Best posts made by Korina

We are excited to announce the return of 3D mode to Windy.com. Although standard mercator map can be useful tool for detailed weather observations and forecasting, 3D mode can give you the "big picture".

What is new:

• 3D Globe displays all the weather layers, except Radar, Satellite and Weather warnings
• Maximum zoom is set to an equivalent of 6 on 2D Windy
• 3D Globe is being released only for desktop, mobile version will come later
• Favorites are included, but other POI features are excluded from the first BETA version

Access the 3D Globe by clicking on "3D" button under your profile picture.

The missing features and elements will be gradually implemented in next development phases and the existing ones will be improved.

3D Globe is being released in Beta version, available for all our users. In the later stages, 3D Globe will be part of Windy Premium only.

Enjoy and let us know what you think!

Update: 21st of May, 8:00 a.m. UTC

After hammering India and Bangladesh, Amphan is forecasted to move north-northeastward and weaken into a depression later today. The maximum sustainable winds, which may be carried by the storm, are 50 km/h (27 KT).

Thunderstorms with gusty winds are likely to occur over Bihar and isolated places such as Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Due to the correct timing of rescue teams deployment, there is a minimum human loss.
The worst damages has been concentrated in the West Bangal districts and Sunderbans, which suffered immense destruction.

Update: 20th of May, 4:00 p.m. UTC

The super cyclone Amphan hits India and Bangladesh with its landfall between Indian town of Digha and Hatiya Islands in Bangladesh. Storm is dumping heavy rain and damaging winds on Kolkata leaving a trails of destruction. Reported damages are destroyed houses, power cuts and downed trees.

Cyclone is now moving at 31km/h (17 KT) near 22.2N 88.3E, roughly 25 NM from Kolkata with maximum sustainable winds 138 km/h (75 KT) and gusts 166 km/h (90 KT).

Amphan will move north-northeasterly passing trough the Sunderbans and gradually weaken.

Update: 20th of May, 8:00 a.m. UTC

TC Amphan was moving at 25 km/h (14 KT) near 20.5N 87.9E approximately 129 NM South-Southwest of Kolkata in the last 6 hours. Maximum sustained winds were 157 km/h (85 KT) and gusts 194 km/h (105 KT), which makes it a Category 2 Atlantic hurricane and the strongest storm ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal.

Anticipated landfall still remains for Wednesday evening hours local time (5:30 pm Wednesday IST) near or just east of Hooghly River south of Kolkata.

Impacts

Cyclone could bring very strong storm surges up to 5 meters (16.4 feet), causing roadblocks, power link outages and destruction of houses and crops.

Evacuation of people continues, but a pandemic situation puts a great stress on the whole operation as it became difficult to maintain social distancing.

Update: 19th of May, 02:00 p.m. UTC

Super cyclone Amphan has been already marked as extremely intense in the region and the second strongest storm since 1999. Cyclone is due to make the landfall into West Bengal, Digha and Hatiya Island in Bangladesh during Wednesday morning.

In the last 6 hours, cyclone was moving 16 km/h (09 knots), located at 17.0N 86.9E, 377 NM South-Southwest of Kolkata, India with maximum sustainable winds 203 km/h (110 KT), gusts 250 km/h (135 KT).

Impacts

Storm is expected to weaken before the landfall, but the results could be still devastating with heavy rainfall and tidal waves causing flooding and strong winds resulting in significant physical damage.

Update: 19th of May, 00:00 a.m. UTC

Amphan has strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane, its position is approximately 480 NM south-southwest of Kolkata, India - 15.2N 86.6E, the current movement has been at 14 km/h (08 knots) in the past 6 hours.

The maximum sustained winds are 240.76 km/h (130 KT) and gusts 296.32 km/h (160 KT). The landing will be likely between Kolkata, India, and Chittagong, Bangladesh on Wednesday afternoon or evening. Cyclone is expected to be a hurricane Category 3, when it makes the landfall.

There are already signs of eyewall replacements, which could halt the Amphan's further intensifying. However even if the winds weaken, the real dangers is going to be a potential catastrophic storm surge up to 4–6 meters (13–20 feet).

Update: 18th of May, 12:00 a.m. UTC

TC Amphan is moving near 13.6N 86.4E with maximum sustainable winds 259 km/h (140 KT) and gusts 314 km/h (170 KT).

The cyclone is expected to hit Odisha states and West Bengal on Wednesday noon local time as a super cyclonic storm. Amphan will gain strength in the next 12 hours, but could weaken as it reaches the coasts.

Odisha state is already evacuating citizens to a cyclone shelters, more than a milion people is planned to be evacuated from coastal areas.

Update: 17th of May, 4:00 p.m. UTC

Tropical cyclone Amphan is currently strengthening in the Bay of Bengal near position 12.0N 86.4E with maximum sustainable winds 138 km/h (075 KT) and gusts 166 km/h (090 KT).

At the moment the cyclone is a category 1 on a hurricane scale and could likely become a hurricane category 3, when it reaches coasts in the northeast. The landfall is predicted to occur from Tuesday night through Wednesday.

The movement for next 12 hours is forecasted to be near 13.1N 86.5E and winds 157 km/h (085 KT), gusts 194 km/h (105 KT).

