Wind, Tides, Weather - useful apps

[GrantD]

So
I'm loving Navionics
Have also downloaded Windy and PredictWind and they look useful.

What other useful/best boating and navigation apps would people recommend for a newbie learning the ropes on the SE Coast?

 

[GHA]

They're all looking at the same few weather models anyway so it's mostly cosmetic, the free ones will be predominately GFS.

Windy is my fave, everything in there and the actual against forecast can be very interesting.

Now there will be a handful of "I find blah weather the most accurate" which is rubbish, blah weather will be pretty much identical to the rest.

Some good resources on youtube & online.

Free Online Course on Backyard Meteorology: The Science of Weather - Scholarship Positions 2020 2021.

 

[MarkCX]

WillyWeather is by far my favourite weather and tide app, and I’ve tried a lot of them. Pretty much everything needed in one app and easy to use. As GHA says, they’re all pretty much as good as each other when it comes to predictions. One of the many things I like about WillyWeather is that it will overlay actual measurements over its forecasts for the last day or so.

If you’re looking at too many sources you’ll end up picking the forecast you want it to be anyway.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

WillyWeather is by far my favourite weather and tide app, and I’ve tried a lot of them. Pretty much everything needed in one app and easy to use. As GHA says, they’re all pretty much as good as each other when it comes to predictions. One of the many things I like about WillyWeather is that it will overlay actual measurements over its forecasts for the last day or so.

If you’re looking at too many sources you’ll end up picking the forecast you want it to be anyway.

Currently I'm not loving Navionics, as they no longer support my plotter.
Willyweather: Weather warm enough to encourage nudism

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

XCWeather is a good app; as others have said, the data is taken from common sources.

 

[Daverw]

I find Boatie very quick and easy to use on the phone for tide and weather,

 

[ProDave]

XC weather for me for forecasts.

Weather HQ to find out what is is doing and has been doing, e.g here is my link for Inverness airport Weather station: Inverness / Dalcross

for an overview of what the wind and waves are likely to do Sailing Weather - Marine Weather Forecasts for Sailors and Adventurers - PassageWeather

Tides for the week ahead Show Prediction (free) - Inverness 28/08/2020 for 7 days - EasyTide

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Imray do a suite of apps.
I use them all.

 

[steve yates]

Another vote for Boatie, I find it's specific location forecasts very accurate.
I also use imray tides, navionics and windy.

 

[Iliade]

It is important to understand that most/many apps/websites use the longer range low resolution forecast, which is largely a work of fiction. The higher resolution forecast only goes out three days but is far more accurate. e.g.:

Windfinder.com - Wind and weather Superforecast Shoreham Beach

Versus

Windfinder.com - Wind and weather forecast Shoreham Beach

I find this good for how pleasant the day will be, rather than for wind forecasting:
Air Shoreham-by-Sea

This is great for sea breeze front prediction when set to BL up/down (Convergence)

 

[MarkCX]

Boatie was previously my favourite all-rounder, but it seems to have been abandoned by its developer - no updates for 4 years. It still works ok and has some nice features though.

 

[oilybilge]

Has anyone found Windy etc less accurate this year than usual? I've heard that much of the data comes from aeroplanes, and since there are fewer of them in the air this year the forecasts have suffered

 

[Iliade]

yes

 

[GHA]

yes

How did you gather and process the data to know? Monumental task....... very well known how useless humans are at any kind of judgement without checking the data, each and every one of us is riddled we bias, we physically actually do see what we want to see..

 

[Iliade]

I teach paraglider flying for a living so follow the weather very closely indeed. We have always felt that most weather forecasts lost accuracy during the summer holiday season, but that reduction seems to have been well underway by the time lockdown was eased and we were once more able to teach, and is still happening now.

In other words, apocryphally ;0)

 

[GHA]

I teach paraglider flying for a living so follow the weather very closely indeed. We have always felt that most weather forecasts lost accuracy during the summer holiday season, but that reduction seems to have been well underway by the time lockdown was eased and we were once more able to teach, and is still happening now.

In other words, apocryphally ;0)

OK, Ta, unreliable then unfortunately... we humans aren't very good at evaluating reality without lots of data

windy is great for this but it only gives the latest model run, which is basically the current weather data available, it should be pretty close with that
Good for flagging up local effects though.

Saying that....
Reduction in commercial flights due to COVID-19 leading to less accurate weather forecasts

But ....

Chen found western Europe was the only region with normally high flight traffic that did not suffer remarkably reduced accuracy in temperature forecasts. He attributed this to over 1,500 meteorological stations that form a dense data collection network in the area.

 

[franksingleton]

This is a buoy that forums have rounded many times.

1. There is little significant difference between forecasts. Those that you can get on the various apps often originate from the US GFS. Some apps give access to other National Weather Service models Such as the DWD ICON, the regional ICON-EU, Meteo France ARPEGE, ECMWF. Many countries put short period detailed forecasts online. Short period high resolution forecasts run by “non-official” organisations do not have detailed weather data input.

2. Local, site specific, forecasts are usually based on the GFS using algorithms. These may look different but be, in reality, the same information.

3. For most cruising purposes for the next few days, use whichever source you find easier to get in a form that you like. Do not imagine that you are getting a better service by paying. You may get more bells and whistles. You may prefer the presentation.

4. Personally, I prefer XyGrib for its presentation (only laptop). It has GFS, ICON, ICON-EU and others. On a tablet, I use PocketGrib, GFS. For a good overall view, I like Ventusky, GFS, ICON, ICON-EU and others.

5. PredictWind and Windy.com both have ECMWF forecasts. Be careful with these because they only run twice a day and about 2 1/2 hours later than operational models which run 4 times daily. For about 5 hours a day, ECMWF will be based on data 12 hours older than the others. For longer periods during the day, it will be based on data 6 hours older. This may not matter for much of the time but, occasionally, it will miss some change in the weather situation.

There is no simple definitive answer to the question. If anyone claims a particular forecast service is “accurate”, ask them to define accuracy, ask how they measure it and whether their claim has any statistical significance.