MetOffice subscription service

[CharlieDeltaUK]

Is the subscription version of the MetOffice Aviation service worth paying for? I liked the idea of 3 day forecasts. I know they must be less reliable, but are they generally OK?

Shame the MetOffice doesn't let you have a trial.

[peterh337]

What does the 3 day forecast look like?

You can get the UKMO MSLP charts for free, from sites such as this. Not as ordered as from Avbrief (which presents the latest ones and nicely up to date etc) but usable.

You can also get weather from the GFS weather model from e.g. here and frankly I do not believe anybody can get better data for 3+ days ahead, for which most forecasts are either pretty obvious, or pure imagination, or anything in between

There is a fantastic range of free weather sites. I have not used the UKMO site ever, in the 11 years since getting my PPL. Well, I use it for the IR image (high altitude cloud tops) but even that is available elsewhere, just 15 mins delayed.

At aviation shows I have often suggested improvements to the UK MO man but his reply is always that they cannot offer this or that because they have to make money.

[Fuji Abound]

Yes, a waste of money. I used to subscribe but there is nothing extra of use that cant be found elsewhere.

[Big_Buddha36]

If you have an iPhone, I can recommend WeatherPro (also on android, I believe) as for detail, I pay for the upgrade (£2.99) and get predictive rainfall radar and the forecast wx is usually really accurate

Just a thought to add to the basic met office stuff

Bb

[Mark 1]

Have a look at Aviation Weather >> Europe > metar taf sigmet notam winds aloft significant weather information
The drop down menu in the top left has a compendium of many sites covering Europe and the North Atlantic including some from Weather Forecasting for Norway which presents up to 72 hour forecasts for a wide variety of charts. The cloud cover and winds are quite useful especially.

[piperboy84]

MET forecasts

i subscribed to the MET forecasts (and even attended a one day aviation weather seminar at the MET in Exeter which was well presented) but did not get much pratical use from either. The reason being I have a hard time interpreting the raw data, I much prefer the subscription I got with Skydemon that in addition to giving you flight planning grabs all the TAF's and METAR's for your route and translates them into plain English which is huge for me. Another thing I really like is I can set my comfort levels for visibility etc and when they are exceeded it automatically highlights them in red text, which interestingly enough was what the MET instructor taught us to do but manually and after struggling through the translation.

[GeeWhizz]

Met Office weather or BBC weather forecasts, whether online weather or television weather, are equally as fictional. Eyeballs, wind socks, waving a damp finger in the air, and whether one is wearing a poor weather Parker or not is usually sufficient (unless you're a microlight pilot and its the normal trendy 'look')

But seriously, I cant see how the Met Office subscription services are necessary when the relevant information for general flying is available without a subscription.

There is a met picture that I would like to gain access to: the tephigram. Having used them in locations various in close liaison with a proper forecaster, they are infinitely useful even to mere mortals. Yet I cannot seem to find a website or whatever that makes these little gems accessible to Joe Public in the UK. (Noted there are few online tephis for areas State side, with some questionable validity.) It may well be that these aren't available to the world at large at all.

If anyone does know of anywhere that current tephigrams can be found would you do todays good deed and please share?

Fly safe!

GW

[Prop swinger]

If anyone does know of anywhere that current tephigrams can be found would you do todays good deed and please share?

Skew-Ts rather than tephis:
RASP
Weather Online (soundings, top right)
My favourite would be this site. (Select the GFS model, lat/long to the nearest half degree, negative for west & south)

[peterh337]

There is a met picture that I would like to gain access to: the tephigram.

The UKMO does not publish theirs. You need to pay a few grand a year, allegedly, to get access to The Queen's Most Precious data

You can get actual baloon ascent data from Univ of Wyoming, and you can get forecast tephigrams from GFS/NOAA. The details are in this article. I also have some in the Weather links on my site.

[thing]

The reason being I have a hard time interpreting the raw data,

I use this one, EGXW Waddington Current Aviation Weather Conditions and Forecasts, doesn't take as long to interpret...bear in mind it's only a guide and not 'official'.

In fact looking outside they have it wrong again, weather at the moment is overcast with cloudbase about 400'.

I cancelled a trip on Friday night as the forecast was miserable for Sat morning. As it turned out the weather wasn't miserable, I was able to do some last minute re arranging and took off with a 3500 ft cloudbase and excellent vis.

I rather like Billy Conolly's take on weather forecasters,

'Why do we need them? If I want to know what the weather's doing I look out of the f....... window.'

[peterh337]

bear in mind it's only a guide and not 'official'.

No such thing as "official".

What you may see is weather sources mentioned in the CAA "safety" leaflets - most of that stuff, and most present day PPL and JAA IR training is still pre-internet. These sources are not in any way legally required, though some people might want you to think so.

What you also get is AOC operators whose pilots are possibly required to brief as per the company manual, and indeed there are specific guidelines there for e.g. disregarding PROB30 TEMPO etc conditions (unless persistent e.g. fog).

But for private pilots, "official weather" is 100.000% BUNK.

It's time the GA scene dragged itself into the 20th century and used the internet.

Today was a case in point. The F215 contained everything including the kitchen sink (it always does; I don't use it) and scared off most people. But a look at the radar picture (e.g. meteox.com) made it obvious that it would not be happening at the apparent speed, and there was little real convective weather there. And later TAFs showed plenty decent enough cloudbases for VFR flight.

The forecasters always chuck in the kitchen sink (they get 100000 old ladies on the phone if they don't, complaining their daffodils were ruined by an unforecast shower) but pilots needs to use modern sources to get a local supplement to the forecasts.

[GeeWhizz]

Thank you chaps, just what I've been looking for.

GW