I think the weather depiction is about the same with both weather engines/solutions, which it should be if correct data is used. The major visual difference are the lights which are quite configurable and therefore won't look the same for everyone.  

One thing that X-Plane (or any sim) doesn't show realistically is what it looks like with "buckets of rain" pouring down. The visibility is always too far.

 

This isn't just an issue with hurricanes. I lived most of my life in South Florida and traveled extensively in the Tropics south of there. Some rainstorms were so heavy that I've had to pull my car off the side of the road, because I couldn't see more than 10 feet ahead of me. It's possible to get completely "socked in" by rain like that, and I've never seen that happen in X-Plane or any other sim.

 

Of course you only notice this flaw when you're parked on the ground or flying at low level, like those screen shots above. In-flight at the higher altitudes it's less noticeable because there are no nearby references for visibility.

 

Got home and after dinner tried KJAX using NOAA and default clouds , from the rwy looked for the windsock and saw it blowing like a 15 kt wind and checked the compass which showed the wind direction to the South and my nose on the rwy was to the EAST so on the rwy the x-wind was there , I just assumed a 15-20 kt wind and then checked NOAA weather data and it showed 02026G37 kts , well the ground handling was terrible as usual in the C185 with the x-wind but I managed to get up in the air and I was surprised I am not getting thrown around, there was some wobbling felt nice , did a small circuit around KJAX but was disoriented due to the visibility and not good at IFR but I managed to get back and had an amazing x-wind landing something like I have seen in "Flying Wild Alaska" series.

 

Heavy rain

 

Was going to test it with FSGRW but it was stalling.

One thing that X-Plane (or any sim) doesn't show realistically is what it looks like with "buckets of rain" pouring down. The visibility is always too far.

 

This isn't just an issue with hurricanes. I lived most of my life in South Florida and traveled extensively in the Tropics south of there. Some rainstorms were so heavy that I've had to pull my car off the side of the road, because I couldn't see more than 10 feet ahead of me. It's possible to get completely "socked in" by rain like that, and I've never seen that happen in X-Plane or any other sim.

 

Good point. If I remember correctly, way back (X-Plane 8 or 7?) the max visibility available in the weather screen, decreased if there was rain. I think this is a feature that could be added by 3rd party weather engines, i.e. reducing visbility if there's heavy rain. A bit like the NOAA plugin does, by setting visibility as a function of T-Td (humidity).

Good point. If I remember correctly, way back (X-Plane 8 or 7?) the max visibility available in the weather screen, decreased if there was rain. I think this is a feature that could be added by 3rd party weather engines, i.e. reducing visbility if there's heavy rain. A bit like the NOAA plugin does, by setting visibility as a function of T-Td (humidity).

 

That sounds good, but ideally it would also have a geographical component. The type of heavy rain I described is something I've only experienced in the Tropics like Brazil, and certain Sub-Tropcal areas like Florida and the Caribbean. I moved up here to the Pacific Northwest USA fifteen years ago, and I've never experienced anything remotely like those rainstorms. What they call "rain" up here is more like a light mist by comparison! And it would more closely match the visibility in those screen shots.

 

I guess it's not practical to model those differences in "rain" if there isn't enough data in the METAR, or whatever other data sources the sim is using. 

 

 

ELITE does it great :-)  even if it doesn't depict precipitation at all, but the visibility degradation due to rain is considerable, and depends on the reported level of intensity.

 

Same applies in Aerowinx PSX, although with even less detailled out-of-windshield graphics.

 

I somehow recall this was also very well done in FLight Unlimited 3