UKC

Does anyone use these 2 apps much. 

I've just become aware of them.

Trying to predict how windy in highlands this weekend. They predict fairly steady winds.....not in agreement with mwis.

In reply to im off:

I have several sites that I view for weather information.  If they all say the same thing. Then there's a good chance it's right these days.  Other than that the more local and recent the information source the more accurate it will generally be.  

Alas I have not used Windy.

In reply to im off:

I use windy for sea kayaking, most of the time it's fairly reliable, as with all these things though  sometimes it can be miles off 

In reply to im off:

Windy is good for a general overview and Nullschool is also fun, with lots of different data that can projected onto the globe. (These both have very nice displays, but give the impression of massaging the data quite hard.) I use Wunderground more than any other channel for weather forecasts, worldwide, but I still find the Met office surface pressure maps as useful as any for UK weather predictions.

In reply to im off:

Yes, been using yr.no (Norwegian met office) app. for quite some time. I'd seen several recommendations for it, so decided to give it a try. I've not done a comparison study, but it seems good to me.

In reply to im off:

Which ever you go with just read into it a bit, some will quote average speeds, with gusts in brackets, others only ground level average etc.. there's no consistency, obviously factor in hills too. 

In reply to im off:

When I've been up at the CIC hut and its been howling, yr.no invariable says it was only blowing at 9m/s.  The graph gives a useful idea of temoeratures and precipitstion though.

I often use Windy to get an overview of the weather systems.  My current interest is when i'll get a clear night to do some astro-photography.  Like all other forecast  its often the timing and intensity of weather that is most likely to be in error.

I also observed that years ago when paragliding.  The more water there is in the atmosphere, the more likely the forecast is of being wrong.  And the presence of mountsins doesn't help.

In reply to im off:

Have used windy as my regular forecast for the last couple years in Scotland (and North Carolina).

It's pretty good for climbing/hills, I can't remember when it's been miles off. Lots of useful options like cloud base, rain accumulation, tides, etc. 

In reply to im off:

I'm a huge fan of Windy - the USP being that you can compare the forecasts from 6 different weather models on one screen at the same time. Depending on your mood / outlook on life, you can either gain confidence if they all agree; make contingencies if there's diversion; choose to believe the best one; or plump for the one that suits what you want to do and selectively show that one to your mate

More specifically, it literally salvaged an ascent of one of the best routes I did last year: We arrived at the ranger station in Zion National Park in Utah to get a permit to climb Prodigal Sun (5.8), a sought after Big Wall on Angel's Landing, to be refused because there was a 30 to 70% chance of rain (sandstone isn't great in the rain!) I pointed out that mathematically there was also a 30 to 70% chance of NO rain - I'm a glass-half-full person, but the Ranger wasn't. A bit of research on the Windy App allowed me to demonstrate that only 2 of the 6 weather models showed any precipitation before 6pm (by which time we'd expect to be topped out) and the other two only showed a sprinkling. Long story short, we got the permit and got the route done (and were in the bar long before the monsoon hit on schedule at 9pm).

A TR and some pics here: https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2022/09/13/prodigal-sun/ 

...Anyway, I'd highly recommend the App!

Cheers, Dom 

In reply to dominic o:

You might like windguru.cz too in that case.  (Not an app - just open it in a browser.)  Several different models, and an aggregation of them all that's set to a default but if you're really keen on being a weather geek you can tune yourself.
https://www.windguru.cz/help.php?sec=blend

In reply to Dave Cundy:

One other one you may find useful is meteoblue. As well as the usual stuff (like rainfall radar) it also has an astro-specific page with details about seeing, cloud cover, jet steam velocities etc.

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/seeing/macclesfield_unit...

Useful, but generally depressing

In reply to Dave Cundy:

The the model yr use is optimised for Norway (naturally) so is pretty coarse over the UK - they are really using it for what feeds into a much higher resolution model over Norway. What this means is the elevation of the Ben is smoothed out over a large (IIRC it’s either a 10km or 30km) pixel so it misses out some of the local-granularity - I.e. windy AF at the CIC. In the UK the met office models have the highest spatial resolution, which is why you get more locally variable forecasts (which should be noted does not always mean more accurate!)

I always like to recommend the meteoblue ensemble on these threads. You can see the outputs of each model, which can help you to assess the level of agreement and hence interpret the certainty of the forecast somewhat. It’s not perfect, and for the really “interesting” stuff you need to have a little background knowledge of weather/climate modelling (nothing a few days reading won’t give you), but it’s the easiest way IMO to start getting into the details.

That said - most euro-centric models will get the UK weather right on a 48 hour scale most of the time. Chances are one of them will always be right (1986 storm was the only real example of them all being wrong in the past 40 years). With this is mind - the best app for you is the one you like the UX of the most. Except accuweather, or the native apple/android apps (which are actually all okay now, but historically have been quite crap for Europe).

In reply to im off: Also consider that as mentioned yr. quotes average wind speed , gusts in brackets, others e.g. BBC quote gusts so not uncommon to find British people getting an absolute battering on the top of Hardangervidda etc after misinterpreting yr...

In reply to im off:

If you're using Windy, it's useful to have a look at the Compare Forecasts option to see what the consensus (or not) is across the different weather models.

In reply to im off: Windy, Windfinder and XC Weather

In reply to im off:

YR good as any, I believe Forestry Scotland use it

In reply to Bob Bennett:

I have been using Windy for years, every day and everywhere. It’s a great all rounder, and mostly the forecasts are accurate. But I usually compare with local weather reports of which many have already been mentioned. Plus avalanche forecasts of course, when that is an issue.
 

Fun story: I was once invited inside the Met Office of Kangerlussuaq Airport in Greenland. To my surprise, I saw they had Windy open on one of their screens. They told me, they use it for comparing with their own forecasts!

In reply to im off:

I find this very helpful

https://meteoradar.co.uk/expected-rainfall

Won't help with your weekend planning but great for dodging showers and sneaking in a quick route

In reply to im off:

The inshore waters forecast is also useful.  Depending on what lies between you and the sea, you'll get a good idea, especially of the wind

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/specialist-forecasts/coast-and-sea/ins....

In reply to im off:

YR is quite good for rainfall, temperatures and wind speeds (average, not gusts!!!) on its short term forecast.

Note that if you are looking at the forecast for a specific location rather than looking at a map, its forecast does not change on as small a scale as some other services which can make it less useful for last minute local decisions on which venue to go to in changeable weather. It is useless for predicting mist/fog/condensation.

When it switches from its short term model to its medium term model, it becomes about as accurate as tea leaves.

In reply to im off:

As loads of others have said the compare forecasts option for Windy is great. It provides a brilliant check on how certain or uncertain the mid-range and long-term forecasts are likely to be. 

However, the traditional MWIS forecast and Met Office app are still my standard choice for Winter Mountaineering in Scotland.

HTH

In reply to Marek:

Meteoblue is one of the 6 models you can view in Windy