Predicting cloud coverage

[rmarshall234 13]

Just watch the weather channel for a period of high pressure moving into the area. They can forecast it and when it arrives it generally stays for a number of days.

[Divalent 89]

I've done a bit of exploring and found there are a number of METAR/TAF applications for android tablets and smartphones (and so I assume also for Apple and Windows devices) that will translate the METAR/TAF codes to a form more understandable than the raw form of the report. (I installed one called "Aviation Weather", but there are many others at the Google play store.)

For those that might be uncertain of the jargon used here, a METAR is a report of the current conditions at an airport. It includes (among other things) the temp, surface wind speed and direction, and (AFAICT) up to 3 reports of cloud levels.

Cloud information is given as the altitude of the base of the layer and a rough estimate of the coverage. (They use the words Clear, FEW (up to 25% coverage), Scattered (up to 50% coverage), Broken (up to ~85% coverage), and Overcast (100% coverage) to describe the cloud layers.

A TAF is a forecast of what the conditions will be in the future: same format as a METAR, but as others have noted here, it's only an estimate, not to bet your life on.

Many airports have METAR (all but the tiny ones?), but it seems like only the larger ones produce TAFs. For example, the airport the Farm uses has neither, but there is another airport about 10 miles away that has METAR but they don't produce TAFs. But within about 50 miles in several directions there are airports that have both, so if I was concerned about what may happen later in the day, I think I'd check the TAF for a couple of nearby ones (particularly upwind).

So an app for getting this information is a good addition to the two others I already have for assessing jumpability at the DZ (which is ~90 mins away). Those others are with a good radar app (to see whether crap is moving in) and one for getting winds aloft data.

[peek 20]

Divalent

I've done a bit of exploring and found there are a number of METAR/TAF applications for android tablets and smartphones (and so I assume also for Apple and Windows devices) that will translate the METAR/TAF codes to a form more understandable than the raw form of the report.

Try this one:
http://www.pcprg.com/cgi-bin/metars.cgi

Main page, has Winds Aloft Forecast program too:
http://www.pcprg.com/weather.htm

[ridebmxbikes 0]

You can always just call manifest when ever you wake up and ask his the weather is before you drive up there

[Divalent 89]

peek

***I've done a bit of exploring and found there are a number of METAR/TAF applications for android tablets and smartphones (and so I assume also for Apple and Windows devices) that will translate the METAR/TAF codes to a form more understandable than the raw form of the report.

Try this one:
http://www.pcprg.com/cgi-bin/metars.cgi


That's an excellent front end, particularly if you are poking around (and while on actual computer as opposed to working on a small tablet or smartphone), as you don't have to first find the ICAO codes. But any chance you can have it display both METAR and TAF data as the default? (If the airport doesn't have TAFs, then no harm no foul).

[peek 20]

Divalent

... any chance you can have it display both METAR and TAF data as the default?

I'm going to leave it at METAR only at least for now. I use METAR for cloud ceilings because it is actual data from the airport/station. As far as forecasting goes, I think there are better sources that TAF.

When I try to figure out what the weather is doing, I check a lot of sources. For example, here is an entire set of links I have collected over the years for the St. Louis area.

http://www.skydivestlouisarea.com/weather.htm

[theplummeter 14]

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/zoa/mwmap3.php?map=usa

Here's a map of the US that you can mouse over and get observations and forecasts.

[LyraM45 0]

theonlyski

***
I write the taf's for the major terminals in the bay area. It's very difficult to get cloud heights down sometimes. I definitely would not take the the local taf for gospel and think it will be like that at your dz, especially if your dz is not very close to the taf location.

So YOU'RE the one!!

Like she said, TAFs are predictions and usually end up a tad bit off. I always hated seeing TAFs that essentially show CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited) only to run into some unforecast clouds popping up and messing up my days.

Now I HOPE for some IMC.

Haha-- yep, that's me! Ever delayed into SFO? Probably my fault

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[LyraM45 0]

theplummeter

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/zoa/mwmap3.php?map=usa

Here's a map of the US that you can mouse over and get observations and forecasts.

This is my offices website. We code and maintain that here. If anybody has any questions about anything or has suggestions for improvement or something they'd like displayed, let me know and we'll make it happen.

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[ChrisD 0]

I'd like to know how to tap into some of the surface / weather radar systems that the approach guys have??? The resolution of those systems is phenomenal???

C

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

[LyraM45 0]

Now that I am not sure you can access publicly. I think you're talking about ITWS or TDWR. Even in my office we don't have all the readouts from the tower. I have a panel that gives me five min observations from an asos we have on field, but sometimes the tower at SFO will call and say, "hey, we're seeing winds at 15kt out of the east, whats up?" and all I see on my five minute obs is 36006kt. I can't see his TDWR read out which gives them winds in each quadrant of the airport. If I don't have it, then the public definitely won't have it!

I do have an ITWS (http://www.ll.mit.edu/mission/aviation/faawxsystems/itws.html), and you're right, the resolution is phenomenal. But we had to have a special install of it-- special computer and display to port in the data from the terminal. I don't think there is any other way to access that.

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[DiverMike 5]

Pretty cool. Just wondering how you choose the airports to display.
Hook field in Middletown http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/zoa/getobext.php?sid=KMWO doesn't show up, but Butler County Regional http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/zoa/getobext.php?sid=KHAO does.

I only ask because one of the largest/most active DZ's in the midwest is located at KMWO.


OOPS - nevermind - I found it zooming in on the map.

For the same reason I jump off a perfectly good diving board.

[LyraM45 0]

Not every single station is listed. Within our airspace here in Oakland Center we do a pretty good job of getting most of our stations in. We've done pretty well in other areas, but some of the stations either do not have the paperwork filed to have their station in the mesowest databse, which is what we code in from to produce the ob, and some stations just don't have the equipment to do anything for an ob.

If you happen to see a station that you would like listed but is not listed, let me know and I can check to see if it's in the data base and if it is, it's as simple as changing the code to have it plot on that map. OR, you can click on any metar and get to a page, IE for SFO:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/zoa/getobext.php?sid=KSFO

but change the KSFO in the address bar to whatever identifier you're looking for that isn't plotted. If it's in the database it will still come up for you.

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[format 0]

mattwht

Does anyone know of how to predict cloud coverage?

Here's one way to do it

What goes around, comes later.