"Unreal Weather" nice free add-on for METAR based weather

[LarryD 132]

1 hour ago, LarsA said:

How is the weather and cloud transition between the stations? Unfortunately no time to test by myself at the moment... 

Let me tell you my experience with that.  Departed an airport that had a 3400 foot BKN ceiling and flew 20 miles to my home airport.  Checked the METER for home airport after departure and it stated CLR.  Well OK.

The first 15 miles of the flight had about 85% puffy cloud coverage with occasional peeks at a blue sky between clouds.  As I turned a five mile final, I noticed an odd thing occuring with the clouds.  It looked like they were "jumping" about every second.  What I mean is that it wasn't the normal smooth movement as one moves in an airplane and sees a cloud get closer, but it was jumping from "here" to "there" in small increments.  Also, some of the clouds were vanishing.  On about a two mile final, there was about 50% cloud coverage.  As I touched down, about 25% cloud coverage.  At the end of the roll on the far end of the runway, SKY CLEAR.....not a cloud in sight. Anywhere.

 

[RobJC 2,069]

2 hours ago, LarryD said:

Let me tell you my experience with that.  Departed an airport that had a 3400 foot BKN ceiling and flew 20 miles to my home airport.  Checked the METER for home airport after departure and it stated CLR.  Well OK.

The first 15 miles of the flight had about 85% puffy cloud coverage with occasional peeks at a blue sky between clouds.  As I turned a five mile final, I noticed an odd thing occuring with the clouds.  It looked like they were "jumping" about every second.  What I mean is that it wasn't the normal smooth movement as one moves in an airplane and sees a cloud get closer, but it was jumping from "here" to "there" in small increments.  Also, some of the clouds were vanishing.  On about a two mile final, there was about 50% cloud coverage.  As I touched down, about 25% cloud coverage.  At the end of the roll on the far end of the runway, SKY CLEAR.....not a cloud in sight. Anywhere.

 

I noticed similar behavior. 

[CFIJose 5,485]

I had a similar issue.

The mod is a good start, but it's not ready yet. I'll stick with default live weather and hope that the next ASOBO update brings some improvements.

[sidfadc 1,340]

I had a play about with this last night, at first I was impressed but after more flying I noticed the abrupt weather transitions which honest took me back to my REX FSX days which is a shame. I’ll keep an eye on this for sure it’s a good start but needs a bit more time I think.

[LarsA 90]

Thanks for the detailed descriptions! Let's see, how it develops... 

[jrw4 623]

I can think of three challenges to METAR-based weather data sources:

1. Transitions from one weather station to another and also from one time to another, i.e., what happens when the weather updates?
2. How is weather generated in regions not covered by reporting stations. 75% of the Earth's surface is covered by water.
3. How are upper level winds, icing levels, etc., generated? These are hard, if not impossible, to infer from ground level measurements only.

These challenges are met by weather sources like Meteoblue which derive their numbers from global models, but these don't necessarily provide local weather conditions that match the METARs. There's no free lunch. I'm guessing that sophisticated software like ActiveSky provides some sort combination of local and global weather, but there's a cost in CPU resources, unless they also use the cloud to do the required calculations.

With regard to VATSIM and similar services, whatever simulator/weather service is installed, I suggest that you disregard data like sea level pressure, winds, etc., provided by ATC and use whatever numbers are generated by your sim in setting up your departure or approach on the FMC. There will be occasions on which you will be cleared to use what may not be the ideal runway based on your sim weather (this happens IRL, as well), but you can always request a different runway assignment from the controller, so long as things aren't too busy. If there's a lot of traffic, you may be given a hold or extensive vectors to wait for airspace to clear. Either way, it will be a good learning experience.

 

[louisgr 2]

@shadow133 The winds aloft are similar to the ones on the ground in velocity and direction so not very realistic. Also, if the "current" metar station that is tracked by the mod has a gust factor then you will also experience that. It's a very good start but it needs more work at higher altitude.

cheers

Louis

[dobee51 346]

7 hours ago, DJJose said:

I had a similar issue.

The mod is a good start, but it's not ready yet. I'll stick with default live weather and hope that the next ASOBO update brings some improvements.

That actually sounds rather promising. At least the weather is "trying" to transition from one metar report to the other. I wonder if there are any settings to change the speed in either the mod or the sim itself. Or maybe it depends on the length of time you are in the air?

[Mike S KPDX 597]

I too don't mind the Meteo wx in-game, but what frustrates me the most is the simple inability to determine what that wx is!  Please don't say go to the internet as this is not what is in the game.  I even went so far as to pay the additional monthly subscription fee on the Meteo site just to gain access to their aviation wx section - this still is not what is in the game.  I don't know if they are sending to to MS late or MS is sending it to us late or what, but you simply can not determine what wx is where in the game until you spawn at the airport, power up, and listen to the ATIS.

I really don't care if it current or not, I simply want to know what it is.  This does not even get into the need for this to do any type or airline flying.

[shadow133 23]

7 hours ago, Mike S KPDX said:

I too don't mind the Meteo wx in-game, but what frustrates me the most is the simple inability to determine what that wx is!  Please don't say go to the internet as this is not what is in the game.  I even went so far as to pay the additional monthly subscription fee on the Meteo site just to gain access to their aviation wx section - this still is not what is in the game.  I don't know if they are sending to to MS late or MS is sending it to us late or what, but you simply can not determine what wx is where in the game until you spawn at the airport, power up, and listen to the ATIS.

I really don't care if it current or not, I simply want to know what it is.  This does not even get into the need for this to do any type or airline flying.

Couldn’t agree more, especially since I haven’t been able to get any in game atis! On ifr clearance the option doesn’t appear and when I manually tune the atis freq it is either wrong or cycling multiple airports. Unuseable, I am actually calculating performance data with metar that doesn’t match the game simply because its the only info available. This tool is promising, at least matching metar. 

[kt069 569]

Unreal Weather is updated to 1.5. To whom it may concern. Happy flying.

REVISION HISTORY

1.5 (12-Oct-2020)

• Altimeter indicator in METAR now takes priority when calculating MSL pressure
• Weather Settings panel now refreshes itself properly
• High-elevation winds can be disabled in the mod settings
• Other minor improvements

[Armchair Pilot 261]

Sorry for my ignorance, but is this basically the same as weather force by REX? but free.

[kt069 569]

14 minutes ago, Armchair Pilot said:

Sorry for my ignorance, but is this basically the same as weather force by REX? but free.

I do not know REX very well but this is METAR based weather addon. You can read the posts above for more info.

[BackboneOne 47]

awesome!

[peloto 213]

I think for a real sky the METAR is necessary obviously, but need to take info of the real clouds and visibility at the zone in other method and mix them probably, or even satellite actualized images hour by hour or less. If Metar says CAVOK there isn´t any cloud, that could be real, but in my place in those moments there were less visibility, some high clouds and some cloud here and there.

Anyway really really thanks for the addon and efforts, impressive, easy to install and integrated.

 

 

All the best.

 

 

  

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by peloto