Page 1 of 1

Windy.com

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 4:35 pm
by crbnunit
Has anyone played with this site. Seems pretty handy to get a feel for the airflow around your local area and region. Search by city or airport.

www.windy.com

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:08 pm
by ajak
I've been playing with that a bit, too. I've been particularly interested in its ability to forecast wind (or at least general wind patterns) for any lat/long coordinate that you select - nice potential tool for backcountry flying. So far, for a couple of beach areas that I've been flying to on the west side of Cook Inlet, it seems fairly accurate. I'll be curious to see how accuracy fares in more mountainous areas with highly localized winds.

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:31 pm
by DeltaRomeo
I was looking at it today and noticed something missing: it used to give the winds for various altitudes. either they removed that feature or they changed the look and I can't find it.

EDIT: I found it; it has changed. I really like the wind direction and speeds indicated for various altitudes as it helps plan a cruising altitude for best wind.

Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:50 pm
by MauleEnvy
I have it as an App on my iPhone & iPad. For the last year I’ve used it, I find it way more accurate than the TAF’s.

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:38 am
by crbnunit
This is another program I find handy and it is at least, if not more accurate than local news weather as far as future predictions out to 10 days...

It is really handy to see what is happening in your area right now, real time as it incorporates citizen weather stations all over the area.

https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap? ... alwx_wumap

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:47 pm
by CaseyM
Long time and frequent user of Windy.com (used to be called Windytv) and weather underground, here. I've personally never meshed well with NOAA's website and/or features. I find it very clunky, and user unfriendly. Not to mention difficult to memorize the symbols and acronyms while trying to read the maps. I'm not sure what type of Voodoo magic windy.com uses but I find it very interesting and Mesmerizing.

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:06 pm
by DeltaRomeo
Other than a handfull of balloons they launch periodically to gather weather data aloft, I haven't been able to determine what they are using for a source to create the wind maps.

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:33 pm
by VA Maule
DeltaRomeo it's got me stumped too, I guess it's the same witchcraft/sorcery that thishere internet thing works through ( I don't worry which way the gears spin inside the box as long as it goes in the direction I expect it to when I dump the clutch & stomp the gas) :wink:

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:15 am
by Mountain Doctor
I'll check it out. For in flight cruise altitude planning ForeFlight helps there. This site may be useful for bicycling. Windspeed and direction almost as much of a factor there as in flying.

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2018 2:57 pm
by chazdevil
I’ve used it for a while. As a “visual learnerâ€￾ it helps me see what’s brewing in valleys n such.
Helped with sailing old dory in the sound too!