Windy.com introduces soaring forecast

[KommandorKeen]

Excellent addition.
Ignore all comments regards extra soaring specific layers as most can be derived very broadly from thermal height. How fast a thermal goes up is first driven by the height it attains, and secondarily by the temperature profile on the way. So unless you are going to deliver a profile tool for soaring........ :-)

There is one additional piece of information that would be useful, and that is the buoyancy to shear ratio (b/s ratio) or bullshit ratio, as we call it. That helps determine if the thermal will be too broken up to use, even if it goes up a long way. That said, simplistically if its windy the B/S ratio is low, if it is light winds it is high. Exceptions are the record breaking long distance days on the flatlands where the airflow is laminar but strong and the temperature gradient favourable. Individuals chasing those records will go a bit beyond windy anyway.

Thanks for continuing to improve a great product. If you want to incorporate the Australian BOM ACCESS model send me a message.
Simon

[mteugels]

@korina Great Idea . Any chance to have PFD (Potential flight distance) based on the normal 18M span like Topmeteo/Skysight does ? Many thanks !

[Korina]

@mteugels We will consider it :)

[TZ]

Hi, we are planning to add some more features, but not everything. The way we are walking is not a detailed flight calculator for questions like "how many points can I get tomorrow with my specific glider?", but rather "is it going to be good weather tomorrow?". For better insights we are planning to add/improve meteograms for points or routes and also improve sounding. These tools should work well together and be part of whole Windy ecosystem with all its features and layers.
Would you for example be interested in maximum climb displayed as isolines?

[luglidz]

@tz What about maximum climb displayed as a line in the cloud box in an Airgram (similar to how you show the "pressure" line in a Meteogram).

And I would love to see thermals AGL. This would be a better indicator for the expectable strength. Additionally, it would be easier to see, where the liftier airmasses are located.

[gerrymcnicol]

@korina Fantastic. Love it.

[TZ]

@luglidz maximal climb as a line is one of features we consider.
Any AGL maps are problematic. It could be easily misunderstood. Also the topography of all models is very coarse, all mountains are much smaller than real mountains. So we are trying to avoid AGL maps. But height above ground could be rendered in a meteogram or other detailed chart.

[rittels]

Great layer @Filip_K !

@luglidz

Here is a fun thing you can do:

Open http://www.windy.com/plugins/windy-plugin-da

then go to the thermal layer, and the picker will show thermal AGL, also PA and DA.

(As @TZ said, elevation rather course, I use SRTM 1km resolution, so dont rely on this, else you might hit a mountain.)

[chrab]

@vicb It's great! Thanks.

[ozone]

@vicb
Cant see thermals listed as a change colors option. Everything else is there, just not thermals

[Avolar1]

Thank you very much, I am a paragliding pilot and this is very good!

[Korina]

@avolar1 Happy to hear it!

[vicb]

@ozone towards the beginning of the list

[TaaviS]

Great work!

[Luscombe8e]

So Great to see this, Yes it is going to need work. I am in the eastern US, as much as I prefer the ECMWF, the thermal forecast seems to best be depicted in reality by the GFS. Both ICON and ECMWF are way off when compared to other soaring forecast tools which have been honed and perfected over years for a specific type forecast. Thanks WIndy, I appreciate this and as with everything else you do, I am absolutely sure this will improve with time!

[Luscombe8e]

@vicb tried it , it freezes up on me

[khalilahli]

Please gradient colors consistently and clearly on the convection areas

[Dariusz1964]

A very useful app, thanks

[KLSSoaring]

@korina - I'm really pleased to see this feature being added.

Just looking at it this morning, its a bit too coarse to be useful to a soaring pilot. Its telling me, for example, that a broad area over central California will have 6 knt thermals today in the afternoon. Its smoothed from the coast to the Sierra Mtns. Here's a screenshot showing the current prediction for thermals:


Experience and other tools tell me (1) there is cloud in some areas today, (2) thermal lift is rarely or never smoothly distributed from coast to mountains like that and (3) its not going to be that strong. Here's a screenshot from Skysight showing what's more likely to be seen for thermal distribution and strength today.

Maybe there's no practical way to use better resolution and produce more localized predictions, but something more like the above Skysight image is what glider pilots would hope to see.

[vicb]

@klssoaring It's not 6knt - the layer shows top of lift (meters or ft)