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    Understand hurricane tracking, forecast, and measurements.

    Scheduled Pinned until 9/30/26, 8:00 AM Locked Moved Frequently Asked Questions
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    • David PolášekD Offline
      David Polášek Administrator
      last edited by David Polášek

      As with every year during hurricane season, there is a lot of confusion about hurricanes, their forecast, and their measurements. That's why we've given you a brief summary of how to navigate Windy, where to find out about the current situation, and where to find forecast information.

      Weather maps based on numerical models

      All the weather maps you are used to on Windy are made up of numerical models that are created at a certain resolution (e.g. 9 km for the ECMWF model). They don't show the measured values, they show the forecast. Specifically, in the case of wind, it is the AVERAGE value at 10 meters above the ground. From such a map it is not possible to determine the maximum wind speeds of a hurricane.

      Such maps show the direction of the tropical cyclone and the AVERAGE values, not maximum wind speeds. The model is created from data that is several hours old and is not used to describe the current situation.

      That's why we developed a hurricane-tracking tool a few years ago.

      The hurricane forecast using the Dvorak Technique

      Some tropical cyclone observatories (NOAA, Met Office, ECMWF) also issue a special hurricane forecast, where they estimate the strength of the hurricane based on e.g. the Dvorak Technique, which also uses measurements directly from the hurricane for its calculations (measurement, and patterns usual for hurricanes in the area).

      Hurricane data is collected, among other things, from aircraft flying directly into the hurricane. Much respect to all Hurricane Hunters!
      Hurricane-explained.jpg

      David Polášek
      Marketing Director at Windy.com

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      • G Offline
        gunnerdear
        last edited by

        I suppose I get it BUT there is a huge difference between being at sea on a sailboat in 30knots vs 80 to 100knots and if your forecast is saying average wind speed in a day will be 30 knots but the actual wind speed in a tropical cyclone is going to be over 70knots that makes your forecast useless.

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        • SutyS Offline
          Suty Administrator @gunnerdear
          last edited by

          @gunnerdear I would recommend using our wind gusts layer as well to get more realistic values of the windspeed during similar events. Since it display peak values from the last 3 hours.

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          • SutyS Offline
            Suty Administrator
            last edited by

            @mouejb How do you mean that? You can check Kuwait in our app and you can set that location as your default one as well, if you are interested only in that location.

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            • X Offline
              xin0922 @Suty
              last edited by

              I want a refund. How can I get a refund?How can I apply?Because I can only log in to the browser, I can't download it, which is not convenient for me to use.I bought it in the first place becauseI think it can be downloaded to mobile phone software.But now he can't, so I want a refund.

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              • SutyS Offline
                Suty Administrator @xin0922
                last edited by

                @xin0922 Hi, I already processed your refund for you. If you need anything else, please let me know.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • A Offline
                  AndreiAlexandru @Suty
                  last edited by

                  Hi i just pay for premium but i can t use as premium can help me pla

                  idefix37I 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • idefix37I Offline
                    idefix37 Sailor Moderator @AndreiAlexandru
                    last edited by

                    @AndreiAlexandru
                    Please see this related post
                    https://community.windy.com/topic/11832/what-to-do-if-you-can-t-access-your-windy-premium-features?sort=oldest_to_newest

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                    • Gkikas LGPZG Offline
                      Gkikas LGPZ Moderator Meteorologist
                      last edited by

                      @weathershackseo said in Understand hurricane tracking, forecast, and measurements.:

                      'm curious to know the accurate weather forecast

                      A weather station provides measurements of weather parameters (temperature, humidity, wind etc).
                      It is not a weather forecasting tool.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • Pirzada MalikP Offline
                        Pirzada Malik
                        last edited by

                        My weather radar in punjab, Pakistan is not working . Please fix it 🙏

                        Nicole DolezalovaN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • Nicole DolezalovaN Offline
                          Nicole Dolezalova Administrator @Pirzada Malik
                          last edited by

                          @Pirzada-Malik Hello, we unfortunately don't have access to the radar data. In case you know about any source, please let us know and we will try implement these data for you in the app. Have a nice day, Niki

                          Niki

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