Impacts

Amphan will bring a strong winds and heavy rainfall, causing dangerous flooding with a possibility of a storm surge for vulnerable areas, especially for Bangladesh.

https://www.windy.com/upload/5ec16efe6d85e3001d6ecd01?satellite,20.108,85.761,6,internal

Introducing a new model ICON Global on Windy.com.

As we listen to our users, we have decided to implement another highly anticipated model ICON Global 13km to offer even broader spectrum of weather data and options to analyse it. Enjoy!

ICON Global will be added in the app with the next release.

https://www.windy.com/?icon,50.077,14.515,5,m:fhzagpO,internal

Reading the latest news, everybody has to be concerned about the Coronavirus and its impact on daily life of billions of people. The Coronavirus (virus is officially labeled as SARS-CoV-2 and its disease as COVID-19) is spreading quickly around the world, causing unprecedented lockdowns of huge regions and cities, havoc on markets and overload of health facilities in affected areas.

Some countries seem to have already contained the major spread of virus (China, South Korea), some are currently experiencing the initial extreme increase of patients with severe cases (Italy, Iran), with the rest of the world expecting it in upcoming weeks and trying to prepare for it.

Question is, will the rate of spread slow down or even disappear at all? It definitely will.

Check this nice video demonstrating the principle of exponential growth and epidemics

It’s essential to understand that even a very small decrease in “probability of exposure becoming an infection” (referred as p in the video) can reduce the growth of the spread significantly or even stop it completely.

But why do we discuss it at Windy.com, we normally talk just weather, right?

The reason is the outside temperature. Spread of typical flu highly correlates with weather, having its season peak in cold months, declining during spring with almost no cases during the warmest part of the year. Recent studies show that high temperatures and especially high humidity slows the influenza spread. More moisture in warmer air behaves as a barrier for airborne viruses so droplets of cough or sneeze cannot travel as far as they would in colder, dry air.
Of course, more factors can play a role in this flu seasonality (longer sunlight exposure, less clustering of people indoors), but temperature is considered as the major one.

There is a whole family of coronaviruses, some of them already known to humans, causing mild colds and behaving similar to the flu - in warmer climate, they tend to decline. That is the reason why many people believe that same will happen with COVID-19. As stated above, even the slight decrease in person to person transfer rate of the virus has a huge impact on overall number of cases. Will a higher temperature and humidity help us in this way? There are many opinions on that subject, but most experts agree, that it’s too early to judge and only hard data from summer season and their detailed analysis will tell us the truth.

But until then, we have no other option than to make assumptions based on data we have now.

Posts discussing weather patterns (temperature/humidity):

Also check out:
Coronavirus outbreakt

The perspective

As mentioned, the COVID-19 is not all that unknown to us, we had coronavirus strain SARS back in 2003. SARS had its peak in winter months and faded away during May. Typically influenza season falls sometimes between the beginning of fall and the end of spring. So the SARS did not really exceed the usual influenza season trend. But can we expect COVID-19 to follow this path as well?

The current spreading rate tells us a fact, that the COVID-19 has more incidences in places with dryer and colder environment than in more humid and warm locations. For instance let´s take a look at Japan, we would expect the virus to be spreading mainly in big cities like Tokyo, due to a number of foreign visitors and population. But this is not the case, COVID-19 is actually spreading in Hokkaido, despite it has a much lower frequency of travellers. However the weather conditions there are favorable, dry and less humid environment. The same goes for Italy and its epicenter Milan. North of the country is significantly more affected than the south.

On the other hand, it would not be wise to expect the novel coronavirus to behave as the ones before.
It is necessary to say, that SARS 2003 did not go away just because weather got warmer. It was followed by national interventions to isolate cases and everyone, who had the possibility to be infected.

We have already said that the environment plays a key role in influenza activity and dry/cold weather with low humidity favors the transmission. But influenza epidemics often appears in a tropical and subtropical regions during rainy seasons with obviously high humidity values. In other words, there are two types of influenza environments. In cold-dry environment, where humidity/temperature goes below 11–12 g/kg and 18–21°C, influenza peaks during cold months. In humid-rainy case, if humidity/temperature does not go under those values, influenza peaks during rainy season.

Immunity is another factor, which is worth a consideration. Our immunity is significantly worse in winter than in summer and we also lack vitamin D, because of less ultraviolet light exposure in cold months. Vitamin D benefits our immune system and helps us to be durable against numerous diseases, even so this factor can be observed as not so important in relation to influenza activity.

But then again, new viruses are likely to persist longer than a common ones, which have been in the population for years or decades.

Available data

We at Windy.com are no experts in the area of viruses, but we have access to the best weather data available.

We have assembled temperature records for each country (taken from the area of major spread of the virus within the country or the capital of that country) and pictured them along with recent Coronavirus spread data (daily amount of new cases, sourced from Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE) to see if there could be any correlation.

Based on the charts above, we can see a slight correlation in relation with a higher temperature and virus decrease, and opposite a lower temperature and faster spread of COVID-19.

