Problem : ECMWF Wind Gusts – 1-Hour Display Issue
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Hello Windy team,
There appears to be a clear issue with the ECMWF wind gust layer at 1-hour time steps.
The hourly gust values can look artificially smoothed, inconsistent, or poorly timed, especially during fast-moving events such as cold fronts or convective lines. This makes the ECMWF gust forecast much harder to interpret accurately on Windy.
Could you please check whether the 1-hour ECMWF gust display/interpolation is currently working as intended, and whether there is any known issue affecting this parameter?
Thank you.
[link text](link url) https://www.windy.com/fr/-Rafales-gust?gust,48.631,2.440,5!
NATÉO
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In the detailed forecast table, wind gusts are displayed with a 3-hour time step, even if the 1-hour interval is selected.
An old screenshot from 2026/08/06 shows that wind gusts were being forecast on an hourly basis.
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@idefix37I’m referring specifically to the wind gust map layer, not the meteogram.
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I’m referring to the wind gust map layer with the forecast timeline slider at the bottom of the screen. The issue concerns the 1-hour forecast steps displayed on the map, not the meteogram.
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@Nwatchweather
But in the detailed forecast too ! -
@idefix37
Here is the issue shown in the three screenshots: when I move the forecast timeline slider at the bottom of the screen to advance through the ECMWF forecast, the wind gust map remains frozen and does not update correctly from one hourly step to the next.I did not have this problem before. The wind gust map used to update normally when moving the forecast slider.
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I idefix37 referenced this topic
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@Nwatchweather This behavior should be still the same, since this layer displays data every 3 hours, so the animation changes with every 3 hours of movement on the timeline.
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@Suty
But previously Wind gusts were changing hourly, in the map and in the forecast table.
Screenshot from 2026/08/06
And all other parameters are changing hour by hour.
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@Suty
AROME-HD is still showing wind gusts at hourly time steps.
By the way this high resolution model forecast a very powerful storm system on Corsica with more than 70kt on seashore, tomorrow morning at 06:00, same as the one in 2022.
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@Suty he issue only affects the ECMWF Wind Gusts layer on Windy.
Before the latest update, the ECMWF wind gust field on Windy progressed correctly in 1-hour forecast steps, allowing the gust pattern to update hour by hour with much better temporal precision.
Since the latest update, this has changed. The ECMWF Wind Gusts layer no longer appears to update properly at 1-hour intervals. When moving the timeline forward by one hour, the gust field can remain unchanged or almost frozen across several consecutive hours.
This significantly reduces the precision of the hourly wind gust forecast display compared with the previous version.
Please restore the previous 1-hour-by-1-hour update behaviour for the ECMWF Wind Gusts layer.
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@Nwatchweather Thank you for detailed info, we will compare provided data in the older version with this updated one.
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@Suty Thank You ! Previously, it was possible to display ECMWF wind gust forecasts directly on the map, hour by hour, which was much more precise and convenient for analysing how the forecast wind gusts were expected to evolve over time.
I would really like this feature to be restored, as the hourly wind gust map was extremely useful for carrying out detailed weather analyses.
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@Suty Hello,
Thank you for your reply and for the detailed instructions.
I have checked all the settings you recommended, and they are already correctly enabled on my Windy account:
I am signed in to my Windy account.
The 1h forecast option is selected.
Always display as 1 hour is enabled.
My preferred forecast model is selected.
The forecast is configured to open with Wind by default.However, the issue is still present.
More specifically, I am not referring to the hourly forecast displayed in the forecast panel below the map. What I am trying to obtain is the hour-by-hour evolution directly on the weather map, particularly for the Wind Gusts layer.
For example, I would like to move through the forecast timeline on the map in true 1-hour steps:
14:00 → 15:00 → 16:00 → 17:00 → 18:00, etc.
At the moment, even though the 1-hour forecast setting is enabled, the Wind Gusts map does not appear to evolve in 1-hour intervals as expected.
Could you please confirm whether true 1-hour temporal resolution on the map itself for wind gusts is currently supported?
If it is supported, could you please tell me which additional setting I need to activate?
If it is not supported, is this limitation related to the temporal resolution of the selected forecast model, or to the way Windy displays the data on the map?
Thank you very much for your help.
Kind regards.
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@Nwatchweather I will verify this information with colleagues and let you know. Thank you for your patience.
