Weather Sources

[Guest Heather 636]

There has been some controversy in the differences of downloaded weather, between "Global" and "Local".I'm going to be delving into this some more by comparing what is downloaded and transitions into as my aircraft proceeds cross-country and will let you all know what I discover.In the meantime, an excellent site for looking at current weather conditions is the National Weather Service, or NOAA, located at:[http://weather.noaa.gov]They have many features and one that I like, for the US, gives local conditions as well as METAR reports on the same screen. On the main page, at the top, select a state, then on the following page, under "Current Weather Conditions," select your desired location and there you are!NOAA also offers International informations as well in the same format (look near the bottom of the home page).You can also get immediate METAR reports by selecting "Aviation Weather" at the bottom of the page but, as much as I hate to sound like a dumb "bimbo" ;) it's been over a decade since I have flown "real" aircraft and I no longer remember what all the code/abbreviations mean.Hope some of you find this site useful.Cheers!Bad Weather Heather

[Guest Heather 636]

Results of first test:A flight from KDPA - Chicago-Du Page to KIOW - Iowa City; 149 miles.DCAirways flight 375-4-05 via N1776 R4D DC-3Downloaded "Global Weather" with "Winds Aloft" checked.Matched download results with the National Weather Service to discover a pretty exact match-up.Skies were OC @ 2300 at departure point.Didn't check weather along the way but skies cleared up for the most part.As I was nearing the area of Iowa city, the skies began getting cloudy.Checked weather with NOAA and the report was pretty darn close to what I was flying into with FS.I'm going to do this a few more times; comparing FS weather with actual NOAA weather to see the similarities, or lack of.So far though, it looks like Global Weather is the way to go. Can say more definitely after a few more comparisons.Cheers!Heather

[Christopher Low 5,339]

Heather,Can you confirm "weather" this works or not ? :-lolChris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest Heather 636]

Just finished a second flight test of 200 miles with a DC-3 from KIOW-Iowa City to KOFF-Offut AFBDownloaded "Global Weather" with Winds AloftCompared download to NOAA report. 98% Identical100 Miles into flight over Des Moines, checked NOAA report again. Weather was within 95% true of what I was flying in.At destination, again checked NOAA. Again, matched FS weather to within 95%So far, it looks like the Global Weather selection is proving itself accurate.I'll be performing one more flight with these weather download settings. Then I'll perform three flights utilizing "Local Weather" downloads to see how the two compare.And with that, I'm off to bed.Cheers y'all!Bad Weather Heather

[gosta 0]

Hi there,I noticed that for the US, the weather is usually quite accurate, but outside the US it's a different story, for example, there is never any weather over the English channel, i.e. always 15 degrees Celsius and 1013 QNH - quite fun to listen to all the AI planes having their IFR cancelled, because everyone is at the wrong altitude. Also, the weather in Europe is updated very infrequently, sometimes you get the same weather for a week. Another thing is, sometimes the downloaded weather triggers a weird bug that increases wind speeds indefinitely, i.e head winds of 1000 knots and rising - if you've never seen a 767 flying backwards, here's your chance (The mountains near San Diego are a good spot to catch this phenomenon).Cheers,Gosta.

[Guest RonB49]

<< I'll be performing one more flight with these weather download settings. Then I'll perform three flights utilizing "Local Weather" downloads to see how the two compare. >>Thank you. I can't wait for your results. When Microsoft released the first sim to use downloaded weather (was that FS2000?), they followed it up with a SDK that explained a little about the weather features. I think that it was the SDK for "Adventure Programming Language." As I remember, they said that "Local" should be checked when downloading weather and I've done it that way ever since. I have been please with Jeppessen Wx for the US but have not used it elsewhere.My recollection is that MS said that the "Global" weather option, was there for compatability with FS98 (and earlier) adventure programs which manipulated weather. But I will be interested in your findings. Perhaps you will prove that I'm misremembering this whole subject and the SDK; after all, I read that two years ago and I can barely remember Tuesday. R-

[Guest]

You know, I think it's quite simple. With Global Weather selected, it downloads weather for all the weather stations included in FS2k2. With Local Weather selected, it downloads weather for the selected weather station (you can see it on the map above the download button). It's usually the aircraft location unless you select another station.Granted I haven't tested this to make sure that's the way it works, but from what I read, I think that's how it works. I've never tried selecting Local Weather and downloading. I assume the download must be pretty short.__________________________________________________________EricList of all airlines, aircraft manufacturers and aircraft types recognised by ATC:http://www.geocities.com/eric_2203/orhttp://ftp.avsim.com/library/esearch.php?D...atID=fs2002misc

[gosta 0]

Actually, if you download real weather, it will automatically download it for all weather stations. Global weather is for you to make your own weather, i.e. if you select some clouds, rain etc, it will be the same weather in the entire world. Also, programs like Squawkbox use the global weather option, as your position is determined by the server, so it just downloads the weather for your current position as 'global weather', meaning, if you get disconnected at high altitude and don't reconnect, you'll have the same temperature and winds at your arrival airport, as you did at fl370...Cheers,Gosta.

[Guest Heather 636]

When I first started using FS2002, I was downloading "Local" real world weather until i was informed that this would affect only the area where I was taking off from. That's when I switched to "Global" real world weather.The strange thing though, if the download is gathering data from ALL the stations versus local, the download time is about the same.????Heather

[Guest]

Heather,it's just about what Gosta said.there is no difference when you download real-weather with global or local:it's always local.global is just there to set your own weather which then will be the weather all over the worldyou can see this when you select global wheather and download real weather:it automatically flips to local weather.there is no thing like real-world global weather.(that sound pretty obvious I think)best regards,Seba

[Guest]

Perhaps it downloads ALL the METARS regardless of which option is selected, but only processes the appropriate METARS based on which option you choose.

[Guest Heather 636]

Thanks for clearing things up guys.Looks like I'll just stick with Global settings then, at least until I can scrimp up the money to buy FS METEO.Cheers!Heather