Of course, there are many drawbacks in this approach:

• data coming from different countries aren’t easily comparable (some countries test much more than the others, some have much highly populated areas, also quality of data coming from some countries is more than questionable)

• the virus has quite a long incubation period, therefore “new” cases are being reported several days after the people were actually infected (but at least average temperature at given location can help to mitigate this effect)

• there are still not that many daily observations, the data window is quite too small

• correlation does not imply causation” - even if there seems to be a visual dependency between the temperature and the increase/decrease rate of new cases, it is absolutely no proof that there is a correlation between those two

As always there are many opinions and very little data to predict anything for sure. So the truth will be somewhere in the middle. It should be essential to avoid any catastrophic predictions as well as not to underestimate it.

The latest data for China shows a retreat of Coronavirus cases and high amount of recovered patients in a comparison to the total amount. Other countries will hopefully have the same progress.

---

Not happy with the findings? Don’t despair. If the weather won’t help us, there are still many ways, how each of us can help - avoid crowded places, work remotely if possible, stay fit, wash your hands, do not touch your face.
Avoid face to face social contacts for a while - read a couple of books or go online! There is still a lot to explore, also at Windy.com.

Update: 18th of May, 9:00 a.m. UTC

Cyclone Tauktae continues to maintain a wind speed of 110-120km/hr, since the landfall in Gujarat, where the cyclone left behind a trail of destruction along the coastal areas.

Tauktae continues to show weakening trend. Cyclone is currently moving north-northeast and is likely to enter southwestern parts of Rajasthan today, where it may cause heavy to very heavy rainfall in many districts.

Update: 17th of May, 9:00 p.m. UTC

Cyclone Tauktae has made a landfall as extremely severe storm in India's western state of Gujarat, between Diu and Jafarabad with wind speeds of up to 160km/h. The process is expected to take several hours.

Update: 17th of May, 10:00 a.m. UTC

Tauktae is moving North-Northwestwards at speed of 20km/h, approximately 150 km away from Mumbai.

In the last hours, cyclone has become extremely severe cyclonic storm and posses a threat of very heavy rains at isolated places with strong winds as it passes close to the Mumbai coast towards Gujarat.

Tauktae is predicted to strike the Gujarat coast in the Bhahvnagar district Monday night, local time.

Update: 16th of May, 5:00 p.m. UTC

Cyclone Tauktae has intensified and is now a Category 3 cyclone with maximum winds speeds of 185 km/h (100 kt).

System continues to move north towards Gujarat and bringing heavy rainfall along the coastal areas of Goa, northern Karnataka, and Maharashtra with gusty winds.

Tauktae will further intensify during the next 24 hours and strike the Gujarat coast on Monday evening.

Update: 15th of May, 11:00 p.m. UTC

Cyclone Tauktae is showing signs of increasing organization as it parallels the India coastline and is likely to intensify into Very Severe Cyclonic Storm during the next 12 hours. Maximum sustainable winds are around 120km/h (65 kt) with higher gusts.

Latest forecast brings it ashore in the state of Gujarat (India) in the next 48 hours and the possible landfall is predicted on Tuesday 18th.

Cyclone could bring very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall together with flash floods and landslides over the coastal districts of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa.

https://www.windy.com/-Satellite-satellite?satellite,14.370,73.524,6,internal

Update: 4th June 00:00 UTC

TC Nisarga is now moving northeastwards towards Nashik and continues to weaken, the current sustainable winds are 75km/h (40 KT). Movement speed was 27 km/h (14 KT) in the last 6 hours.

Dhule and Nandurbar districts may experience heavy rainfall and gusty winds.

Track the latest severe weather predictions with the most accurate data, subscribe to Windy Premium and get 1 hour forecast with detailed informations.

Update: 3rd June 3:00 p.m. UTC

Tropical cyclone Nisarga, the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane, battered western India with torrential rainfall and strong winds. It is also the first cyclone to strike the city of Mumbai in history.

The landfall itself did not cause major damages, despite the winds speeds more than 100km/h (53 KT) as it reached the land.

Moving further inland, cyclone lost its strength quickly and was downgraded to a deep depression. However the next few hours are still crucial.

Cyclone is now moving at 25 km/h (14 KT) with position 19.6N 74.2E. east of Mumbai, maximum sustainable winds are 60 km/h, gusts 90km/h (48 KT). Expected movement in the next 12 hours is 21.0N 75.8E.

Update: 3rd June 9:00 a.m. UTC

Nisarga has made a landfall around noon local time near Maharastra’s Raigad district with stronger maximum sustainable winds than expected 140 km/h (75 KT) and gusts 166 km/h (90 KT).

However the landfall is far from gone, it will take 3 hours to complete, the current position is 18.3N 73.3E, cyclone is located approximately 65 NM south of Mumbai.

The cyclone will move gradually over the land, the next expected direction is 19.5N 74.5E towards Panvel, Maharastra. Winds speeds should weaken to 92 km/h (50 KT), gusts 120 km/h (65 KT).

Update: 3rd June 5:00 a.m. UTC

Cyclone Nisarga has been moving at 13 km/h (7 KT) in the past 6 hours and its position is 17.2N 72.1E, 130km south-southwest of Alibagh, town in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.

The storm has intensified to maximum sustainable winds 110 km/h (59 KT) and gusts 120 km/h (64 KT).

