15 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

 

This is one area where using the current METAR to generate clouds in MSFS will be of benefit.

I agree as well.  And I understand putting out a TAF is challenging in these coastal areas.

30 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

During the last dev Q&A I think they said something about improving the ATIS for airports in SU7 to give the actual METAR weather data. I’d have to re-watch the Q&A to be sure.

What is important is to match the flying conditions in the sim closely to the real world and have ATIS properly report just that.  I have for years used actual aviation flight planning sites to plan my flights.  With products like the default weather injection in FSX up until it was disengaged, and later FSGRW and Active Sky I was able to get realism.  I have seen improvement in MSFS but it is in the areas I fly significantly inconsistent. And ATIS does not come close to matching the actual conditions being rendered.

26 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

The only components of r/w METAR currently being injected into Live Weather are airport surface wind, temperature and pressure. Any clouds, precipitation or visibility reports in METAR are not used.

I'm not sure if I misunderstood that or remember that wrong but my current knowledge is that it's only planned to include current actual METARs into the FS weather, it's all Meteoblue prediction for now.?

14 minutes ago, Captain Nuts said:

I'm not sure if I misunderstood that or remember that wrong but my current knowledge is that it's only planned to include current actual METARs into the FS weather, it's all Meteoblue prediction for now.?

In all honesty, how do we really know?  It may be the case of issues in how the core MSFS processes and depicts what weather data it is fed.  At times it clearly seems like more than just an issue of timing.  Like we experience issues with streaming data as we fly, there may be issues with the stream of weather data into the sim.  And those issues in the background if they exist may not match issues with other streaming we see in the foreground.

I say that because what I am getting from both Unreal Weather and REX WF are just as inconsistent.  That is a good indication it is not the data itself, but the internal processing of the data.

Edited November 5, 20214 yr by fppilot

1 hour ago, JRBarrett said:

This will be one of the big changes in Live Weather coming with SU7, where METAR clouds, precip and visibility will be used for the first time in MSFS.

Hopefully they can also fix the dewpoint so it's not always reported as 10... now that we're heading toward winter in the northern hemisphere, having a temperature lower than the dewpoint is pretty ridiculous.

2 hours ago, MadDog said:

Hopefully they can also fix the dewpoint so it's not always reported as 10... now that we're heading toward winter in the northern hemisphere, having a temperature lower than the dewpoint is pretty ridiculous.

At the moment, there is no simvar to store dewpoint. FSX and P3D have no weather variable for dewpoint either. I am sure the current MeteoBlue forecast model internally has dewpoint as one of its parameters, but since there is no place to “put it” for the ATIS, they just use the dummy value of 10C. I assume with SU7, ATIS will be using all values from the METAR, so it would give the actual dewpoint from the METAR text, even if there is no variable to store it.

Not sure what ATIS will do with airports that do not report METAR - probably go back to the old system of “made up” values.

Weather depiction fine here in Florida. I've been flying around the US for the last few weeks in the DA-62 and CJ4 and am pleasantly surprised by the real weather in the sim. It's generally been pretty close to the METAR reports, so maybe the METEOBLUE cloud layer "nowcasts" are better linked to those reported in the METARs. I'm basing this not on the ATIS reporting system, but rather on my qualitative estimates of cloud layer heights and coverage.

As always YMMV. That placebo effect is pretty strong and we're all prone to confirmation bias.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Weather (especially for coastal marine environments) is a real issue, with Unreal weather causing CTD's. Hopefully that gets fixed soon....

5 hours ago, MadDog said:

Hopefully they can also fix the dewpoint so it's not always reported as 10..

On occasions when the temperature is under 13°C the dewpoint is then reported at 13°C.  So "Temp 10°, dewpoint 13°." 
Hopefully even most who have never worked in weather can see how embarrassing that is.

6 hours ago, JRBarrett said:

At the moment, there is no simvar to store dewpoint. FSX and P3D have no weather variable for dewpoint either.

Interesting... I really didn't know that.  Even then, it would have been pretty easy to just subtract a random amount from the temperature at the outset rather just assign it "10"... it would take 1 or 2 lines of code and make the error a lot less glaring until they can make a real fix.  I have to say I was truly amazed when they finally addressed (sort of) the ATIS cloud layers; but didn't touch the dewpoint.

 

It took the day but it appears working again....they actually nailed the marine layer tonight at LAX.  I just got so worked using Pilot Edge and flying a heavy single pilot workload trip from KBFL.  Got a frequency change, altitude and new routing all in one oofda....Thankfully the CJ4 took it all in ok.

marinelayer by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

On 11/4/2021 at 8:24 PM, fppilot said:

Use the "B" key to set your altimeter. At least that should match you to the conditions you are encountering.

Yep, I did that and it turned out my set altimeter was incorrectly set on my alpha, it was pointing to Kollsman radio 'set altimeter' consequently always setting it to 27.99 when pressed. Ugh. For whatever reason I continue to struggle to properly dial in my bindings on my new alpha and bravo. So, the weather isn't hosed. 🙂

Just now, Drumcode said:

Yep, I did that and it turned out my set altimeter was incorrectly set on my alpha, it was pointing to Kollsman radio 'set altimeter' consequently always setting it to 27.99 when pressed. Ugh. For whatever reason I continue to struggle to properly dial in my bindings on my new alpha and bravo. So, the weather isn't hosed. 🙂

Where with the Alpha are you trying to manage altimeter settings?  I just reach to the panel with my mouse just as I would do in an aircraft. 

4 minutes ago, fppilot said:

Where with the Alpha are you trying to manage altimeter settings?  I just reach to the panel with my mouse just as I would do in an aircraft. 

I set it to Number 3 button on the alpha, it's just easier. Not a big fan of scrolling this little back button of G1000 to set the proper altimeter value. I'm all set now. 

15 hours ago, ryanbatcund said:

they actually nailed the marine layer tonight at LAX

Yes.  Pretty good match yesterday.  I was attempting to fly out of nearby Torrance KTOA yesterday and had to wait until noon PDT before conditions were above minimums.  I fly real time.  I live in Maryland.  So it was 3 pm here before I could get out of the LA basin to my destination of San Jose.