Alternative to MetOffice...
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Join Date: Mar 2008
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BBC gives a general idea, though flawed at times.
But I was thinking more of a site with sky conditions, visibility, weather at departure, en route, destination, cloud tops, icing, turbulence, precipitation, etc... I have some, I just wanted to know what other pilots use...
Thanks,
FSP
But I was thinking more of a site with sky conditions, visibility, weather at departure, en route, destination, cloud tops, icing, turbulence, precipitation, etc... I have some, I just wanted to know what other pilots use...
Thanks,
FSP
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Orbifly Weather is pretty good for checking conditions at airfields along your planned route. I have used it for some long (600 nm) flights and have always found it useful.
Join Date: Mar 2003
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Euro WX is pretty good and provides some diverse weather models including some from USAF.
Its an utterly ridiculous situation that we have to resort to finding other websites anyway!! You may as well just look out the window or take a wild guess nowadays, such are the potential inaccuracies of the met site.
I did actually visit an on site met office at an RAF base the other day, and that was a different story. A proper met advisor, all the computer models you could shake a stick at, and proper / accurate forecasts. Outside of RAF fields, its a guessing game IMHO.
At any rate, the only way to really get a good overall picture of the weather is "top down" - i.e. consult the surface pressure charts first and foremost, then build a picture via TAF/F215's around that.
Its an utterly ridiculous situation that we have to resort to finding other websites anyway!! You may as well just look out the window or take a wild guess nowadays, such are the potential inaccuracies of the met site.
I did actually visit an on site met office at an RAF base the other day, and that was a different story. A proper met advisor, all the computer models you could shake a stick at, and proper / accurate forecasts. Outside of RAF fields, its a guessing game IMHO.
At any rate, the only way to really get a good overall picture of the weather is "top down" - i.e. consult the surface pressure charts first and foremost, then build a picture via TAF/F215's around that.
Join Date: Jun 2003
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There is a vast range of weather data which doesn't come from the UK Met Office.
The UK MO supplies (for free) these
- Tafs/Metars (which they are obliged to by ICAO, and these appear on all kinds of websites as a result)
- MSLP charts (5 days ahead)
- some odd UK and near-UK stuff like F214/215/414/415
- some less well known stuff like AIRMETs
They also usefully publish some EUMETSAT stuff like this. But their weather radar data has become available only through here.
If you want an 3D data e.g. atmospheric profiles you have to go to the US run GFS model e.g. this. There are many many others.
The UK MO supplies (for free) these
- Tafs/Metars (which they are obliged to by ICAO, and these appear on all kinds of websites as a result)
- MSLP charts (5 days ahead)
- some odd UK and near-UK stuff like F214/215/414/415
- some less well known stuff like AIRMETs
They also usefully publish some EUMETSAT stuff like this. But their weather radar data has become available only through here.
If you want an 3D data e.g. atmospheric profiles you have to go to the US run GFS model e.g. this. There are many many others.
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Weather Online expert charts
GFS soundings
TAFs & METARS
Satpics
Rainfall radar
XCWeather
Covers most things.
GFS soundings
TAFs & METARS
Satpics
Rainfall radar
XCWeather
Covers most things.
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99% of free weather data on the internet comes from GFS. Lots of websites generate different "windows" onto the data.
The perverse thing is that the UK MO may have a somewhat better model for the UK and nearby areas, but they are required to run as a profit centre so release only the basic stuff; the rest is sold to commercial weather providers. So most UK users (who want detail beyond the BBC TV kind of dumbed down dross) use the American model, funded by the US taxpayer
The perverse thing is that the UK MO may have a somewhat better model for the UK and nearby areas, but they are required to run as a profit centre so release only the basic stuff; the rest is sold to commercial weather providers. So most UK users (who want detail beyond the BBC TV kind of dumbed down dross) use the American model, funded by the US taxpayer