Predicted landfall is today between 12pm and 3pm IST just the south of Alibagh. Heavy rainfall is expected with a storm surge of about 1-2 metres height.

This will affect low laying areas of Ratnagiri district mainly and Mumbai, which is on the path of the cyclone.

Update: 2nd June 9:00 a.m. UTC

A deep depression has intensified into a cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea and is predicted to become a severe cyclonic storm named Nisarga in the next several hours. Storm has been moving at 11 km/h (5 KT) northwards in the past 6 hours.

The current maximum sustainable winds are 70 km/h (37 KT) and gusts 90 km/h (48 KT) with a position LAT 16.0/LON 71.5.

The strom could possibly bring a devastating winds of 110 km/h (59 KT) and gusting to 120 km/h (64 KT).

The expected landfall is either on Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning 3rd of June over Mumbai, north Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts.

https://www.windy.com/upload/5ed7547c18b9f0001d7b3c59?satellite,15.739,72.993,7,internal

A big update for users who are interested in marine data! With the new version 28.1.1. we have significantly improved our Sea currents map and added a new parameter Tidal currents.

What's new:

• new layer Tidal currents
• updated Currents map
• higher resolution
• regular daily updates and forecast for 2 days

Source of our data is CMEMS (Copernicus Marine Service) and both parameters are available on desktop as well as in the app.

Tidal Currents

Tidal currents occur in conjunction with the rise and fall of the tide. The vertical motion of the tides near the shore causes the water to move horizontally, creating currents.

Currents

Ocean currents are the continuous, predictable, directional movement of seawater driven by gravity, wind and water density.

Stay safe and stay tuned for more upcoming features!

As some members of our team are pilots themselves, we decided to enrich Windy.com with a new soaring forecast layer for (but not only) glider and paraglider pilots!

The new feature is called Thermals and is a part of the Clouds group. To access it, open --> "More layers.." and add Thermals to your main layer selection:

The color scale indicates thermal height (meters or feet AMSL) and is overlayed with cloud type icons (small/large cumulus, overcast, lightnings). Soaring forecast is available for all the global models (ECMWF, GFS, ICON) as well as for the local models ICON-EU and NAM.

During the initial beta phase, thermals will be available to all of our users. Once the beta phase finishes, Thermals will be available to subscribers only.

So far thermals work on desktop only, but they will be implemented to our iOS/Android app very soon.

Thermals layer was brought to you by our developer @FILIP_K , who is a passionate pilot himself. Well done Filip!

Feedback wanted!

This is an experimental feature in early stages of development, we will appreciate your feedback below this article! (:

https://www.windy.com/-Show---add-more-layers/overlays?ccl,50.087,2.387,5,i:pressure,internal

NOAA has released a major update to their GFS global model, making significant improvements to the forecast outputs and consolidating Wavewatch 3 with GFS model. Full NOAA press release can be found here.

“This substantial upgrade to the GFS, along with ongoing upgrades to our supercomputing capacity, demonstrates our commitment to advancing weather forecasting to fulfill our mission of protecting life and property,” said Louis W. Uccellini, Ph.D., director, NOAA’s National Weather Service.

The upgrade ultimately results into a better forecast for our users with the following changes:

• Wavewatch 3 replaced with GFS-Wave
• improved forecast skills in many areas with better model resolution
• Swell 3 available also for GFS-Wave

Check the new GFS Wave forecast on Windy - GFS Waves

https://www.windy.com/-Waves-waves?gfsWaves,waves,34.748,-28.933,3,internal

Update 7th September 9.00 a.m. UTC

Haishen made landfall as a low-end Category 2 hurricane near Ulsan in South Korea in the morning hours, on Monday local time, maximum sustainable winds are 111 km/h (60 KT), gusts 138 km/h (75 KT).

The typhoon caused less severe damage than expected, however it still left hundreds of thousands of homes without power in the Kyushu Island. At least four people are missing and thirty-five people have been injured.

The next predicted movement is north near North Korea's port city of Chongjin, late on Monday.

Update 6th September 8.00 p.m. UTC

The storm is near 30.9N 129.4E, maximum winds have not decreased and stay 176 km/h (95 KTS), with gusts 213 km/h (115 KTS).

It is currently nearing the Tsushima Island, the next movement should be towards the Korean Peninsula. Haishen is forecast to move close to Busan on Monday morning.

More than 1.8 million people had to evacuate as the typhoon battered Japan's southern mainland on Sunday. Haishen has caused power outages with strong winds and driving rain.

Update 6th September 9.00 a.m. UTC

Currently located near 29.3N 130.0E, Typhoon Haishen has slightly weakened before it makes landfall in Japan. The forward speed is near 33 km/h (18 KTS).

Maximum sustained winds decreased to 176 km/h (95 KTS), with gusts 213 km/h (115 KTS).

Typhoon has already hit the Ryukyu Islands off Japan's southwestern coast on Sunday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

The system is now near Amami-Oshima Islands in Kagoshima prefecture. On the forecast track, Haishen will move toward the west coast of the Kyushu Islands from Sunday night through Monday morning local time and then is expected to impact the Korean Peninsula in the next 36 hours.

Typhoon brings heavy rain, strong wind, high waves, and tidal surges.

