Distinct display of observed wind when outdated or not matching model time

Ponyo Nauta

Hi Windy Team and community,

I've noticed a potential area for improvement in how observed wind data is displayed when sliding the timeline. Currently, the arrow indicating wind speed and direction remains the same regardless of whether the time of the observation matches the model time being displayed. This can lead to confusion.

I suggest implementing a visual difference in the wind arrow when:

The timeline is moved, and the observed data doesn't match the model time.
The station data is outdated compared to the current model time. This happens with remote (e.g., buoys) and ships very often.

Differentiating these scenarios could improve clarity and usability, perhaps through color changes or a distinct icon.
For example gray color but still keeping the wind speed color as a border.

Thanks for considering this feedback!

idefix37

@Ponyo-Nauta
Hi, showing a screenshot would help to understand what you mean.

Ponyo Nauta

@idefix37
First case, station shows NE and partcile animation is E because wind rotated and the last update of the station was more than hour ago (you have to click to see that):

And the second case, just turn on observed wind and move the time slider of the model to the future, nothing changes in the visualization of the station, it is confusing.

idefix37

@Ponyo-Nauta

The wind direction shown by a weather station is the reported wind as it can be observed at the station location. The Animated particles show the wind direction as forecasted by a weather model. The weather model can do wrong prediction and so the directions by the weather station and that by the model can differ.
Then if you scroll the timeline you change the forecast time stamp. The wind direction predicted by the model change. But the wind direction reported by the weather station cannot change at same time because it still show the latest observation. A weather station does not show the future.
If you want to see the same type of arrows changing with the forecast, instead of Reported wind select Forecasted weather.

Ponyo Nauta

@idefix37 Thanks for the explanation but I understand it, my suggestion is to improve the UI/UX to:

if model is set to current time reflect when the observed value is old (more than 2 hours) changing how it looks (for example grayed out).
When the model does not match current time because user is moving it to the future: hide the observed time or show it as in 1.

idefix37

@Ponyo-Nauta
Said like that it is more clear.