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    Best posts made by idefix37

    • Customize the color scales of Windy layers

      photo:Windy.com;desc: Custom the color scale on Windy; licence:cc;

      UPDATED September 2021

      Did you know that you can customize Windy colors for almost any layer? What is the point of doing it? You may prefer your own color palette, but also, by this way, you can deal with some specific requirement.

      For example, it may be helpful to visualize a particular level of temperature from which you consider that it may hurt people and your environment. By using a particular color you will be alerted just by looking at the map.

      If you are fan of boating, you may use a color like red - the usual sign of danger - when the wind reaches a certain force. And as everyone does not have the same threshold of danger for outdoor activities, it is better to set the threshold by yourself. In the example below the red color was used from 28 knots of wind, i.e. 7 Beaufort which is an usual warning level for a coastal cruiser boat.

      photo:Windy.com;desc: Beaufort scale on Windy; licence:cc;

      Details are shown here.

      But there are other reasons, such as the case of a Windy user who is green blind. It was better for him to replace this color with another one.

      How to change a layer color scale?

      This change can only be made via the website windy.com, not in the phone app, and you need to be logged in. But when the change has been made on desktop, it will automatically be applied also to the phone app.
      EDIT : now it can be done directly in the tablet app too.

      Go to Settings and choose Customize Color Scale. Select the layer you want to edit.

      You may want to customize the Waves layer. If you are fond of paddling on the seashore or if you are an oceanic sailor, you will not consider the same scale for waves height.

      Selecting the Waves layer you get this table:

      photo:Windy.com;desc: Customizing the color scale; licence:cc;

      In the first column, you can change the steps of the scale and/or, in the second column, the colors.

      You know that colors on your screen is a mix of 3 base colors: Red, Green, Blue, which are specified by the RGB code with 3 numbers as you see in the second column like rgb (192,51,95)

      How to modify the RGB code

      When you click a color line you open a small window which allow you to change the hue (1) and the density/brightness (2).

      photo:Windy.com;desc: Customizing the color scale on Windy; licence:cc;
      .

      When you are satisfied with your colors, click Save. At any time you can switch back to the Windy default settings by clicking Load defaults

      And for example you can get this type of colors scale for waves:

      photo:Windy.com;desc: Customizing the color scale on Windy; licence:cc;

      If you want to obtain directly this color scale just look at this thread in Windy community:

      • Waves colours
      posted in General Discussion
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • Strange tracks over oceans

      9CC9FEC1-34D8-454C-B37B-FD0A753B4FFB.jpeg

      Large commercial vessels use poorly refined heavy fuel containing sulfur compounds. These boats release large amounts of sulfur dioxide SO2 which is a source of acidification for the environments (oceans, forests ...). Due to local regulations on the US coasts, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel, these vessels must switch locally to a more refined fuel with a limited content of sulfur compounds, similar to the diesel fuel. Elsewhere they can use this heavy fuel, even in the Mediterranean where there is a lot of traffic.

      8EED40A7-312A-4FCC-869B-0E48D3A19DE3.jpeg

      In addition to SO2, these ships produce a lot of nitrogen oxides, such as NO2, to the point that coastal areas may become highly polluted areas. One can imagine pollution in cities with car traffic or near certain industrial sites. But at sea, people think that the air is clean, which is not the case everywhere.

      51046606-92B9-4D33-8EAF-150B106349EC.jpeg

      The Windy maps that present these pollutants, SO2 and recently NO2, speak for themselves: they make it possible to highlight and monitor this pollution along the trade routes of the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean ... The comparison of these traces of pollutants at sea with the main shipping routes shows an obvious correlation.

      6042488F-869C-4164-ACFB-AF1439100F91.jpeg

      However, these big boats remain the least expensive and even the least polluting means per ton of freight transported. If it were necessary to transport the same quantities of goods by truck, plane or even diesel train, the pollution would be worse!

      posted in Articles
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Windy 3D mode is back!

      @korina
      Wow, amazing view of the planet weather ! So exciting to find 3D back again !
      And very useful for polar views and for an overall vision of baroclinic zones.

      Capture d’écran 2021-06-01 à 14.16.44.png

      posted in Announcements
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • Saharan Dust

      The dust of the Sahara desert raised by the wind can cross the oceans. Using NASA satellite imagery, scientists have shown that this transport by upper tradewinds reaches the Amazon basin and contributes to the supply of nutrients to the Amazon rainforest. Part of this dust comes from the Bodélé depression, which is an ancient lake that covered part of Chad at the time when the Sahara was green, several thousand years ago. It has disappeared, and the current Lake Chad is somehow a remnant.