Update 5th September 7.00 p.m. UTC

Typhoon Haishen, located near 25.4N 131.0E is currently moving toward the northwest near 16.6 km/h (9 KT).

Maximum sustained winds have remained at 212 km/h (115 KT) with gusts 259 km/h (140 KT). It is forecasted that the system will slightly weaken before it will make a landfall west of Busan, South Korea.

Super Typhoon is the third typhoon to encounter the Korean Peninsula in just two weeks.

Update: 5th of September, 11:00 a.m. UTC

Haishen is positioned near 24.6N 131.5E with maximum sustainable winds of 212 km/h (115 KT), gusts 259 km/h (140 KT).

The Kyushu region is under a threat of record-breaking winds, high waves, storm surges and unprecedented heavy rains.

There is also increasing risk of flooding from larger rivers in Kyushu as well as in other regions.

Update: 4th of September, 10:00 p.m. UTC

Typhoon Haishen is moving west-north-west at 15 km/h (8 KT) with position approximately 280 kilometers south of Minami Daito Island in the Pacific Ocean.

The storm has likely hit its peak intensity and slow weakening should begin on Saturday morning. It will probably pass near the Japanese island of Amami Oshima on Sunday.

Haishen should then hit South Korea on Sunday afternoon as a weakening category 3 or category 2 storm.

Update: 4th of September, 8:00 a.m. UTC

Haishen is forecast to surpass Maysak as the strongest storm in the western Pacific so far this season.

The storm will likely near Okinawa by Sunday, maximum winds are projected to be 288 km/h by that time, putting the storm to the Category 5 hurricane.

Even though, it should slightly weaken before approaching Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula, it will remain very dangerous and powerful.

Haishen is currently packing winds of 250 km/h (135 KT) and gusts 305 km/h (165 KT).

Update: 3rd of September, 8:00 a.m. UTC

Typhoon Maysak made a landfall as Category 2 storm along the south coast of the Korean Peninsula while packing 160 km/h wind speeds.

Haishen

Haishen continues to develop south of Japan and moving over the extremely warm water of the tropical Western Pacific. It is predicted to make landfall on the Korean Peninsula on September 6 or 7.

Update: 2nd of September, 10:00 a.m. UTC

Maysak is currently equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, storm is packing winds of 185 km/h (100 KT) with gusts 231 km/h (125 KT).

However it is expected to weaken to a Cat.2 hurricane, before its landfall on Wednesday night on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea should expect heavy rainfall and strong winds on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Haishen

Haishen is predicted to strengthen into a hurricane in the next several hours. Maximum winds are 120 km/h (65 KT).

It could potentially reach hurricane level 5 in the next few days.

Update: 1st of September, 8:00 p.m. UTC

Maysak has again slightly intensified, maximum sustainable winds are 222 km/h (120 KT) and gusts 268 km/h (145 KT).

The typhoon now continues to track towards the west of Busan – South Korea’s second-largest city, where it should potentially make landfall on Wednesday night local time.

Haishen

Tropical storm Haishen represents another significant threat, since it is now gaining strength in the Northwest Pacific and is likely to intensify to Category 4 hurricane and strike the southwest of Japan on the weekend and the Korean Peninsula right after that.

Haishen's maximum winds are now 83 km/h (45 KT) with position near 20.5N 144.1E.

Below you can see the forecasted path of both storms with the Wind accumulation in next 10 days:

Update: 1st of September, 9:00 a.m. UTC

Maysak's eyewall stayed away from the main Okinawa island, however it has hammered the Kume island, located about 60 miles west of Okinawa Island.

The storm has intensified to the equivalent of a Category 4 storm early Tuesday morning.

Typhoon is currently at 27.1N 126.2E with maximum sustainable winds 212.98 km/h (115 KT), gusts 259.28 km/h (140 KT).

It is expected to target South Korea on Wednesday night.

Update: 31st of August, 7:00 p.m. UTC

Maysak is currently passing west of Okinawa island with maximum winds of 203 km/h (110 KT) and gusts 250 km/h (135 KT).

The Maysak's eyewall, which contains the strongest winds, will fortunately miss much of the island.

Further movement will be north into the East China Sea, where it will make landfall in South Korea Wednesday night, local time.

Update: 31st of August, 7:00 a.m. UTC

Maysak is slowly nearing the southern Okinawa with maximum sustainable winds 175 km/h (95 KT) and gusts 212 km/h (115 KT).

It is expected to approach the prefecture of Okinawa and the Amami region in Kagoshima Prefecture on Monday night or Tuesday.

Waves could reach up to 13 meters high around Okinawa main island with a threat of high tides, which could cause flooding in coastal areas and near the mouths of rivers.

Update: 30th of August, 9:00 p.m. UTC

Typhoon Maysak, locally known in the Philippines as Julian, is currently located near 20.8N 128.5E in the East China Sea.

It will move near the southern Japan, including Okinawa, late Monday or early Tuesday, before striking South Korea with heavy rainfall and damaging winds.

Storm is packing winds of 166 km/h (90 KT) and gusts 203 km/h (110 KT).

