Weather for travel.

[onesea]

Now the weather is on the change I was looking for weather forecasts I found this one:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b008flb5/weather-for-the-week-ahead

Its a forecast for the week ahead, and it’s produced daily, giving you a good over view of what’s going to come.

Just remember as geography teacher said weather forecasters never get the weather wrong, just get it in the wrong place or time.

 

Which gives me my next weather forecasting tool, the met office app:

Select the last 6 hours and use scroll bar to see what rain is actually doing for last 6 hours.  Often you can see I need to be home by X or get wet. Alternatively it’s only a little shower I can ride through that…

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by onesea

[bud]

I don't get iPlayer.  But sounds like it might be useful for someone.

[husoi]

Still prefer WTF weather app.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I use a pine cone on a string. 

[Ian Frog]

I believe the reason the met office relocated to Exeter was it is nearer the coast so seaweed supplies were easier to get and cheaper !

Cheers

Ian

[onesea]

1 hour ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

I use a pine cone on a string. 

The science behind it, PS you don’t need it on a string.

https://www.metlink.org/experiment/pine-cone-weather-station/#:~:text=Make a pine cone weather station&text=Is it raining%3F,the pine cones remain closed.
 

 

29 minutes ago, Ian Frog said:

I believe the reason the met office relocated to Exeter was it is nearer the coast so seaweed supplies were easier to get and cheaper !

Cheers

Ian

 

Hang some seaweed outside and if it feels dry to the touch the weather should be fine, whereas if it feels damp rain be on its way. It’s not a completely failsafe forecast, being based only on the fact that if there’s moisture in the air it may indicate rain soon to come. If it’s VERY wet, it may simply be that it’s actually raining already.

 

Weather stone does work better on a string:

 

Being British the fool proof way to arrange rain is to arrange a BBQ, I can assure you it works.  Even in Egypt where rain had not called for 4 years so I was told, the BBQ still went ahead British after all.
 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by onesea

[S-Westerly]

From a professional point of view I find most forecasts utterly useless beyond 24 hours. The further you go into the future the less reliable it is and the degree of confidence drops. For some reason given the vastly increased resources going into forecasting the results are less reliable. It could be the models are not well programmed but I don't know. 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

52 minutes ago, onesea said:

The science behind it, PS you don’t need it on a string.

https://www.metlink.org/experiment/pine-cone-weather-station/#:~:text=Make a pine cone weather station&text=Is it raining%3F,the pine cones remain closed.
 

 

 

Hang some seaweed outside and if it feels dry to the touch the weather should be fine, whereas if it feels damp rain be on its way. It’s not a completely failsafe forecast, being based only on the fact that if there’s moisture in the air it may indicate rain soon to come. If it’s VERY wet, it may simply be that it’s actually raining already.

 

Weather stone does work better on a string:

 

Being British the fool proof way to arrange rain is to arrange a BBQ, I can assure you it works.  Even in Egypt where rain had not called for 4 years so I was told, the BBQ still went ahead British after all.
 

 

 

As a sailor I use the string to determine wind speed. 

 

Pine cone hanging down...no wind, go ride a motorcycle instead.

 

Pine cone at 10-15 degrees.....take full rig and skip breakfast

 

Pine cone at 15-30 degrees.....take full rig and gave a full English

 

Pine cone at 30-45 degrees....take small rig.

 

Pine cone at 45-60 degrees.....take small rig, check life insurance.

 

Pine cone 60-90 degrees.....take full rig and kiss you arse goodbye. 

[onesea]

45 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

From a professional point of view I find most forecasts utterly useless beyond 24 hours. The further you go into the future the less reliable it is and the degree of confidence drops. For some reason given the vastly increased resources going into forecasting the results are less reliable. It could be the models are not well programmed but I don't know. 

Weather models are quite interesting, they are improving but they generally don’t cope with local winds very well. From what I can work out they initially started with geostrophic winds, however they are improving in the forecasts of local winds sea breezes, acceleration zones etc.  Some days the various models agree and you have good indications for a few days others they all differ and it’s guess work.

 

Much depends on which model the forecasters favour particularly with commercial weather suppliers or weather routers.

 

Having found the BBC one above, I have found it a good balance of isobar charts  and a certain amount of honesty about uncertainty, hence I shared it.

 

 

[S-Westerly]

Best one I've found for surface winds and precipitation is an app called Windy. I use the free version.

[MikeHorton]

Weather forecasts!  all I'll say is Michael Fish and hurricane

[Bender]

3 hours ago, MikeHorton said:

Weather forecasts!  all I'll say is Michael Fish and hurricane

Glad I drove to Scotland from Cornwall that night  

 

As for the met office,  so reliable they were dropped by the BBC. 

[Pie man]

I find the weather stone more reliable than the BBC 

[Bender]

22 minutes ago, Pie man said:

I find the weather stone more reliable than the BBC 

That was thanks to the met  

[Gerontious]

Call me old fashioned. but sometimes going outside and looking at the sky can answer a question or two.

 

should I stock up on hob nobs, or Jaffa cakes.

 

its a puzzle.

 

However... on. a more serious note, I did a bit of time travelling today. popped forward to next January.

Saw the weather forecast for Doncaster (of all places). it was minus 10

Called my mate and asked him if it was true. he said no.. its only minus 1.

But, I said.. the weather says its minus 10.

Oh... that must be outside, he said. and by the way, what was your gas bill like?

 

.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Gerontious

[Davidtav]

I find XC Weather pretty accurate 

[JRH]

On 21/08/2022 at 17:02, Davidtav said:

I find XC Weather pretty accurate 

+1