European and Atlantic Wind Graphics ....passage planning ?

[SHUG]

I have come across this new (to me) representation of wind strength and direction. Could be very useful for passage planning. I already posted this on the PBO forum but it may be of more appropriate to this site.
https://www.windyty.com/?surface,wind,2015-02-07-12,52.803,44.011,3

 

[capnsensible]

Tops, thank you!

 

[macd]

It looks much like a hi-res version of the BBC News wind arrows forecast.
Is there any means of interrogating it for wind speed and direction at any specific location over time? Couldn't see one. Nothing on sea-state, either.
It's almost certainly grib-based, so why not use a grib? Or passageweather?
Pretty, though.

 

[capnsensible]

It looks much like a hi-res version of the BBC News wind arrows forecast.
Is there any means of interrogating it for wind speed and direction at any specific location over time? Couldn't see one. Nothing on sea-state, either.
It's almost certainly grib-based, so why not use a grib? Or passageweather?
Pretty, though.

Try entering a location in the box marked 'search location' and a whole new world will appear!

 

[macd]

Thanks, capn. Very handy. Does the location box accept lat and long? If not, how is it possible to get a forecast for anywhere offshore?

 

[typhoonNige]

Thanks, capn. Very handy. Does the location box accept lat and long? If not, how is it possible to get a forecast for anywhere offshore?

I don't think so but you can zoom out and drag the chart then zoom in to the place / area of interest. Can't find swell size / direction there though.

 

[macd]

In other words it has very accessible and detailed graphical displays for positions on land, but not at sea?

 

[rivonia]

Thank you Shug an excellent site. Easy to use and I like the idea of being able to zoom in on an area and then tick the box on the right to show either wind or rain etc.

many thanks.

 

[tri39]

If you type in say Finisterre, you can then drag the teardrop to any offshore location to display lat and long and fcst.

 

[macd]

If you type in say Finisterre, you can then drag the teardrop to any offshore location to display lat and long and fcst.

Ah, thankyou. That works. Still prefer gribs though: need negligible bandwidth and can later be interrogated without a connection. To me, both of those are vital for offshore passages. Sorry to be negative.

 

[oldvarnish]

It's very nice, but it's only a visual representation of GFS data. So it's no different to what GRIBs offer you, and any of the thousands of apps.

Agree it's lovely to look at, though.

 

[SHUG]

As the OP , I agree with some of the comments regarding the merits of GRIB charts like http://passageweather.com/
I think the animated visualisation adds a bit extra to the presentation but, as always it is just a representation of the weather patterns and still needs sensible interpretation.

 

[franksingleton]

As Old Varnish said, this is a rather nice presentation of the GFS. It looks a nice teaching tool but I would not see it as a useful tool when sailing – mainly because the download is so heavy. There is a MeteoEarth that I find a little easier to use. It gives ECMWF data. You only get 36 hours free but can pay a small amount for a 5 day forecast on a 3 month or annual basis.

For sailing use, zyGrib is very easy to use. I usually get the data via Saildocs – one email can get you a daily forecast for as long as you want. I view using zyGrib and then zyGrib for one offs. The zygrib viewer lets you get a meteogram for anywhere you wish.

The advantage of these is that the data are saved for offline viewing. Services like XCWeather and Passageweather are not easily saved.

The GFS is now available on a 0.25 degree grid via zyGrib V7 and Saildocs. The only App that I know so far that gives data at this resolution is Weather4D Pro. No doubt others will follow.

 

[charles_reed]

Nice pretty picture - great for late night toying with, but is rather less informative than zygrib, which can do everything offered by the site (and at a more detailed definition) but on a very much smaller bandwidth.
As Frank will point out, none of these computer-generated weather maps can be entirely believed - it still needs some human intervention (with knowlege of local typography) to tweak the information to produce a more reliable forecast.
Thanks for drawing attention to the site - the presentation is great!

 

[franksingleton]

Charles is quite correct. I have said in my book and many times on YBW, that, for the first 1 to 2 days, it is essential to heed GMDSS forecasts. These are necessarily very general, virtually headlines. Their virtues are that they have some human interpretation of objective forecasts and that they MUST include warnings of POSSIBLE bad weather.

GRIB output can help to interpret the GMDSS forecasts to make them more useful. For me, the most useful input from GRIBs is for longer term – 5+ days – planning ahead. Careful use will let you get a good idea about how reliable the forecasts are. Returning across the Channel at the end of each of our last two sailing seasons, we were able to identify a good day with some certainty 5 days ahead.