10-21-2025

Answer format:
📍 Location — 🌡️ Temperature

Image:

Tools used:

  • Google Reverse Image Search – initial GEOINT clues
  • EarthCam – webcam validation & environment matching
  • Weather Underground – historical weather data

Alright, so now that we have everything, let's move onto step 1, which is finding the location.

Step 1: Identify the Location

First move: upload the webcam still to Google Images.

Almost immediately, multiple results referenced Times Square, which is promising — but OSINT rule #1 applies here:

Never trust the first answer. Always verify.

Next, I searched for “Times Square webcam”, which surfaced multiple providers. I selected EarthCam because:

  • It’s widely used
  • It archives stills
  • It provides multiple camera angles

I selected EarthCam because:

  • It’s widely used
  • It archives stills
  • It provides multiple camera angles

I scrolled down a bit and started to see similar similar-looking still of our location

Now I found the live webcam! So we can definitely say this is Times Square!

Next, we must find the temperature

Step 2: Determine the Temperature

I searched for historical weather data for the location and date. Two main sources appeared, but for this challenge.

I chose: Weather Underground

Why?

  • Reliable historical archives
  • Hour-by-hour breakdowns
  • Clear timestamps

Search for the location you want, click the history tab, and adjust it for the time you need! For us, it was 10-21-2025 at 7:56 pm

As you can see its 63 Fahrenheit.

However — and this is important for OSINT accuracy — during the original challenge run, the displayed temperature fluctuated slightly due to rounding and reporting intervals.

📌 The challenge-provided reference indicated 64°F, which is within normal variance for hourly weather data.

Final Answer: Times Square 64°f.

Why This Matters

This challenge highlights several core OSINT principles:

  • Image verification beats assumptions
  • Webcams are powerful real-time GEOINT tools
  • Historical weather data adds temporal validation
  • Minor data variance is normal — document it

In real investigations (especially legal or humanitarian cases), being able to justify small discrepancies is critical.

Final Thoughts from the Yeti

This was a great example of multi-source verification:

  • Visual confirmation
  • Environmental matching
  • Independent historical data

OSINT isn’t about guessing — it’s about confidence through corroboration.

Stay frosty.
Stay precise.
404Yeti out. 🐾🧊