      
Photo:NASA;
licence:cc;
link: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/76641/bodele-depression-dust-storm;

      The bottom of the Bodélé depression, located approximately 17°N and 17°E, is rich in dust from the microorganisms that lived in this ancient lake. This region, between the mountains of Tibesti and Ennedi, experiences violent local winds in winter that lift clouds of dust.

      71189704-D8EA-4EF0-8DDF-B8E5CCD86BA1.jpeg

      The transport of this particular dust is a source of nutrients needed by plants especially phosphorus, but also potassium, soluble iron... Thus the largest desert feeds the largest rainforest in the world.

      
photo:NASA;
licence:cc;

      This dust from the Sahara can also reach the Amazon rain forest, the Caribbean zone and even the southern part of United States.

      
Photo:Windy.com;
licence:cc;
Desc: Windy Dust map overlay (modified colours). Forecast for Friday 22 Feb.;

      In spring and summer, SW currents frequently bring mineral dust from central Sahara to Western Europe. The early spring that we know this year in this part of Europe because of the blocked high pressure is causing a rise in temperatures and the transport of dust from the Sahara as shown by this map from Windy. The southern flow on the west flank of the anticyclonic ridge carries this dust over Spain, the west of France, Great Britain and Ireland, up to Norway.

      https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-satellite-reveals-how-much-saharan-dust-feeds-amazon-s-plants

      https://www.windy.com/annotation/5ca33262ade88d001cd025d5

      posted in Articles
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Which model should Windy implement next? Please vote.

      @ivo
      Vote 2: AROME

      AROME is available as free data. Very interesting along coastline, in mountain zone and for local forecasts (thunderstorms, large towns effect...)

      posted in Your Feedback and Suggestions
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • Storm in western Mediterranean

      5FB02373-FB40-4DEB-9EE6-85C117BAA28E.jpeg
      Cover image: Sea near Marseille when Mistral blows

      Next Sunday, May 5, all models predict a storm at sea, or at least a strong gale weather, with average winds reaching 9 Bf (40kt, 75 km/h) and gusts of more than 75kt (130km/h). This type of storm is quite common in this region and it is linked to typical conditions that cause these violent winds.

      9A234165-A58D-4A93-B135-07393DCC3471.jpeg

      The French coast of the Mediterranean Sea is surrounded by mountains that change the speed and direction of the winds when high pressures are established on the near Atlantic. The northwesterly flow at ground level is deflected by 3 mountains, the Alps, the Massif Central and the Pyrenees.

      The Mistral blows in the narrow valley of the Rhone down to the coast, in Provence and in Languedoc. It is a strong and gusty wind, usually cold, which is feared in the summer for the risk of forest fires.

      849C3E4F-E62F-4FC1-A47D-70F1FE73876B.jpeg

      Northwestern Tramontane causes sudden storms in the Gulf of Lion.
      Both are accelerated by the upper flow crossing the mountains with a foehn effect providing gusting conditions and a typical blue sky.

      B5FFCFFB-3FF6-4742-9CDE-AE53C7A72DFC.jpeg

      In addition to the pressure gradient, a dynamic low in the Gulf of Genoa results from the divergent upper flow after the passage over the Alps. This depression in the Ligurian Sea can move and it is its position that actually controls the direction of the winds at sea, between Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands.
       At sea, sailors generally fear deep depressions, but in this region, with high pressures settling in the west or the north of France and resulting in mistral or tramontane storms, mariners rather watch the anticyclones!

      64F23CAD-C243-417C-97AE-54CE6639012F.jpeg

      posted in Articles
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Addition of Fronts

      @robbrooks33
      Fronts are NOT drawn by numerical weather forecast models, but by skill weather forecast meteorologists.
      As Windy shows maps directly issued from weather forecast models, there is no way to show fronts automatically.

      Moreover, what does the drawing of the fronts bring? The position of the air masses? The changes of direction, and the eventual strengthening, of the wind? The type of weather, cloud systems, precipitation? All of this you find it in detail on Windy. The fronts were imagined in the 1930s, at the time when this synthetic and graphic presentation allowed a simplified representation of current and forecasted weather. Today's weather models provide much more detailed forecasts, even if they are not able to offer plotting of fronts.
      Personally, I use to look at Temperature layer at 850hPa which gives a rough idea of the location of the different fronts...

      posted in Your Feedback and Suggestions
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Windy is the first weather service in the world to globally forecast thunderstorms

      @ivo
      Great idea to mix the layer of rain and lightning

      posted in Announcements
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Which weather model for Japan should we add next?

      @korina
      Here are the weather models which are run by JMA, the Japan Meteorological Agency:
      https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/Activities/nwp.html
      Seems the LFM model should be a suitable one.

      posted in Your Feedback and Suggestions
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: waves, swell, swell2 & wind waves. Oh my good!

