Awesome new weather website

[Keith S. Walklet]

As a tool for planning (besides looking out the window);) , the noaa.gov's weather data has been one of my favorite tools, especially the tabular data that includes hourly cloud cover, precipitation, temperature, etc.

I've just discovered a new tool that takes this data to a new level. Called weatherspark, it is an interactive site that provides not only realtime, but historic weather info.

Check it out at http://weatherspark.com/

[Kirk Gittings]

Hmmm. I just checked it out for my location from all three sources. It said 25% cloud cover and there is not a cloud in the sky? Sometimes i think weather reporting is more art than science.

[John Voss]

It's in beta form right now, but it looks like it will be very good when ready for prime time.

[Keith S. Walklet]

I agree Kirk. Looking out the window does work, and I often feel the weather coming rather than relying on stats. This was especially true when you're intimately familiar with a particular region. Nothing like being out in it constantly to become attuned to subtle changes in air pressure, wind, and humidity.

And John's correct. It is still in beta. The website apologizes for the inconsistencies that some of the reporting stations introduce. I'm jazzed because the interactive nature of the data presentation is wonderful, and the historical info fascinating.

[Mike Anderson]

That is cool. In general I'm a Flash-basher but sometimes it enables really good stuff. My new weather info source.

I wonder if/how they're going to make money off it.

...Mike

[Kirk Gittings]

I agree Kirk. Looking out the window does work, and I often feel the weather coming rather than relying on stats. This was especially true when you're intimately familiar with a particular region. Nothing like being out in it constantly to become attuned to subtle changes in air pressure, wind, and humidity.

And John's correct. It is still in beta. The website apologizes for the inconsistencies that some of the reporting stations introduce. I'm jazzed because the interactive nature of the data presentation is wonderful, and the historical info fascinating.

A friend of mine used to be a weather man here. One day I was watching his forecast and he said there was a 16% chance of rain. Looking out the window, I could see that it was pouring. His office at the tv station is about a 1.5 miles from my house. I sent him an email to that effect that it IS raining. He replied that he sometimes gets so wrapped up in computer reports that he forgers to look out the window, BUT that in this case the supposed live weather report was actually pre-recorded earlier that morning.

[Heroique]

The noaa.gov's weather data has been one of my favorite tools...

I love NOAA (Noah!) for its tidal predictions – high and low – for very specific areas. As many know, high & low tides can differ wildly from one bay or inlet to the next, depending on which part of the world you’re in. Or the timing might coincide exactly across an entire region.

Here’s a useful link to NOAA’s 2011 tidal predictions (http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tides11/) for the United States.

Click your state, and voila! (Kansas, you’re out of luck.)

If you like to explore tidal pools at low-tide, or high-tide conditions, this will make your life a lot easier! As for “awesome weather sites” – the correct answer is to get out there and work w/ the conditions you find…

[cdholden]

It's in beta form right now, but it looks like it will be very good when ready for prime time.

That reminds me of our business software migration to SAP: "It works in the production release."

[rjphil]

There was a student dj on one of the local college radio stations that would do the weather like this - "And looking out the weather window - it's, um - windy and raining." (Or sunny or whatever)
Never wrong.

[GPS]

I agree Kirk. Looking out the window does work, and I often feel the weather coming rather than relying on stats. This was especially true when you're intimately familiar with a particular region. Nothing like being out in it constantly to become attuned to subtle changes in air pressure, wind, and humidity.

...

You became attuned to subtle changes in air pressure? How do you feel saying this BS? High pressure in the tower?:rolleyes:
Thanks for the link, it's a good one.

[Keith S. Walklet]

Kirk, I feel for your buddy. I used to have to record ski conditions with the various media outlets from Yosemite Valley for Badger Pass, which was miles away and 3,000 feet higher than where I was. It was a moving target on a good day.

