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Just wondering what sites/apps you guys use to check out weather forecasts for any impending shoots and why you prefer those.
Thanks
 
Please, don't even get me started on this subject! I've tried a couple of well known sites/apps this year and, to be honest, probably the kindest description of their detailed predictions is 'not as accurate as they say it's going to be'!

Scenario: The night before, the local forecast is for fine weather with sunny intervals followed by some rain showers in the afternoon from 4pm onwards. It's there, in front of you, in full colour, in hourly pictorial increments, on your computer screen or phone app. So, you set your alarm, wake up early the next day to make the most of the forecast weather, have your breakfast, then check the weather forecast again just to be sure... and it's changed! :facepalm:

Not just a little bit, but quite significantly (at least to you!). :( Gone is the 'after 4pm rain' and that's been replaced by 'Rain showers' at hourly intervals from 9am onwards, until 5pm, when it's going to be sunny until dusk! Then, if you can be bothered to check again at mid-day, it could well have changed again! :banghead:

I know it can often be difficult to accurately forecast the weather in mainland UK, so why should anyone want to 'pretend' to be more accurate than they realistically can be? If the forecast was something like 'Unsettled, with sunny intervals and rain showers from dawn till dusk - and that is as accurate as we can be given the data we currently have' then I could have coped with that. I'd have probably had a nice lie-in, followed by a leisurely Sunday breakfast, then weighed up my options and made plans with the rest of my family as to what we were going to do. Then looked out of the window and seen which way the wind was blowing, what colour and how high any clouds were, and taken our chances based on that.

Instead, we look at a website or phone app that gives a 'detailed hourly forecast' complete with pretty little weather icons and symbols, and we put our trust in that and hatch our best laid 'mice and men' schemes by it. Sorry, not any more, as I no longer believe them! :grumpy:
 
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In the UK the most accurate I've found is the UK Meteorological Office, provided I select a local forecast for the nearest location to me for which a detailed local forecast is available. It's not an app, it's a website. For some reason nearly everyone I know uses an app. Whenever their app has disagreed with my information from the Metoffice Web page, mine has been the best.
 
In the UK the most accurate I've found is the UK Meteorological Office, provided I select a local forecast for the nearest location to me for which a detailed local forecast is available. It's not an app, it's a website. For some reason nearly everyone I know uses an app. Whenever their app has disagreed with my information from the Metoffice Web page, mine has been the best.


I can see the roof of the Met Office from an upstairs window and it makes me laugh when they are saying it's raining in Exeter when their building (and the rest of the city) is bathed in sunshine as well as the other way round. The area any forecast covers can have several micro climates, meaning that it's all but impossible for ANY forecast is unlikely to be correct for the whole area, even if it is correct for most of it. (2 of Mrs Nod's students are forecasters and both, when asked what the weather's going to do, will look out of the widow before passing judgement. The published forecasts are very much a best guess scenario, based on all sorts of radars, experience and computer predictions.
 
The published forecasts are very much a best guess scenario, based on all sorts of radars, experience and computer predictions.

And yet, 73 years ago, weather forecasters predicted a reasonable 'let up' in the poor weather out in the English Channel of a few hours upon which was launched the Liberation of occupied Europe!

I wonder sometimes how much we really have progressed through the use of current, advanced technology.

We must remember that, dealing with the UK, we're into a whole new ball game. (If you can't see a hill it's raining, if you can see a hill it will rain soon!)
 
And yet, 73 years ago, weather forecasters predicted a reasonable 'let up' in the poor weather out in the English Channel of a few hours upon which was launched the Liberation of occupied Europe!

I wonder sometimes how much we really have progressed through the use of current, advanced technology.

We must remember that, dealing with the UK, we're into a whole new ball game. (If you can't see a hill it's raining, if you can see a hill it will rain soon!)

We've progressed a huge amount. The UK however has one of the most difficult climates to predict. Weather forecasters also have a good idea when their forecast is pretty secure and when it's a bit iffy, but it's difficult to convey that to the public without annoying them. A good idea can be had by looking how close to where you are exist areas of different weather. If you're surrounded by wide areas of the same weather which aren't changing much the forecast is more secure than when the weather is variable and nearby places have different weather.