      @jose_fley
      As explained in my post you have read :

      The seastate that you can observe in a given place, is a mix of different type of waves:

      The windsea (also called wind waves) is produced by the local wind.
      The main swell is produced by a strong wind in a remote place. The swell travels great distances to where you observe it.

      Secondary swells are produced also by winds in other remote places.
      All of them have different heights, come from different directions and show different periods (i.e. the time between 2 wave crests)
      Swell 1 is the main swell,
      Swell 2 and 3 are secondary swells

      Waves is the sea state (also called total sea) that you can observe in a given place = Wind Waves + Swell1 + Swell2 + Swell3
      Wind waves is produced by the local wind
      Swell 1 is the main swell produced by remote wind
      Swell 2 is a smaller swell produced by an other remote wind
      Swell 3 mostly is very small and neglected.

      What is the interest of knowing these different types of waves?
      For Surfers the best conditions are a strong Swell 1 with low Wind Waves and low Swell 2/3. With strong Wind Waves and strong Swell, waves are very disorganised especially if their directions are different ... « like in a washing machine »
      For Sailors, Wind Waves at 90º of the Swell direction give a «cross sea » tougher than a sea with all kind of waves in the same direction
      ...etc...

      Hope it’s clear for you now.

      posted in General Discussion
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Windy launches "Observation vs. Forecast"

      @ivo
      I’ve just changed the colors of this layer, considering White for 0°C.
      Then I have kept the default colors for positive temperatures, except for the highest. I have replaced the Black by White, because I keep the image of a piece of steel that you heat. It takes successively these colors: Red-brown, red, light red and finally white, with no risk for me to confuse with the 0°C color.
      For the negative colors I have changed the default colors too. There are OK near the ground but in high altitude e.g. at 500hPa, I would like more color changes. Just need to work on it.

      971B5901-E44A-4F7A-8E54-DCCB22A81FFA.jpeg

      posted in Announcements
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: How to read Airgram

      @rk95
      In fact, pressure levels can be converted in mean altitudes or flight levels.
      Using Sounding you get directly the mean altitude and the wind speed / direction.

      1ABB3AC8-0878-479F-A1F7-E0517AC2A623.jpeg

      On desktop right tap on your mouse.
      In the app long press on screen.
      Then click the altitude scale to get speed and direction of wind.
      You can reduce the altitude scale to 7000m max.
      Use the time slider to change time stamp.

      posted in Frequently Asked Questions
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • New changes in the ECMWF model

      For those interested in the regular improvements of weather models, ECMWF, the European Center for Medium Range Forecasts, announces a new version, the 47r3 cycle, of its high resolution model called IFS. This model is the one used and visualized in Windy. These changes are said to be one of the most significant of the past 10 years.

      https://confluence.ecmwf.int/plugins/servlet/mobile?contentId=235629304#content/view/235629304

      posted in Your Feedback and Suggestions
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Swell maps

      @phil-lay58
      The seastate that you can observe in a given place, is a mix of different type of waves:

      • The windsea (also called wind waves) is produced by the local wind.

      • The main swell is produced by a strong wind in a remote place. The swell travels great distances to where you observe it.

      • Secondary swells are produced also by winds in other remote places.

      All of them have different heights, come from different directions and show different periods (i.e. the time between 2 wave crests)
      Swell 1 is the main swell,
      Swell 2 and 3 are secondary swells
      The swell classification 1, 2, 3 depends on their respective heights

      You find this detail on Windy by pressing the amber arrow on the picker.

      0_1532934126091_DBC5AD64-3187-49E1-AEFD-61CCB6A45E59.jpeg

      posted in General Discussion
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Predicted rain/snow

      @pezblanco
      There is no glitch.
      Rain and snowfall are shown in a different way.
      In Basic diagram rain and snow are shown on the same line named "rain". But snow is displayed with an additional IN and with lighter blue color figures.

      Capture d’écran 2021-01-31 à 14.21.39.png

      In Meteogram it is more obvious

      Capture d’écran 2021-01-31 à 14.22.31.png

      posted in General Discussion
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: Windy launches Satellite layer

      It's really fabulous !! This addition is huge, congratulations to the team !

      posted in Announcements
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: About Windy

      @sotirpopov

      I used to display the Temperature layer at 850hPa altitude. It gives a rough idea of the position of fronts specially the cold fronts.

      AB6051CF-C275-48A3-8D48-47C09B3E91A7.jpeg

      If you look at the current weather map analysis you see the main cold fronts

      2CCCE8CB-6C93-45D4-A19C-83E72DB22DD0.jpeg

      You see cold fronts in the Atlantic and one, but shown as a stationary front, from Greece to the Baltic Sea.

