I followed the configuration instructions and have made a few flights out around Guam and Marshall Islands. On all but one flight I had clouds appear in front of me suddenly. Each time it has happened between FL280 and FL360. Are there any suggestions with what I could do to minimize this? As I said, I did follow the start up guide and read the manual on weather configuration. Could the problem simply be the remoteness of the area I am?

 

Thank you in advance

Did you happen to notice the time of the pop? The conditions of the weather? Was it decreasing or increasing in severity? Clouds usually pops with a METAR update. But not to say FSX doesn't try to pull one over on you.

As a matter-of-fact I was on descent this last flight and did not notice the METAR. What I can say is the cloud cover was scattered which did not match the conditions I was expecting. Last time I checked there should have been a storm building up. What I can say for sure is when it popped this last flight I was suddenly inside the cloud that appeared and the storm build up I was expecting appeared in front of me. I am positive it happened when I crossed the 19,000 Recovery Altitude. With FSX weather turned off wouldn't that stop FSX from doing something like that?

Hi Edward

 

The METARs will update in accordance with the configured frequency in the Weather Download options or the METAR File Import scan time (if you are using that option). The weather will be in accordance with the METAR, did you check the current METAR conditions within the Local Weather Report window? If you were expecting different conditions then another METAR source could be showing data from a different time period perhaps.

Where the weather is rapidly changing you can play it two ways, either increase the frequency of the weather updates to minimise big changes in the METAR data (although some are only updated once an hour anyway), or load the weather at the start of your flight and then disable the weather engine, but this only works on short flights of up to 300 miles.

Our next stage of development on the weather engine is to smooth out weather, you can read about this on our Flight1 Coming Soon topic.

 

Regards

Cheryl

Hello Cheryl,

 

I will be sure to head over to the Flight1 Forums and follow things from there from now on, thank you. The METAR conditions after the cloud popping where the ones I expected. On the flight I kept looking for the storm Vatsim METAR said should be in front of me but I was not seeing. Does that make sense?

 

When I left PGUM the Vatsim METAR matched what OpusFSX was showing. When I reached FL290 the conditions still matched those from PGUM and I was expecting to see a development of storm clouds (cumulonimbus) ahead of me as I approached PTKK; however, as far as I could see it was the same broken clouds from PGUM. When I started my descent the conditions stayed the same until I went below FL190 and suddenly I was in the middle of a dark cloud. When I exited the cloud, still descending, I could then see the line of storm clouds I had been expecting. These clouds stayed with me and matched the METAR from Vatsim all the way into PTKK.

 

I hope that makes sense. I will try to increase the frequency of live weather updates to 15 minutes or 80km. Right now I have it set to 30 minutes or 80km. I should mention I have Vatsim as the source of METAR data so possibly that is playing a role in this? I also have Max Surface Visibility set to 80km.

Hi Edward

 

The weather should have updated every 30 minutes or 80km, you can see the latest update time on the Local Weather Report window. You can also force a weather update via the FSX OpusFSX add-on menu, so if a new METAR is available then it will use that. I can't see a reason why the decent would have forced a weather update although if you specify a destination ICAO the LWE will do everything it can to ensure your weather is spot on for the destination. I would recommend entering your destination and alternate ICAO codes into the Weather dialog if you have not previously done so.

 

I believe VATSIM can sometimes be behind NOAA on availability of the latest METAR reports but is very useful for filling in where NOAA data is not available.

 

The Max Surface Visibility comes into play whenever the METAR indicates CAVOK, 9999 or 10SM, otherwise the vis as specified in the METAR is used.

 

Regards

Cheryl

I think I understand Cheryl. So, what I will do for my next flight is input my destination, increase live updates to every 15 minutes, and change the weather server to Primary Server and use Vatsim for missing data. Does it sound as if I am on the right track?

Yes, that sounds OK to me.

I would only add one thing. Just use VATSIM for missing data in areas such as New Zealand where there is very poor METAR coverage, and only use it with care. During the week the VATSIM METARs can be quite out of date. This feature was only added for our users in New Zealand and such places which may only be covered by three met stations at the NOAA site.

 

So please use it with caution, if you are flying anywhere with good METAR coverage I would advise to disable the feature. Hope that helps.

 

You can also set your update to something like 15 to 30 mins and/or 64km, the 64km will ensure you do not venture too far without an update. But soon we will advise you go back to the defaults when we have the Weather Smoothing option. Also make sure you at least enter your destination into the Weather dialog, you can do this in flight, but it helps the LWE ensure your weather is spot on inside FSX when you get within ATIS range, of course you can use the Destnation Weather Report window to get a perfect long range ATIS, accurate to over 300 miles away. I often use the alternates to monitor other sites of interest en route.

 

Don't forget beta 2.60.10 has been posted, and keep an eye on our Flight1 Announcements topic.

 

Happy flying, bump aircraft (turbulence), camera view ordering, and weather smoothing coming soon.

 

Regards

Stephen :-)

I will adjust the setting to 15 minutes and 64km. The area where I'm flying is northeast of New Zealand and other than Guam is pretty remote. I may have to wait till I get back to Hawaii to make sure it is not poor coverage.

 

Thank you Stephen and Cheryl,

 

Ed

Could also have been when you were looking for the line coverage of the building storm you were expecting it too near to your location. Remember, weather on a map doesn't always mean right in front of your face in the sim or real world relative to your position =). As Cheryl and Stephen stated, entering in your destination helps with keeping things accurate to when you get there. Also, depending on your update range it's however many minutes between updates OR X km. So if I have it set to 30 min updates but I have my distance set to every 20 miles and i'm doing 500mph then yea i'll have several update checks before my 30 mins is up.

Could also have been when you were looking for the line coverage of the building storm you were expecting it too near to your location. Remember, weather on a map doesn't always mean right in front of your face in the sim or real world relative to your position =).

Very true, good point. It wasn't so much that I did not see the build up I was expecting. It was actually the sudden appearance of it including the cloud that appeared all around me.

 

So if I have it set to 30 min updates but I have my distance set to every 20 miles and i'm doing 500mph then yea i'll have several update checks before my 30 mins is up.

Absolutely, good point. My thinking in this case is, as I prefer to fly tubeliners, the 64km suggested by Stephen will cover me as I hurtle along at FL3XX and the update every 15 minutes will cover me as I crawl along below 10,000 AGL. Or so goes my thought process at any rate. Either way it can't hurt. :biggrin:

 

And thank you for the constructive input.