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    Windy.com introduces soaring forecast

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    • B
      BobaILIK last edited by

      Good day

      I have been using Windy for couple of years in sailing.
      One of my main routes for sailing is Bass Strait, between Melbourne/Queenscliff and Tasmania, well known as the toughest passage. For those people who does not know much about it, the race Sydney to Hobart is passing just there.
      As many sailors, ordinary people are quite often there, sailing, I have an idea of collecting data from these people as the most accurate collection of position, wind speed, direction and temperature. As communication have improved over the last decade, now is much easier to participate. Collection from the local stations, - from local islands will as well be a good source to accomplish the real picture of the weather.
      Main reason for this idea is one of my last trip from Stanley, Tasmania to Melbourne. Windy prediction was 26kn, actually it has been most of the trip over 36kn. It was tough cruise.

      Regards from Melbourne
      Boba

      Korina idefix37 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Korina
        Korina Administrator @BobaILIK last edited by

        @bobailik Hi, real-time data can be shared via weather station, you can register it here stations.windy.com.

        Korina

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • idefix37
          idefix37 Sailor Moderator @BobaILIK last edited by idefix37

          @bobailik
          Hi,
          Windy already shows local weather stations around this strait.
          Just click Reported wind to get them in addition to the wind layer.
          Most of them are personal weather station (pws or madis). Some are professional.

          06DA4A47-7D5D-4F53-8589-BFDB44CD5EED.jpeg

          But if you mean transmitting wind data from a sailing boat at sea, that seems difficult as Windy reports only fixed pws.
          And in any case it is only observed wind, not forecast, of course.
          Fair winds and safe sailing to you !

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • guy_bottlaender
            guy_bottlaender @idefix37 | Premium last edited by

            @idefix37 it could be a good improvement way to use the 2.5km to add the altitude levels much more accurate for flying, I'm not sure that the 1.3km gives any benefits except that it's a little quickly available.
            The souding option will be great in that case.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • V
              V7 last edited by

              airgram.JPG
              Hello,
              It is very nice to see that you trying to do something for soaring forecast.
              In the airgram when checking soaring thermals, could be good to see only one day analysis not one week, then you can check it better that one day what you need.
              Also there is need to see not only clouds base, wind temperature and etc. but also thermal strength forecast during day in different locations.
              You can look to Skysight point forecast and can do something similar.
              Thank you

              idefix37 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • idefix37
                idefix37 Sailor Moderator @V7 last edited by idefix37

                @v7
                One day analysis would not change anything as basically the the time stamp is by 3 hour steps.
                If you want more detailed and hourly forecast you need to get the Premium subscription.

                D42BAB63-09BB-4ADF-9558-B23A67446A9C.jpeg

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • S
                  sgtmaloney last edited by

                  thank you for the new program, my grand daughter is learning to fly hellos , and she is always look at my windy ap. to see what the weather and winds are going to be like

                  Korina 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • Korina
                    Korina Administrator @sgtmaloney last edited by

                    @sgtmaloney Happy to hear it!

                    Korina

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • M
                      markfrench | Premium last edited by

                      Awsome addition to WINDY - I HOPE IT IS ADDED TO THE FULL VERSION SOON! The Soaring Forcast will be my default when I open Windy on a webpage and my apps.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Steph-D
                        Steph-D | Premium last edited by

                        Hi,
                        Great new feature, thanks for this ! ๐Ÿ˜€
                        I am mainly using the Android app.
                        Paraglider pilot, occasionnaly XC flying in flatlands.
                        Also using Topmeteo and meteoparapente
                        I have just browsed quickly all comments, sorry in case of double request:

                        • I would be interested in the possibility of having a 2nd display (ex: isolines) with the condensation level, which is the actual maximum height we can reach in VFR
                        • I know I can get the info by pointing somewhere, get the sounding forecast and then CCL, but continuously swapping between display is not user-friendly when you compare areas and different routes
                        • apart from this I am also interested in a second indicator like shear ratio (buoyancy vs wind) to estimate if the thermals will get washed out or not
                          Thanks for your efforts ๐Ÿ‘
                          Best regards
                          Stรฉphane
                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • E
                          emccarthy556 | Premium last edited by

                          Thank you for adding this feature, I love it.
                          I am wondering what the difference is between this forecast and the NOAA forecast is. It would be great to make it easy to see what the definition of your number is.
                          For example today in Hemet California the NOAA forecast is 11,010 for the max... and in yours it is 14,300 ft.
                          Lake Elsinore California is closer with 7800ft vs 8450 ft
                          https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/data/aviation/soar.htm
                          Is this a definition issue or a calculation / data difference ?

