Route Planner Distance vs Animated Weather Data Mismatch
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There appears to be a discrepancy between the expected meteorological situation shown in the animated model (map view) and the numerical values presented in the route weather table, particularly for waves and wind.
In the animation, the vessel’s route is clearly passing through an area affected by a deep low-pressure system, with tightly packed isobars and extensive high wave fields. However, the tabulated route data (waves, wind, gusts) shown along the timeline does not fully reflect the severity and structure of the conditions visible in the animation at the same time and location.
This creates uncertainty as to:
which representation should be considered authoritative (animation vs route table),
whether the route table uses a different spatial or temporal sampling,
or whether there is smoothing/interpolation applied that underrepresents peak conditions along the route.
For long ocean passages and professional voyage planning, this difference is significant, as users rely on the route table for quantitative decision-making, while the animation suggests a more severe meteorological scenario.
Clarification on how route-based weather values are extracted from the model data, and how they relate to the animated visualization, would be highly appreciated.
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@Zdravko-Atanasov
There is something wrong with your route planner. Your route starts at WP5 and continues with WP6, WP7, WP8… while in the table we see WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5, WP6 and WP7. So the map and the table are not synchronised.
Why are some waypoints missing from the map? -
@idefix37 The apparent mismatch occurs when the route crosses the 180° meridian. In that case, Windy splits the route into two parts, and the way they are displayed depends on how the map is centered. This can make the animation and route table look inconsistent, even though the data itself is correct.
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@Zdravko-Atanasov
The issue when crossing the 180° meridian is known and it is not possible to solve it.
See a similar thread
I suggest you plot a route up to 179° W and then another one from 179° E. Then you can save these routes in your Favourites. -
@idefix37 The route itself is not the issue. The problem is that the animated visualization and the numerical route weather data for the same timestamp do not match. The table appears to underrepresent the conditions shown in the animation.
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@Zdravko-Atanasov
They match. I’ve never encountered a similar issue with a route that does not cross the antimeridian.
To verify, try to plot a route out of this meridian. -
@idefix37 It is still incorrect, and I cannot understand why. It appears that Windy may have an issue, as the displayed information does not match the expected conditions.
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@Zdravko-Atanasov
This is strange and I don’t know how you manage to display the weather picker at same time as the Route planner. I can’t do that because this week I am only using an iPad.
To check the right matching between the map and the table I can only use the colors of the map that I customised. See my color settings:
You see that the WP 3 is in the color corresponding to 3.8 - 4.2m wave heights, and shows 3.8m in the table
And wave directions are synchronised too.
Have you checked that the wind and wave directions reference is well set to “North up” in “More option” ?
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@idefix37 yes, everything is checked, the problem look like may be the time synchronization, but that why I'm using UTC, and up to now, everything was fine. This problem is observed on two different computers with 2 different account and settings.
Regarding the weather picker, in the windows desktop interface, weather picker can be chosen and is changing simultaneously as the time. I'm using this kind of observations for a few years, but only now the problem appears. -
@Zdravko-Atanasov
It’s really weird. Generally the Route planner users which encounter this issue it is because they forget to turn ON the speed switch. But it is enabled on your screenshots.
Hope someone in the Windy team can find the reason of this malfunction. -
@idefix37 How to inform Windy team about this issue?
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@Zdravko-Atanasov
Usually they read the different posts here on the community forum.
But you can contact them also at info@windy.com
