Average dry thermal updraft
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I would like to have a weather map layer that shows the speed of the thermals in m/s. The updraft should be displayed in color in 0.5 m/s steps. Example dark blue 0 - 0.5 m/s 0.5-1 blue, 1 -1.5 blue-green, 1.5 - 2 green, 2 - 2.5 yellow, 2.5 - 3 orange, 3.5 - 4 red, 4 -4.5 dark red, >4.5 purple. In addition, a dot pattern should be superimposed: uniform thermal = no dots, slightly uneven/torn = widely distributed dots, torn thermal dense dot network.
Thank you very much -
@Berthold-Bär That's something I discussed with Marek in the past.
soaringmeteo.org has some open source code to compute the thermal speed. I'm not sure if all parameters are available in windy or if they can be added?
Maybe @Filip_K knows?
The PG community would for sure love to see this!
(I was discussing that last week with Simen Eide - a meteorologist. @Samygallego is an other talented meteorologist that might have some ideas)
Edit: Simon is actually a mathematician but he knows a meteolorogist :)
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Hi @Berthold-Bär @vicb, thermal speed is planned in the long-term but currently not implemented. There is no date planned either.
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Paraglider here. Can I suggest something similar that I think would be just as useful and easier to implement? Show the lapse rate as a layer. Sorry if this confuses the original post and should go elsewhere.
In case it helps to understand, see https://meteo-parapente.com/#/ and click "Sounding". The environmental lapse rate line is colour-coded red/green/black for unstable/neutral/stable. But this is for a single point on the map. Can we have a layer on the map that is colour-coded for the lapse rate at a single altitude. The altitude should be chosen with the same altitude slider that is used for wind/temperature/humidity, etc. The lapse rate should either be the average lapse rate between this altitude and the ground, or it should be the lapse rate between this altitude and the next point down (eg ECMWF seems to have data points at altitudes of 950/925/900/850 hPA etc).
The value plotted could be the absolute lapse rate (eg 8 deg/km). If so, it would be helpful if the colour-coding made it clear the difference between stable and unstable lapse rates (ie roughly 10 deg/km, the dry adiabatic lapse rate). The colours should smoothly vary (eg unlike the cloud base layer).
Calculating this should be easy since it's just a function of data already available in other layers, ie (temperature2 - temperature1) / (height2 - height1).
@vicb perhaps you are in a position to say whether you believe this would be appreciated by the PG community? @Filip_K is this actually any easier than thermal speed and would it affect timelines of implementation?
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@jancellor In my opinion the thermal layer (color coded top of lift) is easier to understand and more useful. I think simpler is better because at the end of the day it's only forecast and I prefer spending time flying that looking at too many parameters.
I don't think having to look at multiple altitude levels to see the LR would be convenient. But I might be wrong. Some pilots love to look at many parameters.
My 2 cents
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@jancellor said in Average dry thermal updraft:
The value plotted could be the absolute lapse rate (eg 8 deg/km). If so, it would be helpful if the colour-coding made it clear the difference between stable and unstable lapse rates (ie roughly 10 deg/km, the dry adiabatic lapse rate). The colours should smoothly vary (eg unlike the cloud base layer).
FYI all color scales can be customized in windy settings. That's a little known feature but it is very handy.
Go to settings > customize color scale
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@vicb fair point that multiple altitude levels is inconvenient. I think you're right.
What I wanted was some indication of thermal strength, however crude. I have been eyeballing the sounding to see how superadiabatic the lowest bit of the atmosphere is. The thermal layer gives height but I'm not comfortable using it without an explanation of the algorithm.
Thanks for the tip on colour scales.