Maysak should further strengthen on Monday, reaching Category 4 Atlantic hurricane level.

https://www.windy.com/?27.407,117.666,5,i:pressure,internal

We are proud to strengthen our partnership with The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) with 3 new CAMS layers being implemented on Windy.com. The official press release from Copernicus here.

Our ongoing partnership since 2019 has already brought visualization of several CAMS layers and empowering general public to observe climate changes at a global scale.

From now on, users can access CAMS data via three new layers: fire intensity, surface ozone and total column sulphur dioxide (SO2). The overal objective is to rise awareness of air pollution and provide air quality data in easy and understandable way.

“We are delighted to be working with Windy to integrate CAMS data, so that its many users can access our global and European-scale forecasts,” says Vincent-Henri Peuch, Director of CAMS.

“If air quality forecasts were as common as weather forecasts it would help inform the public and make people more aware about the need to combat air pollution. The way that Windy visualises CAMS data helps people to understand that air pollution is not simply a local problem, but can be transported hundreds or thousands of kilometres by winds. Using Windy, users can easily follow where air pollution is transported and where it accumulates.”

Surface ozone

Ozone is formed in the lower atmosphere through chemical reactions triggered by sunlight involving nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

Ozone is generally highest in spring and summer, downwind of areas with high levels of emissions. It is a toxic gas that causes cardiopulmonary and respiratory problems, and can affect crop yields, so being aware of local levels can be vital.

Total column Sulphur dioxide (SO2)

Sulphur dioxide is emitted from several sources, including volcanic eruptions and combustion of unrefined fossil fuels. This layer will show the amount of sulphur dioxide from the ground to the top of the atmosphere.

Fire intensity

This layer uses coloured pixels to indicate active fires. Thermal radiation from actively burning vegetation (including wildfires and agricultural open burning) is related to the rate at which fuel is being consumed and smoke produced, and so are also linked to emissions of trace gases and small airborne particles.

Track air pollution in your area with our network of air quality stations monitoring the main air pollutants such as CO, NO2, SO2 and particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10, to quickly analyse whether air quality is reaching unhealthy level.

Values are based on US Air Quality Index, divided into 6 categories of concern (Good - Hazardous), based on AQI value that ranges from 0 to 500.

To view the stations, select Air quality stations in the POI menu on desktop or in the app:

We are happy to announce that we have just added 12 000 new air quality stations from PurpleAir.com

We have partnered with PurpleAir, a unique real-time air quality monitoring network that it based on a new generation of laser particle sensors, with a vision to provide a reliable AQ data.

As a result of our cooperation, PurpleAir has provided us with their extensive database of AQ stations all around the world, that are now accessible on Windy.com.

The newly added stations provide a real-time monitoring of particles PM1.0, PM2.5 and PM10, making them a great source for up-to-date data for our users.

See the difference before and after the addition!

Where to find air quality stations?

Click the symbol in the POI menu at the bottom right corner or open "More layers...".

PurpleAir stations are suitable for weather enthusiasts as well as for professionals. Would you like to have your own AQ station on Windy? Check https://www2.purpleair.com/ for more information.

Update: 27th of August, 00:00 p.m. UTC

Now a tropical storm Bavi is tracking north-northwestward at 41.6N 125.8E with maximum winds 74 km/h (40 KT).

Bavi will continue to weaken during the next several hours.

Update: 27th of August, 8:00 a.m. UTC

Typhoon Bavi made landfall about about 50 km southwest of the North’s capital Pyongyang on Thursday morning, downing trees and causing debris on the roads. South Korea reported minimal damage from the storm.

It is now a post tropical storm over the northeast China, where it will produce heavy rainfall into Friday.

The storm is moving north at 42.5N 126.5E with maximum sustainable winds 74 km/h (40 KT).

Update: 26th of August, 2:30 p.m. UTC

Bavi is located near 36.0N 124.4E, west-southwest of Gunsan and travelling at 25 km/h (14 KT). Maximum winds have slightly decreased to 175 km/h (95 KT), gusts 121 km/h (115 KT).

Typhoon will near Seoul and then Pyongyang early Thursday.

Update: 26th of August, 8:00 a.m. UTC

Bavi is currently positioned southwest of Seogwipo, Jeju Island, travelling at 20 km/h (11 KT) with maximum sustainable winds 185 km/h (100 KT) and gusts 231 km/h (125 KT).

Typhoon earned a very strong rank by rapidly intensifying over the past days and can possibly develop into a record typhoon while traveling through the west coast.

It is expected to travel up the Yellow Sea and arrive to Seoul early Thursday.

Typhoon advisories have been issued for Jeju Island and parts of South Jeolla Province.

Update: 25th of August, 8:00 a.m. UTC

Bavi is tracking northwest of Japan's Okinawa Island and travelling at about 12 km/h (7 KT).

It is predicted to affect Jeju Island today in the evening hours. Typhoon is currently packing winds of 166 km/h (90 KT) and gusts 203 km/h (110 KT).

Korean Peninsula should come under typhoon influence from Tuesday night till Thursday.

Update: 24th of August, 10:00 a.m. UTC

Typhoon Bavi formed off the east coast of Taiwan, making it the season's eighth tropical storm.

Bavi posses a serious threat to South Korea as it is forecasted to move through the west coast of Jeju Island on Wednesday afternoon and reaching Seoul early Thursday.

