Weatherkit Forecast Model
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@illili The whistling around the helmet doesn't bother me. I actually like the fact that it whistles because that's the only evidence I have that proves the wind isn't below 11 mph as forecasted, and that I really am seeing wind resistance four (or more) times higher than normal.
I'm not in the mountains. This is the edge of the great plains. The valley I live in is about 350 feet deep on the south (highest) side and about 5 or 6 miles wide. The "plattaeus" on either side are basically completely flat with some gentle rolling. I suspect that's why we have wind problems. The state highways and county roads are all oriented in the cardinal directions and are completely straight, sometimes for the entire length of the county.
If I was in mountains with winding highways and peaks all around there would be isolated spots were the wind was terrible, but just a few miles later things would change and it could be dead calm. That would be nice. Out here there are times that I have to ride straight into highly variable gusts for over an hour to get home. The headwind is more demoralising but the cross wind gusts are very frustrating and dangerous.
Once again the forecast for today is split. 6 of 8 models in Flowx say low gusts. Hyperlocal says low gusts. Windy's route forecast shows gusts of 16 to 20 mph, and I think my limit is 12 mph. I'll probably go out on the highway just to see which forecast is right. I guess I'd have to buy an anemometer (I returned the one in the picture) and stand out there taking wind readings to really know so I'm limited to guesstimating the speed based on how it feels.
This situation happened on Wednesday and Windy was right. I don't understand how Windy's route forecast using the global model ECMWF is more accurate than the consensus of 6 or 7 other models, multiple of which were designed specifically for the North American continent. Maybe learning which models to trust is what you meant by reading between the lines but I'm just hoping I get to move away from this place long before I get good enough at reading bad forecasts to make accurate go/no-go decisions.
Like I'm stuck using multiple forecast models, I'm also stuck using multiple weather apps to see them. To do it all in Windy I would need gusts in the forecast compare pane, preferably graphed, and an easier way to see the general 10-day weather forecast (temps, rain, sunrise/sunset times, etc).
Also, the widgets in Windy and Flowx could be better. Windy's widget looks more polished but Flowx's are more customizeable (tho still not completely). I was able to adjust the line in the middle of the graph to be my wind threshold, about 12 mph, which was the only way I found to make those graphs legible.
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@tessellahedron said in Weatherkit Forecast Model:
I guess I'd have to buy an anemometer (I returned the one in the picture) and stand out there taking wind readings to really know so I'm limited to guesstimating the speed based on how it feels.
There is a lot of weather stations in your are that report many parameters (including gust). This one right on the route 76 reports data every 10 minutes. That might be easier than getting an anemometer and taking readings on your own
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@Filip_K I tried using weather stations for a while. There are a lot out here, which is good since it takes a lot more stations to accurately indicate wind than for things like temperature and precipitation.
The problem was that many of them aren't online and there isn't one site/way to see them all easily. I was having to manually load three different websites and click on each weather station to see current gusts, and it still didn't seem very accurate, even a couple miles from the station. Of course that's all based on my wild guesses since I don't have a way to actually measure the wind.
I spent some time looking for a website/app that could display a custom list of weather stations with their gust data in an easy to read format but I never found one so I just gave up on the idea of weather stations.
If it's gonna be this much hassle I might as well do it with forecasts. I'm currently having to check Hyperlocal, Flowx and Windy, plus I've got windfinder.com and windalert.com open to remind me to check if I can make them useful somehow.
It looks like it's gonna be another crappy week out here, ruined by high gusts every single day.
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There are weather stations right on windy.com. Just click "Reported wind" in the lower menu
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@Filip_K I just tried that using the app and it does seem to work. I can see the weather stations around here. They're named incorrectly, which I can get over, but Windy also doesn't display any gust information on the map or in the details for the station. I don't see gusts anywhere, even for weather stations I know provide gust readings like the one the CO Department of Transportation has at the i76-Hwy 385 overpass (CO0034 I think).
Google's weather forecast omits gusts and it sent me on dozens of terrible bike rides in high gusty wind before I realized that a wind forecast without gust information is basically useless around here.
I didn't notice any weather stations that I know exist and are online missing from Windy's map, so it might actually be the most complete map I've seen. If gust information was added, especially if it was added to the map in a way that doesn't force the user to click or mouse-over each station to see the gust info, Windy would be the most complete source of weather station data in NE Colorado that I'm aware of.
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@tessellahedron the information about gusts is included (see my screenshot below where wind is 7m/s, gust 10m/s). It is unfortunately not displayed in the graph and cannot be displayed on the map either
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@Filip_K I think it would be beneficial to have gusts included in the Compare forecasts panel. Is this something Windy is considering?
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Hi @Wheats. @ondřej-šutera might know more as he manages requests from users
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@Filip_K I just clicked on "nearest weather stations" by accident. If gusts were listed there it would be exactly what I was looking for when I was trying to use weather stations: a way to view the most current gust readings from all nearby weather stations on one screen.
I find it hard to believe that there's currently no way to do that but I certainly haven't been able to find one. Again, Windy has a chance to be the first/only with this feature.
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@Wheats At this moment, it is not planned to implement this into the Compare forecast feature. However, I will keep this suggestion.
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