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    Why is Wind speed in hurricanes so wrong?

    Frequently Asked Questions
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    • Mike BoyleM
      Mike Boyle
      last edited by

      Steve, this is great and I thank you (I live in Florida)
      A better work around is take the measurement at 100 meters or 500 meters.
      This is a compromise of sorts.
      This is a worthwhile project and may save many lives here.
      I am reposting on Facebook with some editing. all the tool bars and are can be distracting. I wish you could do false colour white green and blue.

      THank you.

      Mike BoyleM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Mike BoyleM
        Mike Boyle @Mike Boyle
        last edited by

        @Mike-Boyle
        If you need any help in evaluation let me know.
        I'm a retired electronic/ computer technician.
        Boylemike1@aol.com

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        • ralphthemagicianR
          ralphthemagician @Siff
          last edited by

          @Siff I get what you're saying, but you can't really compare this to the general media. Modern entertainment journalism just makes stuff up. They don't care. Their information comes from the aether. They just want you to keep watching through the commercials to the next segment. They'd say the winds are made of explosive gas and are gusting at Mach 2.5 if it was believable.

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          • A
            allison
            last edited by

            Please at least post a notice of wind info not being related to actual real time experience. I used this to track storm as my daughter and crewof S/Y Ocean Star are stranded in Tortola. I was am so confused and it absolutely added to all the stress!!! Did not know what info to trust.
            Finally realized the tracking portion is the only real time data that is helpful . All that other effort to post data is USELESS if it is not actual experience in real time.

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            • A
              al smith
              last edited by

              Your wright

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              • Z
                zz2b2
                last edited by

                I am amazed at the accuracy of Windy hurricane 'forecasts'. OK the max wind speed is off, but you can tell the severity of the storm by its size and color bands. I kept some screen grabs captured last week using the european model and noticed Windy 'forecast' for Irma was spot on (going up west coast of Florida starting Sunday 10 Sept). I now am looking at forecast of Jose for Sept 18 ....wow a monster off the USA east coast and yet another hurricane forming at 20N 40W (while the GFS model does not show this at all). FABULOUS TOOL, CONGRATULATIONS!

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                • C
                  conduit @Siff
                  last edited by

                  @Siff The explanation makes perfect sense from a data science perspective. The grid is aggregating data...it is a window function. The simplest example is an average (rectangular window function). Take the average of 10, 10, 20, & 80. The average is 30. Clearly, 80 was included, but the output (30). When the OP says that it "smoothes" away extremal data, they literally mean smooth:
                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoothing

                  That said, there are better methods that can preserve extremal measurements. These are called "High Resolution Schemes" or "Total Variation Diminishing" methods:
                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-resolution_scheme
                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_variation_denoising

                  These let you recover data like this:
                  0_1504971007927_Screen Shot 2017-09-09 at 11.28.54 AM.png

                  The challenge with using these for weather is scale and computing power.

                  Stay safe out there!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Ricky_LightningR
                    Ricky_Lightning @Siff
                    last edited by

                    @Siff The sources that are providing the data sets for the likes of windy.com, has been proven to be selective in what data they distribute. For example the reporting of Earthquakes - Dutchsinse (A YouTuber who operates a channel warning various parts of the world of any imminent earthquake related threats) regularly demonstrates examples of earthquakes being reported on other nations websites, (other meaning non-US) but not by the USGS. This is a regular occurrence. Ergo if the source is unreliable why bother using its data?

                    Jamo@illumen8.co.uk

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                    • C
                      conduit @Ricky_Lightning
                      last edited by

                      @Ricky_Lightning See my post, this is not a "data withholding" problem. It's math. There are only so many ways to aggregate a bunch of measurements into one while preserving the character of the data.

                      Ricky_LightningR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Ricky_LightningR
                        Ricky_Lightning @Gkikas LGPZ
                        last edited by

                        @meteo-GR what would be the point in comparing the two as you've suggested? The source of the data in both examples, is from the same source.

                        Jamo@illumen8.co.uk

                        Gkikas LGPZG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • OttavsO
                          Ottavs
                          last edited by

                          Why are the rain and wind scales not high enough for purposes in hurricanes and unusual weather?

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                          • C
                            conduit @Ottavs
                            last edited by

                            @Ottavs Because it is showing averages, not peak measurements.

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                            • OttavsO
                              Ottavs
                              last edited by

                              My wind scale only goes up to 60 Kt.

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                              • C
                                conduit @Ottavs
                                last edited by

                                @Ottavs Right. It's showing averages. You could have 3 measurements for a city, for example, 50mph, 50mph, and a gust of 150mph. The average is 83mph.

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                                • OttavsO
                                  Ottavs
                                  last edited by

                                  Rain scale only goes up to 1.2 in.

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                                  • OttavsO
                                    Ottavs
                                    last edited by

                                    I think Irma is averaging more than any one component of 60. Sustained winds were reported at 175+. The wind scale offers colors for only up to 60.

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                                    • C
                                      conduit @Ottavs
                                      last edited by

                                      @Ottavs It's only measuring how much is dropping for that hour, it's not adding up all the rain over time to a single area. 1.2 inches of rain in an hour is a lot.

                                      Ricky_LightningR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • C
                                        conduit @Ottavs
                                        last edited by

                                        @Ottavs First of all, it's in knots, not mph. Second, sustained wind measurements are much more complicated:
                                        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_sustained_wind

                                        Basically, it's a 1 minute measurement. That's it. Windy is showing you the average wind speed for an hour. They could show you only the max wind speeds everywhere for the hour, but it would likely be very misleading.

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                                        • J
                                          Jclaro @Siff
                                          last edited by

                                          @Siff Everything you are quoting here comes from research. Now to apply that in mass scale, manage, and sell it cost $$ and I would like ask who do you think is doing that? Who is going to pay for the communications, power supplies, server data gathering, data accuracy, historians, etc... What is out there is what is out there. You are talking about creating and managing a system that reaches the pockets of many numerous political lines and everyone want's to control and pocket $$ for the ability to contribute to the overall success of the best system.

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                                          • J
                                            Jclaro @frostymon
                                            last edited by

                                            @frostymon looking at the wind speed readings at the various sensors. You can see that many of the public sensors reporting valid data up to some time at which either the communications/power/or device has down time. The wind speeds maybe due to the mean of these readings if the data has a good quality else the data is thrown out and the data in time is bad data...not due to the algorithm but the infrastructure.

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