Default model question
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I switch between models quite often as I'm sure many people do. If I click the map for a point forecast when viewing the map using a model that is different from my default (in 'settings for point fcst' menu), it always goes back to the default model. This works as I expect.
I purposefully turned that feature off in the settings hoping that it would keep the map forecast and point forecast model consistent. Unfortunately, the behavior stays the same, except the default seems to be set to ECMWF. Is there a way to get the behavior I desire?
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Messing with it a little more, it doesn't always choose the ECMWF as the default, it chooses the last model that was used for pulling a point forecast.
An example: I view a point forecast with the GFS, then close the point forecast and change model (in map mode) to view the ECMWF map. If I click a location to pull another point forecast, it goes back to a GFS point forecast instead of the expected ECMWF.
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@pgilbrea I think you mentioned more scenarios to be honest and I am not sure how to help now. But basically the detail should display the model from the map, if you don't use the default selection in the forecast detail. Also there are some limits of this, since some models don't have the point forecast data, necessary for providing the detail data.
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@Suty Try the example I gave. I suspect it's a bug.
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@pgilbrea said in Default model question:
If I click the map for a point forecast when viewing the map using a model that is different from my default (in 'settings for point fcst' menu), it always goes back to the default model. This works as I expect.
I purposefully turned that feature off in the settings hoping that it would keep the map forecast and point forecast model consistent.
Hi @pgilbrea, may I ask you how do you turn off that "feature" in the settings - User Settings in the profile, or in 'settings for point fcst' menu? I am interested in testing it but do not know how to do it. Thank you.
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@pgilbrea I think this all depends on the new setup we offer at the bottom of the forecast detail.
What do you have set here?
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@Canne @suty Sorry for the late respond guys. In the 'settings for point fcst' menu, I have toggled the 'always open as' option for the model selection off. I'm not sure it is relevent, but the other 'always open' for time is set to 1h and 7 days.
In my profile user settings, I have the 'startup layer and location' set to 'use last *'.
I'm not sure exactly what's happening on the backend, but my take is that the model variable doesn't seem to be properly passed from the map to the point forecast when RE-instancing a point forecast. It may be keeping the last point forecast instance active?
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@pgilbrea Thanks, I will try the following, maybe it is close to what you want to do, sorry if I misunderstood what you are actually looking for.
You may be interested also in this bug report (not a bug, but a "feature", apparently): https://community.windy.com/topic/45246/how-do-revert-disable-meteoblue/10Test on Vivaldi browser,
Windy version: 51.1.0 (d0b690a99)
built: 2026-08-06T07:59:23.893ZFIRST TEST
SECOND TEST
THIRD TEST
STEP 1: RELOAD THE PAGE
(Metoblue.AI is the default if no forced model in local view selected)
Now, the map selection has remain the same, probably because Meteoblue.AI is not available for the region where GFS was.
I do not have no position about the above being a bug, feature, or does it make perfectly sense. Just wanted to test it. Hope it helps to understand the actual behaviour for further discussion, if any.
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@Canne Maybe one thing to clear, Meteoblue AI has no map model, so it is only offered in our forecast detail, but the map is still ECMWF.
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@Suty I said "Now, the map selection has remain the same, probably because Meteoblue.AI is not available for the region where GFS was." - so our conclusions are the same, for this region I used for testing. I think this is well understood. The rest of the application behaviour not always so.
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@Canne Hi, that is strange since Meteoblue and GFS are global models, so they are available for every location.
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@Suty Map model did not change when closing the local forecast which was changed suddenly to Meteoblue AI = exactly for the reasons you pointed out. We are 100% on the same page on this detail
But since I am not the stakeholder here, only a tester, and because that detail has nothing do with the original question, let's wait if @pgilbrea confirms that the application works as expected.
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@Canne It looks like your second test shows the behavior I'm talking about. To me, it doesn't seem like predictable behavior to be using the ECMWF on the map, but then click to get a pointcast and be put back on the GFS when the 'always open as' is toggled off.
I have described how to recreate the issue and I have described what I suspect is happening using high level pseudocode language. Is there something else I can provide? -
@pgilbrea Thanks, I do not need anything, since there is nothing I can do. If Windy considers this behaviour as a problem, maybe they can help. If this will happen, I will be glad that I was able to demonstrate the issue in the test #2.
On a personal note, I think Windy is getting difficult to you use by unnecessary dispersion of user parameters distributed here and there with the glue between them missing.
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@Canne I went through the test 2, so I turned the switch off, then close the detail and open the new one and the model still stays on, despite displaying the default Meteoblue AI.
Do I understand the issue?
However, if I update the whole app in browser and open the detail once again, it behaves normally then.
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@Suty No, it is not the correct conclusion. If you follow both the test #1 (first) then the test #2 and observe the outcome on the model turning from ECMWF to GFS, you have repeated what @pgilbrea has attempted to achieve by unticking the "Always open ... forecast with GFS" selector slider.
It remains for Windy to decide is this a functionality they want to provide (to peek into the local weather from the map with a chosen local model, without changing the map model).
Even if not, the current behaviour is a bug.
Asking the user to reload the page would not make it less a bug, I am afraid.
Please do not mix the expected behaviour with the third test - even if it contains the blinding Metoblue AI selection : this is the same problem, only that the bug you acknowledged in https://community.windy.com/post/231081 takes in the "Meteoblue AI" to baffle the minds in this already confusing behaviour.
Why the parameter management is prone to these bugs: because now you have decided to mix settings, stored in the user's profile, to be managed both in the user's profile (correct) and in the local weather widget (not good). That's for my 2¢.
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@Canne But the map is always changed to the matching model in the forecast detail, if the model is available for the map. However, you are right that the behavior is in general a bit confusing now, since we wanted to offer a step between now and the next plan is to set Meteoblue AI as default model and choosing the startup model for the detail will be an option in the Premium.
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@Suty Thank you for the explanation. Fine, if it is "always been like that". To me it looks confusing that "if it is available" hidden condition. One starts with ECMWF and ends up with GFS in the map, without paying attention what happened?
Even more confusing it gets now, when Metoblue AI is the default model for the local mode, but not being available for the map. It is possible that this way you will get more tickets here. At least you could pop-up a warning. Or decouple the two views, the map and the local weather forecast, why you impose them to be the same ("if its available")?
But I am sure that Windy will find a more logical and ergonomic way to allow people to do what they want to do. For example, by letting Premiums to set every single parameter to their liking in a central, single dialog. Vivaldi browser has succeeded in this. A daunting task will be to find the default values for the masses, of course...