      You can imagine them with the Temperature layer at 850hPa

      DAFA97AD-4E11-4583-8F6E-6AC0C6B40B2E.jpeg

      It is more obvious if you consider the areas with a high temperature gradient (select temperature isolines instead of pressure isolines). Fronts stand where you find temperature isolines close together:

      E2526A25-2195-4589-9276-0539B5F68779.jpeg

      I must say that it is easier to see where fronts stand in winter because the temperature contrasts are more important. In summer it is not so easy.

      posted in Frequently Asked Questions
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • Wind colors for sailors ... and for everyone.

      The color palette used for the wind layer can be optimized for navigation at sea.
      Most sailors know and use the Beaufort scale. Each degree of this scale corresponds to a range of wind and to a sea state. Therefore it is useful to calibrate the wind color settings according to the Beaufort scale. In this way, at a glance, it is possible to know which are the areas concerned by a certain wind force.
      These settings are based on the following considerations:

      • Light winds are displayed by light colors while strong winds are shown by denser, darker colors for an intuitive approach. However beyond 64 kt i.e. 12 Bf or Hurricane force, rather than being darker, the colors become very bright « like LED lights ».
      • Each wind range is displayed by an uniform color without shading or smoothing, with only a small blend transition.
      • From 64 kt, colors are chosen according to degrees used by NHC (Cat.1, Cat.2...)
      • Choice of colors has been mainly based on
        BLUE when conditions are too light or just enough to use sails (0Bf - 3Bf)
        GREEN when conditions are the best for sailing (4Bf - 5 Bf),
        ORANGE when conditions become tougher (6Bf),
        RED when a coastal cruising sailboat must find a shelter (7Bf - 8Bf).

      302CEC12-FBA5-4A1B-9440-26A547BD282C.jpeg

      HOW TO APPLY THESE COLORS

      You must be logged in to apply these settings in your Windy cloud. Then these settings will be applied to all your devices including mobiles.

      Go to Settings
      Choose Customize color scale
      Select overlay: Wind
      At bottom of page find the line Import/export
      Click on [view code] to open a window pop up
      Delete the text code in this window
      Select and copy all lines of code here below and paste them in the window
      Then press [Import Gradient]
      Press Save

      [[1.5,[134,163,171]],
      [2.5,[126,152,188,256]],
      [4.12,[110,143,208,256]],
      [4.63,[110,143,208,256]],
      [6.17,[15,147,167,256]],
      [7.72,[15,147,167,256]],
      [9.26,[57,163,57,256]],
      [10.29,[57,163,57,256]],
      [11.83,[194,134,62,256]],
      [13.37,[194,134,63,256]],
      [14.92,[200,66,13,256]],
      [16.46,[200,66,13,256]],
      [18,[210,0,50,256]],
      [20.06,[215,0,50,256]],
      [21.6,[175,80,136]],
      [23.66,[175,80,136]],
      [25.21,[117,74,147]],
      [27.78,[117,74,147]],
      [29.32,[68,105,141,256]],
      [31.89,[68,105,141]],
      [33.44,[194,251,119,256]],
      [42.18,[194,251,119,256]],
      [43.72,[241,255,109,256]],
      [48.87,[241,255,109,256]],
      [50.41,[256,256,256,256]],
      [57.61,[256,256,256,256]],
      [59.16,[0,256,256,256]],
      [68.93,[0,256,256,256]],
      [69.44,[256,37,256,256]]]

      Try to use these new colors during at least one week. If you like them, keep them. If you don’t like, you can come back to the default Windy settings by pressing Load defaults

      If you keep them, you can use the wind speed units that you like ...kt...km/h...mph...m/s

      0_1543185934032_EC49DE2D-08BA-45EB-AFA4-394A75535E2F.jpeg

      WIND SPEEDS EASY TO IDENTIFY BY COLORS :

      0_1543179148374_41796AF1-CC7E-41DF-82E3-E4F27C4471F4.jpeg

      EXAMPLE OF WIND FIELD WITH THESE NEW COLOR SETTINGS :

      0_1543179596490_9E4F3544-8927-4230-A7E8-0B49DFB4DF7A.jpeg

      posted in Your Feedback and Suggestions
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: We are launching Windy Premium - even better forecast for just price of a lunch

      @Geroe
      @ergun_33

      The update of the ECMWF model is at best 4 times a day (every 6 h), and 2 times a day in the standard version. So the update cannot be every hour !

      posted in Announcements
      idefix37
      idefix37
    • RE: About Windy

      @talal27732
      The pressure at these levels are displayed as Geopotential isolines at 700hPa, 500hPa...
      Select them in right menu > More layers...> Geopot. height

      Capture d’écran 2020-07-23 à 08.44.11.png

      posted in Frequently Asked Questions
      idefix37
      idefix37