The weatherspark interface is slick IMO, once having zeroed in on a general region via the search mechanism, being able to drag the map to specific weather reporting stations which can vary widely in their data, especially in mountainous areas with elevation changes and micro-climates. in places like Yosemite, there are multiple weather stations reporting. If you don't know which site is providing the information, it can get ugly.

Plug in "Yosemite" on one of the "popular" weather websites and it gives a report from one of the high country stations, which isn't as helpful when you're looking for the valley conditions.

But combine the functionality of this new site with the other contributors like the webcams (which also report temperature) and you get a much more complete picture of conditions when you are sitting in the Bay Area planning your multiday trip.

GPS, Didn't mean to take up a tower position, just noting we all feel changes in air pressure to some degree, such as when riding in an airplane when our ears pop. Farmers, sailors, climbers, anyone who spends enough time outside gets attuned to the subtleties of weather and can sense weather moving in, in same way photographers can ballpark light values and time of day. Maybe not to a point where they will provide real-time actual barometric pressure readings...;)

[ROL]

Being basically lazy, I am just copying my contribution from APUG (http://www.apug.org/forums/forum45/89290-awesome-new-weather-website-2.html)...

"Thanks for the link. Can't figure out how I missed it, as I am frequently on the REI site.

Not to "rain" on your parade, but I would like to offer a (non-flash) perspective on this site. Back in the eighties, prior to the world wide web, I myself offered value added computer serviced weather forecasting by modem and fax , before cashing in the chips. So, I have some experience in value-added meteorology. It is important that the public at large realize that all weather information in the U.S. is generated from NOAA and European government data. Extrapolation of specific variables beyond 48 hours is based on increasingly error prone numerical model interpretation. Like you, I use the NWS tabular data to get an idea of general weather conditions and forecast for specific remote locations. While I note that WeatherSpark is beta – and its home page shows it, I find the graphical representation into the future to be subtly misleading in the same way that AccuWeather 10 day and longer are. The degree of specificity and "dressing up" of such data by third parties can inadvertently lead one to view such forecasts as more reliable and factual than they actually are.

While I will check back to see what other services the site offers, I caution users of this (and other) value added sites to view the information with some degree of caution."

Source – me

[Andrew O'Neill]

It's all in that silly fahrenheit system.

[EdWorkman]

Not to mention, when are we gonna get metric time and a celsius calendar
Then maybe we'll fix pi

[Keith Pitman]

Hmmm. I just checked it out for my location from all three sources. It said 25% cloud cover and there is not a cloud in the sky? Sometimes i think weather reporting is more art than science.

There are two perspectives on weather i've always believed:

--Never believe what a weatherman or economist says about the future.

--If weathermen and economists switched places, would we know the difference?

[Keith S. Walklet]

Keith,

I have a degree in Economics and will add this one...

"If you placed all the economists in the world end-to-end, you'd reach..... no conclusion."

ROL,
It was people like me feeding your value added fax system data, so I'm hip to its limitations. We are dutifully forewarned. ;)

[Keith Pitman]

Keith,

I have a degree in Economics and will add this one...

"If you placed all the economists in the world end-to-end, you'd reach..... no conclusion."

ROL,
It was people like me feeding your value added fax system data, so I'm hip to its limitations. We are dutifully forewarned. ;)

You're off topic;this is about weather forecasting. :)

[ROL]

ROL,
It was people like me feeding your value added fax system data, so I'm hip to its limitations. We are dutifully forewarned. ;)

Huh? Meaning, you took weather data for the NWS as part of NPS duties? I participated in at least one snow survey with Rangers Randy Morgensen (RIP) and Joe Evans, as one of the more active members of the Yosemite Nordic Patrol in the seventies.

Everyone else – cast as many aspersions on weather men (women) as you like, just be aware that most are not meteorologists (I am). Having no formal rigorous education or training in the physics of the atmosphere, weather enthusiasts run the gammut from knowledegable amateurs to pretty faces with opinions.

