Different forecasts between regular and premium subscription
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My partner has regular Windy (not paid) and I pay for the subscription. Our forecasts are never the same. We set both of our apps to be the same location, same time frame (every few hours) and they are so different it’s almost funny. We are often out on our boat or other boats and having a weather and wind forecast that’s so different is a little concerning (wind, wind direction, rain amount, temperature, etc.). Please advise!
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@meeshcoles
I guess you use the default model in Windy. The difference is that Premium users have 4 model updates per day, while free users have only 2.
To compare the forecasts you have to check that you have the same model update. -
The first thing that comes to mind is: who's forecast is the most accurate?
I use the free version and the default model is wrong about half the time. If it's that bad for the free version, I don't see a reason to get premium even if it unlocks a lot of handy features. -
@B-Art-3
If the default model is not accurate for you, did you try the others models available in your area ? -
My most recent example is the default ECMWF model forecast from the last 2 days. It predicted 2 full days of sun and no clouds. Reality was 2 full days of mist and cloud, not even 1 hour of sun. The forecast wasn't updated during these days as it kept it's original.
When I change to another model like AMORE, it was far more accurate but the free version always defaults to the ECMWF model.
The only other decent free weather app is wetteronline but that one uses the same inferior ECMWF model, even the paid version.
I would pay for accuracy so I don't have to look at radar data to guess future cloud cover all the time. -
@B-Art-3
I guess you are talking about AROME model ? (AMORE is not a weather model).
If you are in the AROME domain, mainly France and surrounding countries, there are anticyclonic conditions at the moment in this area bringing stratus and fog.
Global models like ECMWF are not very good at predicting fog, I find AROME is better for that.
You can't expect a model to be 100% accurate for all parameters, otherwise why use other models with different algorithms and different resolutions.I am not far from Geneva at the moment and the fog or near stratus is as usual near this town and on the Swiss plateau.
It is clearly shown by AROME, but not by ECMWF.
ECMWF is a very good model. With a 9 km resolution it cannot provide the same forecast as a 1.3km model.
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@idefix37
It's indeed the AROME model. Nice to see those higher resolution maps. The standard radar images mostly pick up low clouds or mist but it's the forecast accuracy that is more useful to me. The forecasts are all over the place when I compare different models. As I fixed the widget problem on my phone, an added bonus is the widget allows setting a different model. I'm going to test until I find a model that has good accuracy. -
@B-Art-3 said in Different forecasts between regular and premium subscription:
The standard radar images mostly pick up low clouds or mist but it's the forecast accuracy that is more useful to me.
I don’t understand what you mean. A weather radar is an observation device to see the current precipitations (rain and snow). A radar does NOT predict the cloudiness.
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@idefix37
I use the very accurate radar image animation to see where clouds are going in the near term and make predictions myself.The other much faster and convenient way is to just look at the 3 hour and daily predictions but that is the problem.
The hourly and daily predictions on the standard model shown in the app are not accurate enough more then 50% of the time but maybe the other models are. Sometimes you can see no sun possible for hours but the predictions still list full sunshine.
At least the AROME one seems to predict near term weather better. ECMWF finally changed but it took more then 2 days to even show the current weather.
Apart from these inaccuracies, windy is still the best weather app 👍