                          possible Improvements and additions:

                          • A slight addition would be to add an adjustment for "critical updraft strength" given a selectable sink rate for a glider. For example a glider minimum sink rate of 225fpm.
                          • Thermal updraft velocity would be nice as well.
                          • Finer resolution where possible

                          Here is a site that shows these:
                          http://www.soaringpredictor.info/rasptable/RASPtable.html
                          Note that the actual height in this site might be under reported. I have some personal experience that this may be the case.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • J
                            joemajcher last edited by

                            As a glider pilot myself, the thermals layer is a feature that will expand the platform and bring in a new audience of users. The thermals layer is epic. I think what would complete this addition is to find a way to incorporate ridge lift and wave lift layers along with the thermals layer, as well as incorporate past history/historical data of the thermals, etc.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • J
                              johnpratt | Premium last edited by

                              Looks good. Can't wait to get some lift here and check it. Thanks

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • D
                                duducardo | Premium last edited by

                                Good idea, there are lots of parameters about gliding weather forecast for example thermal speed,buoyancy ratio and so on it would be fine to show that

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • soarnut
                                  soarnut RC Airplane Pilots | Premium last edited by

                                  Excellent addition to the menu. Keep up the good work!

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • mhaberler
                                    mhaberler @Filip_K | Premium last edited by

                                    with my hobby - hot air ballooning - it's the other way around as for the *glider folk:

                                    mornings: we do not wait with flying until the thermals set in, we better land when they do

                                    evenings: good to know when the thermals subside - between then and darkness we can go for a flight and sometimes it becomes too short

                                    super useful - as is the regional indication of thermal activity

                                    thanks @filip_k !

                                    Michael

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • B
                                      byfootandbysky | Premium last edited by

                                      Thank you for making this extremely useful layer for Windy! My main request would be to use a wider variety of colors for the lift height. It can be important to know the predicted difference of 500 meters in one area compared to another. With the current colors of red and orange it's hard to tell exactly what altitude is being forecasted.

                                      idefix37 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • idefix37
                                        idefix37 Sailor Moderator @byfootandbysky last edited by idefix37

                                        @byfootandbysky
                                        You can change the color of this layer yourself and choose a variety of colors as you like.
                                        In website or in the tablet app, go to Settings > Customize the color scale.
                                        When the modification is done it is applied to your phone app too:

                                        EE5421CD-E6C9-4719-83EB-A73B2CED0C01.jpeg

                                        See how to modify colors:
                                        https://community.windy.com/topic/10336/customize-the-color-scales-of-windy-layers?_=1626072094846

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                        • M
                                          matollin | Premium last edited by

                                          I'm very happy to see the addition of the Themals-layer. The lightning symbols for thunder storms could in my opinion be visually more prominent (alarming). Information about the spatial extent of thunder storms is critical for flight planning.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • A
                                            ahoekstra last edited by ahoekstra

                                            Great work. The Thermal layers look very good. I use SkySight mainly. I have described how I use this. I have been so bold to mark suggestions (in the ideal world) for windy in bold too.

                                            • Most of the time I login just to see if I want to fly the day after, or if the weather is below average. Checking PFD and thermal strength layers will do that trick. Often I will check the point forecast (meteogram) in Skysight to get a quick feel of the weather for local flights.
                                            • When planning cross country I will first get a feel for the main mechanics and pressure systems, cape and work throught available thermal data towards setting a modest task with the best changes of stumbling into good weather. So for making a route, airspace layers, known waypoint layers are a big part of the info I need. I also cross reference the model with the different Windy models and will plough through the written KNMI model guidence.
                                            • I really love the option to get a meteogram for the weather and thermal conditions on route. I screenshot this to keep handy during the flight (does reality match the forecast, if not is it better or worse? This helps altering the flight plan during flight - this meteogram is also usefull for determining a good starttime of the flight).
                                            • What do I miss in SkySight the most? Some kind of multiple day PFD alert via SMS / APP with easy setup
                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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