Bavi is expected to gain strength and intensify into strong and very strong typhoon before it reaches the land.

It is currently positioned near 27.8N 126.6E with maximum sustainable winds 138 km/h (75 KT), gust 166 km/h (90 KT).

https://www.windy.com/?27.407,117.666,5,i:pressure,internal

Update: 18th of November, 8:30 a.m. UTC

Now a tropical storm Iota is moving southeast of Tegucigalpa, Honduras with maximum winds of 65 km/h (40 mph). Iota is expected to be further downgraded to a tropical depression in the next hours.

Life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding is expected across Central America till Thursday. Flooding and mudslides are possible in parts of Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Tropical strom warning is still in effect from the coast of Honduras west of Punta Castilla to the Honduras/Guatemala border and Bay Islands.

Update: 17th of November, 12:30 p.m. UTC

Iota has made landfall in Nicaragua as Category 4 hurricane. Located near 13.7N 84.8W, is moving toward the west near 9 mph (15km/h). This motion is expected for the next day or so. Iota will move further inland across northern Nicaragua today and move across southern Honduras tonight and Wednesday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 85 mph (135 km/h) with higher gusts. Rapid weakening is expected today into Wednesday and then dissipation over Central America by Wednesday night.

Iota brings damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge to where a hurricane warning is in effect. Life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding is expected through Thursday across portions of Central America.

Update: 16th of November, 6:00 p.m. UTC

Iota is forecasted to make landfall on the Nicaragua coast tonight while maintaining the strength of Category 5 hurricane. Maximum winds have increased to 260 km/h (160 mph).

Extreme winds together with life-threatening storm surge up to 15 to 20 feet will occur along the northeastern Nicaragua.

Hurricane warnings are in effect for Providencia, the coast of Nicaragua from the Honduras/Nicaragua border to Sandy Bay Sirpi and for the coast of Honduras from Punta Patuca to the Nicaragua border.

Update: 16th of November, 10:00 a.m. UTC

Hurricane Iota is still rapidly strengthening in the western Caribbean and has become a dangerous Category 4 hurricane.

It is possible that Iota may even reach Category 5 hurricane when it approaches Central America.

The hurricane is positioned near 13.6N 81.1W with maximum sustainable winds of 230 km/h (145 mph).

Hurricane warnings remain in effect from Sandy Bay Sirpi to the border with Honduras and from the border of Nicaragua to Punta Patuca.

Update: 15th of November, 10:00 p.m. UTC

Iota has strengthen to Category 1 hurricane with maximum winds of 150 km/h (90 mph) and moving westward at 9 mph towards Honduras and Nicaragua coasts.

The hurricane is expected to further rapidly intensify and possibly reach Category 4 as it moves closer to the Central America on Monday.

Life-threatening storm surge of 10 to 15 feet and catastrophic winds are expected along northeastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras.

Hurricane warnings has been issued from Sandy Bay Sirpi to the border with Honduras and from the border of Nicaragua to Punta Patuca.

https://www.windy.com/-Satellite-satellite?satellite,11.868,-85.499,5,internal

Burevi has weakened as it moves across the southern tip of India. Currently located near 9.3N 79.6E, toward the west-southwest, the system is moving near 4 km/h (2 knots).

Maximum sustained winds are near 55 km/h (35 knots).

It is forecasted that Burevi will strengthen after it emerges into the Arabian Sea over the weekend.

Update: 3rd of December, 11.30 a.m. UTC

Tropical cyclone Burevi, located 9.2N 79.8E is moving near 16.6 km/h (9 kt). Maximum sustained winds are near 65 km/h (35 kt).

The system is moving over water that has favorable conditions, expected to intensify slightly before making landfall along the coast of southern India. Then it is forecasted for Burevi to begin to weaken as it moves over land. The system will then enter the Arabia sea.

Update: 2nd of December, 4:30 p.m. UTC

Tropical cyclone Burevi, the fifth cyclone in the North Indian Ocean this year, is located near 8.8N 82.3E and currently making landfall in Sir Lanka with maximum sustainable winds of 74 km/h (40 kt).

Cyclone is then expected to travel towards India and approaching the Tamil Nadu coasts Kanyakumari and Pamban on early December 4.

Heavy to extremely heavy rains are forecasted in Tamil Nadu and Kerala till December 5. However Burevi is expected to be the least destructive cyclone of this year.

https://www.windy.com/-Wind-accumulation-gustAccu?gustAccu,9.947,71.016,6,internal

And it truly was.. Windy team once again went on an adventure, and this time we decided to conquer Norway and its snowy hills covered with picturesque cottages.

Our journey started on Prague’s airport, where we had a flight to Oslo and from there we took a long ride by car (5,5 hours) until we arrived in Ustaoset, Buskerud, where we stayed for a week on our colleague’s cottage. (Many thanks again to Honza for the invitation and the hospitality!).

There was really no shortage of snow. Ustaoset is 990m above the sea level and is the finish spot for the cross country ski event Skarverennet. So the scenery was great and view from cottage’s living room, even better.

Due to coming storm Dennis the weather was not ideal especially in the beginning of our week. So the first day we spent working and making plans for the upcoming days.

