Windy.com introduces soaring forecast

vicb

Pretty cool,

@FILIP_K Could you expand on how you compute the Top Of Lift and give details about the algo ?

vicb

One small nit: thermals are still displayed at 11PM...

vicb

@ozone You can customize the colors to your liking in the settings.

Go to Settings > Customize color scale > Thermals

To windy, may be add a "s" to scale ? ("Customize color scales")

Filip_K

@vicb Thanks for reporting that. We've noticed it too and we're looking into what is causing it.

Filip_K

@vicb Sorry, that is something we want to keep to yourselves yet.
We're open to discussion on what should be forecasted under which conditions though.

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!