METAR vs ATIS vs

[Bman2006 6]

Morning all-

I have eased my way back into MSFS to work on my Instrument Rating.   I am glad to see some many improvements with MSFS over the past year.   I see Wx is still a tough subject all around with the clamped down 3rd party access.  I had been using REX Weather Force and see that it's similar often times to the MSFS METAR data.  Fine.   ATIS from MSFS doesn't match anything very close to METAR from say ForeFlight or any other online METAR source.  

It looks like I can take or leave REX in terms of weather depiction and complete disregard the ATIS information I hear when dialed into a local station?   I trust the Wx depiction, specifically winds, are more closely aligned with the METAR data and not what ATIS is reporting?

At the end of the day, I want the winds to match as close as possible to what I see on Fore Flight.   That sounds like I should use Live Weather in MSFS and disregard ATIS? 

Thanks

Benjamin

 

[ryanbatc 12,770]

Unfortunately the weather matching a real world ATIS, for me at least in the US, is totally hit or miss.  I'm not sure why they keep prioritizing weird new DLC like the Halo Pelican over atmospheric rendering but they do.  Behind flight modeling, weather should be a close second priority.

If you're trying to shoot approaches to mins I'd still recommend XP or P3D over this sim.  Asobo doesn't even do visibility correctly.

[Bman2006 6]

Crazy but it's the age old question - game versus simulator.  I've always tried to use my simulators as just that.   It's apparent other facets of the software series are more profitable, which I completely understand. 

I don't care about the ATIS per se, I only want to know that the winds in the simulator are close to the METAR I see on FF.  I am not really sure what the sim is depicting between METAR, ATIS, REX... what are the actual wind conditions depicted?  How do I confirm the Wx (wind) depiction in the simulator if the ATIS and METAR aren't saying the same thing? 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Bman2006

[hs118 706]

THIS ^^^^^ my personal biggest disappointment in MSFS.

[RandallR 444]

Ignore ATIS.  Winds (for me) appear to be fairly accurate these days and often match the Metar report.  ATIS seems to be the issue - sometimes it matches, most of the time it doesn't.  There is a disconnect of some kind in the ATIS system and it virtually ignores the actual sim wind data.

I check the Metar report in the weather tool to get the winds and simply ignore the ATIS report.  If the metar report in MSFS is empty (no data), I quickly open one of my favorite Metar reporting websites and verify the winds.  Occasionally there is simply no current Metar report available for that airport in the real world, so I proceed with the data I had during flight planning and verify with the windsocks as I taxi - they've been very accurate lately.

[starstream707 70]

I really don't have a problem with the weather matching at all. I will look at flightradar24 airport weather and think only once was it different, and big time different like ATIS  heavy rain when metar was clr skys, Funny thing was msfs visual effects were correct for the real weather and had the CLR skys modeled.

[orchestra_nl 923]

I hardly use ATIS in the sim, but most of the time the weather matches those on Metar-taf.com quite well. What the sim doesn't always gets right is which runway to use for takeoff and landing.

[Bman2006 6]

How are you confirming your winds in the sim are matching any authentic METAR data?  Just because the METAR noted in MSFS is the same report, my confidence in the actual weather conditions being produced... marginal at best.  How can I see what the winds are really doing in the sim? 

[RandallR 444]

If there is metar data in the weather tool I find that it matches real world reports and that the effect (direction and strength of wind in the sim) is also correct.  Even when the Metar button has no data available, I've found the sim winds to be close to my last online report.

The windsocks are now giving a very good indication/verification of wind strength and direction.

The wind indicator on aircraft with Garmin displays is very accurate these days, though you have to be airborne to get an indication.  This is especially helpful when on final - keep checking all the way down, as it's not unlikely that the surface winds will change in the last 1,000 ft.  Finally, ATC (NOT ATIS) reports on surface winds will be fairly accurate now, but if they are different, go with the Metar for the best match.

Now, as far as the aircraft's response to crosswinds and the interaction when the aircraft lifts off or touches down - that's another story and MS/ASOBO has a long way to go.  (Also, the controllers continue to assign improper runways, even when reporting proper winds).

Edited July 5, 2022 by RandallR