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    Temperature at high elevations seem to be much higher than they actually are

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    • O
      OregonGuy
      last edited by

      Hi.

      First let me introduce myself. I'm a new user and I'm very much interested in extreme precipitation especially when its in the form of snowfall. So I'm been using Windy lately to check remote areas in the Saint Elias range in SE Alaska/SW Yukon/NW BS(especially the southern end also known as the Faireweather Range), The Patagonia Icefields(especially the Southern one), the southern alps in New Zealand and various regions in Colombia(notably the Cauca and Chocó departments as well as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range).

      Well anyway I've noticed that the higher up the location, the more likely the temperature readings are not just off but way off. For example take Mount Rainier at the summit

      https://www.windy.com/46.853/-121.760?rain,45.993,-121.761,7,m:eXgacMe

      Now compare what the actual temperature is according to Camp Muir at just over 10,000 feet

      http://www.nwac.us/weatherdata/campmuir/now/

      Note how much colder the actual temperature is even though its more than 4000 lower.

      Here another example

      https://www.windy.com/10.839/-73.686?temp,9.606,-73.686,7,m:dXead6m

      That is the location for Pico Cristóbal Colón which is the highest point in Colombia at almost 19,000 feet.
      Even though its somewhat close to the equator its high enough that it still has glaciers. The temperature
      seems much too high,

      Take a look at what temperature Windy has for mount mckinley

      https://www.windy.com/63.069/-151.007?temp,62.496,-151.007,7,m:fqhaXu

      Most temperature are forcasted to be above 0 F. That is usually not even the case at the summit
      even in summer but its November.

      Take look at Temperature it has for the summit of k2

      https://www.windy.com/35.883/76.513?temp,34.862,76.513,7,m:eEXaiiG

      Again most of the forecasted temps are above 0 F. In November? No way

      Compared to other forecasting sites www.mountain-forecast.com, http://www.viewweather.com, https://www.yr.no/ or /www.meteoblue.com/ all show considerable
      colder temps for peaks although in www.viewweather.com seems to have the opposite problem that Windy has(calculates temps that are colder than they
      actually are)

      Windy.com seems to be really good(maybe the best) at projecting precipiations amounts but it needs to fix the obvious temperature
      problems at higher altitudes.

      TZT Gkikas LGPZG 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • TZT
        TZ Administrator @OregonGuy
        last edited by

        @OregonGuy Hi, thank you for your post and deep analysis. The problem is that we display modeled temperature, which is based on rough model terrain (9km grid). For bad performance in mountaineous terrain, which is what you mentioned, we are thinking about recalculation of the temperature field with the fine terrain, so it would be more precise for high altitudes.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • Gkikas LGPZG
          Gkikas LGPZ Moderator @OregonGuy
          last edited by

          @OregonGuy
          As also mentioned here

          https://community.windy.com/topic/4838/how-we-do-we-get-more-accurate-figures-temperature-etc-logged-predicted-for-our-specific-location-s-our-weather-here-is-extreme-tropics-but-the-map-shows-up-to-10c-off-the-mark-at-times

          the problem has to do with the model's grid.
          Also, the measurment network in such mountainous areas is very sparse
          and the model runs with insufficient initial data.
          It would be great (as TZ says) to recalculate temperature using the actual elevation.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Gkikas LGPZG
            Gkikas LGPZ Moderator @OregonGuy
            last edited by

            @OregonGuy
            Also, if you compare meteograms you'll realize the temp. innacuracies between models
            with different grid.
            https://www.windy.com/multimodel/46.853/-121.760?temp,45.993,-121.761,7,m:eXgacMe,d:m

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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