I was once staying in a hotel in Pitlochry when for ten minutes it poured with rain on one side of the hotel and was dry and sunny on the other. Staff and guests were running from side of the hotel to the other in amazement. After the rain had stopped I walked out into the streets and could see the clear line between dry and wet bisecting streets all through the little town.
 
Anyone near Pen Y Fan?
Thinking of driving 3+ hours tonight to shoot some astrophotography from the top, if someone local would be as kind as to give a me an observation around 19:00 ish that would be really appreciated! Really don't want to drive 6 hours (round trip) for nought!
 
Weather forecasters also have a good idea when their forecast is pretty secure and when it's a bit iffy, but it's difficult to convey that to the public...
Indeed.

Whenever it's really important to me I check multiple sources. If they agree, that's a good sign. If they don't, it's a sign that the weather is inherently unpredictable for that particular time period. For example, last week I was very keen to know what the weather was going to be on Saturday morning, and specifically whether Storm Brian would affect us where we were. This is what I got from 5 different sites, on Thursday morning looking at the forecast for Saturday morning:
19216-1509111606-3b094c21e9d54b12b6a3f4d3a59e2df0.png


That was enough for me to conclude that it would be breezy (and it certainly was); that it probably wouldn't rain (it did, but only very briefly); it might be reasonably clear (it was), and it would probably be T-shirt weather (it was).
 
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They all seem to rely quite heavily on the Met offices basic data. But all interpret it differently.

The BBC seem to be doing very well now they have got a new contractor to do the heavy lifting.
 
They all seem to rely quite heavily on the Met offices basic data. But all interpret it differently.

The BBC seem to be doing very well now they have got a new contractor to do the heavy lifting.


But have they? ;)
 
But have they? ;)


Weather forcasts and graphics are now provided by Metro group which in turn is owned by PA (press association group) in turn this has been sold on to
General atlantic. Metro are the largest weather providers in the world.
The BBC still maintains links with the met office for extreme warnings and with the maritime and coast guard agency for shipping forecasting.
Most of the BBC Forcasters have retained their jobs.
 
In the UK the most accurate I've found is the UK Meteorological Office, provided I select a local forecast for the nearest location to me for which a detailed local forecast is available. It's not an app, it's a website. For some reason nearly everyone I know uses an app. Whenever their app has disagreed with my information from the Metoffice Web page, mine has been the best.
I too use the met office web page. Of all the sites/apps, I find it the easiest to use and the most reliable (I can't get on with the met. office app/small screen of my phone). If I'm wanting to pinpoint gaps in the rain, I use the rain forecast animation/slideshow on this http://www.leisureweather.co.uk/radar-rainfall.php - zoomed right in to the location.
 
Please, don't even get me started on this subject! I've tried a couple of well known sites/apps this year and, to be honest, probably the kindest description of their detailed predictions is 'not as accurate as they say it's going to be'!

Scenario: The night before, the local forecast is for fine weather with sunny intervals followed by some rain showers in the afternoon from 4pm onwards. It's there, in front of you, in full colour, in hourly pictorial increments, on your computer screen or phone app. So, you set your alarm, wake up early the next day to make the most of the forecast weather, have your breakfast, then check the weather forecast again just to be sure... and it's changed! :facepalm:

Not just a little bit, but quite significantly (at least to you!). :( Gone is the 'after 4pm rain' and that's been replaced by 'Rain showers' at hourly intervals from 9am onwards, until 5pm, when it's going to be sunny until dusk! Then, if you can be bothered to check again at mid-day, it could well have changed again! :banghead:

I know it can often be difficult to accurately forecast the weather in mainland UK, so why should anyone want to 'pretend' to be more accurate than they realistically can be? If the forecast was something like 'Unsettled, with sunny intervals and rain showers from dawn till dusk - and that is as accurate as we can be given the data we currently have' then I could have coped with that. I'd have probably had a nice lie-in, followed by a leisurely Sunday breakfast, then weighed up my options and made plans with the rest of my family as to what we were going to do. Then looked out of the window and seen which way the wind was blowing, what colour and how high any clouds were, and taken our chances based on that.

Instead, we look at a website or phone app that gives a 'detailed hourly forecast' complete with pretty little weather icons and symbols, and we put our trust in that and hatch our best laid 'mice and men' schemes by it. Sorry, not any more, as I no longer believe them! :grumpy:

So true, the text underneath the graphics can be totally different too.
Gave up checking and just rely on my nearly seventy year old barometer and looking out the window
 
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