When the weather got better, there was a plenty of options what we could do!

Kiting

Probably the most tempting activity we all wanted to try was snowkiting. 
Since most of us are complete beginners, we had our instructors nearby to teach us the basic techniques to operate the kite and help us. 

Kiting is certainly not one of the easiest sports you can do, in the beginning, you spend quite a bit of time untangling your kite, because it tends to get out of control a lot and you have to put it in the air over and over again.
It frankly requires a bit of patience, but once you get into it, you will love it. 

It was a great feeling to chase winds on a snowy plains either on skies or snowboard.

A little different camping

Since we saw a chance to get the true nordic night experience firsthand, we took the challenge and a few of us decided to spend a night outside. 

We did have all the necessary equipment and experienced instructor to guide us through. So the fun could begin!

We had to start building two tents early in the afternoon to get things done in time. 
KP for aurora borealis was 4 at that time, so there was a little chance, but we still secretly hoped to catch it. 
A few hours later, the two tents were standing, tops of mountains started to get a pink tint and we were about to call it a day, cooked dinner and went to a bed early.

Nevertheless, since we know how to command weather, we did see aurora borealis in the end. 
In the morning, still in a shadow of the past night, green as an emerald, just as we all pictured it. :)

Skiing and the surprise

Norway has quite a few skiing resorts and the one we went to was Geilo. It happens to be the 5th best resort in Norway, located just a few kilometres from Ustaoset. The first impression was half empty slopes with a fresh powder snow, so actually really nice.

After we enjoyed a full day of sunny weather in the mountains, we joined an evening surprise, which was a night sledding and a hot bath outside for the more venturesome among us.

Here is a little sneak peek on how we pulled it off in the end:

Update: 5th of March, 11:00 p.m. UTC

Cyclone Niran is currently closing in on New Caledonia, moving very fast at 46km/hr towards the island.

Maximum winds are 240 km/h and the cyclone is expected to bring damaging winds, coastal inundation, heavy rainfall and dangerous seas to the region.

Update: 5th of March, 9:00 a.m. UTC

Cyclone Niran is currently the strongest storm in the Australian basin for 2021. It is continuing its intensification with maximum sustainable winds of 212 km/h (115 kt). The storm should be peaking in approximately 6-12 hours.

Niran's main target is the island of New Caledonia, which could take a direct hit as the cyclone moves closer on Saturday morning hours.

https://www.windy.com/-Hurricane-tracker/hurricanes?gustAccu,-17.800,148.011,5,i:pressure,internal

Update: 28th of May 02:00 p.m. UTC

SpaceX launch of NASA Astronauts is postponed over the weather

Thunderstorms and light rain caused by Tropical Storm Bertha were the reason why mission Commercial Crew Demo-2 was aborted only 17 minutes before liftoff.

The Next attempt is scheduled for Saturday, 30 May at 7.22 PM UTC (3.22 PM EDT).

Although chances for success look similar, stormy weather with cloud cover is predicted, upper winds, which can drive thunderstorms to the coast, might be better. On the day of supposed launch, upper winds were moderate (13 kt/24 km/h), on Saturday will be light (4kt, 8 km/h).

In case the launch will be postponed again, the backup launch window for Falcon 9 is available 31 May at 7 PM UTC (3 PM EDT), with the same probability for success.

Update: 27th of May 01:00 p.m. UTC

The SpaceX first-ever crewed spaceflight is scheduled to take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida later today as a mission Commercial Crew Demo-2.

The launch is currently set to 08:30 p.m. (4:33 PM EDT) from Kennedy Space Center, however the weather conditions are not looking very favorable. There is currently a 50% chance that clouds and stormy weather will delay the proceedings due to violating the safety guidelines.

The Crew Dragon capsule will initially spend 19 hours orbiting the Earth till reaching the International Space Station on Thursday.

If the launch ends up to be postponed, another opportunity to send the capsule into the orbit will be on Saturday 30th May.

https://www.windy.com/upload/5ece9129f8e856001d015140?radar,28.229,-81.088,9,internal

Update: 19th of April, 10:00 a.m. UTC

Surigae is currently slowly weakening, while moving to the central and eastern Philippines over the next 24-36 hours. Surigae has downgraded into an equivalent of category 4 Atlantic hurricane and remains a powerfull typhoon.

Typhoon has maximum sustainable winds of 231 km/h (125 kt). Signal alert still remains for areas of Luzon, Visayas, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Samar and Mindanao. Strong winds with heavy rainfall causing flooding and landslides may occur in these areas within the next 24 hours.

Update: 16th of April, 2:00 p.m. UTC

Tropical storm Surigae (locally Bising) has intensified into Typhoon Category 2 with maximum winds of 150 km/h (60 kt) and central pressure of 970 hPa.

Typhoon is expected to steadily intensify during the next 3 days and possibly become Cat.3 on Sunday morning.

Whether the typhoon will make a landfall is yet uncertain, however some models are predicting the landfall to occur near Central Luzon.

Model ECMWF predicts a landfall in the Central Luzon.

https://www.windy.com/-Satellite-satellite?satellite,2021-04-19-11,8.228,129.870,6,internal