[Keith S. Walklet]

Not the full blown weather data. It was primarily ski conditions, weather outlook, all reported to media outlets and aggregators at ungodly hours so that folks headed into the park for the day would know what to expect. It was always interesting to see how projected snow lines would pan out when the storms actually rolled in.

I did photograph a snow survey in Tuolumne on one occasion when I skied up over Tioga Pass.

Randy Morgensen? Wow, you are dating yourself!

I will say with reasonable certainty that there is a little bit of snow up there now. Just got a snapshot from a friend yesterday with ten foot walls of snow on either side of the road at Crane Flat. The park really got hammered this last set of storms. My buddy reported that in El Portal, the oaks lost a lot of limbs and the redbud look as if a herd of elephants had run amok all over them.

[ROL]

I did photograph a snow survey in Tuolumne on one occasion when I skied up over Tioga Pass.

Randy Morgensen? Wow, you are dating yourself!

Yes, ANCIENT! That's me at the start of the Yosemite Nordic Holiday Race at Badger Pass on my way out to Bev Johnson serving blueberry soup at Dewey Point – and back.
http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/SupportPics/XCSkiing/1972/YosemiteNordicHoliday-%281972.jpg

circa 1972, from the Yosemite Ski Touring Brochure

While my peers were lettering in football and basketball, I was wasting my time driving up to Summit Meadow (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/Yosemite-Winter/Summit+Meadow%2C+Winter.jpg.php) on Friday nights where an otherwise lonely training run out to Dewey would find only the avuncular Wayne Merry competing with me. I skied across Tioga to the Valley sometime later, a couple of years prior to the winter ensconcement of rangers in Tuolumne (again Randy and Judi).

[Keith S. Walklet]

Wayne Merry, too! Seems to me that's about when the nordic ski school started.

You have to admit that the view from Dewey is worth the effort, though I like Stanford even more.

Still at it in these days when folks can ski round trip to Glacier Point in less than two hours?

[Brian Ellis]

In Florida the forecasters were right every single day from May through September. All they had to say was "temperature in the low 90s, humidity in the low 90s, chance of afternoon thundershowers."

[ROL]

In Florida the forecasters were right every single day from May through September. All they had to say was "temperature in the low 90s, humidity in the low 90s, chance of afternoon thundershowers."

The proper meteorological terminology for that is "persistence forecasting".

[ROL]

Wayne Merry, too! Seems to me that's about when the nordic ski school started.

Indeed, with Ned Gillete (RIP – Bev too, OMG all these people are gone!)


You have to admit that the view from Dewey is worth the effort, though I like Stanford even more.

Still at it in these days when folks can ski round trip to Glacier Point in less than two hours?

Been there done that. In 1977 I was the only nordic skier competing in the National Championships from the Far West. Alas, arthritis in my knee has taken its toll. But oh how I used to love the run up the 4 Mile Trail to GP (49 minutes with return jog via Illilouette and Mist Trails). Now I use the excuse of carrying a camera to slow me down:


Treecicles, Badger Pass
(2005 – 5X7 taken along the Glacier Point Road to Bridalveil Creek)
http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/albums/Yosemite-Winter/Treecicles%2C%20Badger%20Pass.jpg

And now I fear this thread has now been hijacked, but I'm not certain I'm entirely responsible.

[ROL]

Still at it in these days when folks can ski round trip to Glacier Point in less than two hours?

Oh yeah, my recollection is that it used to take me about 2 to 2 1/2 hours round trip from the Badger Pass A–Frame and back, but that was at least partially on frozen Sierra Cement, with blue–purple klister waxed, lignostone–edged, wood light touring skis, with kangaroo–skinned Jette boots (never could get the hop out of those shoes) and bindings, on unpacked, untracked snow – not the namby–pamby carbon fiber and plastic stuff the whipper–snappers use today, on machine–groomed trail :p .