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Weather is big business. Farmers want to know when is the best time to plant (or harvest). Event organizers want to know if a thunderstorm might come up during an open-air concert. And the rest of us want to know about their daily commute and plans for the weekend barbeque.
During a chat not long ago in the #Soylent channel of SoylentNews' IRC server, I discovered there are likely others who have an interest in all things weather-related.
I thought it might be interesting to see what weather resources my fellow Soylentils use. Not just for forecasting, but for getting current conditions, and while we are at it, let's include space weather forecasts, too. Note: I live in the USA and my primary browser is Pale Moon; please submit comments with other resources!
- Broadcast media - Local radio / TV station broadcasts.
- The Weather Channel - Cable TV weather channel
- http://www.accuweather.com/ - online weather forecast
- http://www.intellicast.com/ - online weather forecast
- ForecastFox -- an addon for Firefox, it gets a localized report from AccuWeather and displays it in a toolbar in FireFox (original, FF v28+) browser.
- http://images.intellicast.com/WxImages/RadarLoop/usa_None_anim.gif - Radar Loop for entire USA.
- https://earth.nullschool.net/ - earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions
- http://en.blitzortung.org/live_lightning_maps.php - A worldwide, real time, community collaborative lightning location network.
- http://www.weather.gov/ US National Weather Service.
- http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index - Planetary k-index -- likelihood of geomagnetic storms (aurora).
- http://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/aurora-forecast-northern-hemisphere.jpg - visual prediction of aurora in northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere
Many of the sites require some Javascript, but I have had success using NoScript and selectively enabling from 1 to 4 domains to get things to work.
My favorite going-down-the-rabbit-hole site is at nullschool.net -- click on the word "earth" to bring up (and hide) a menu of features and presentations you can choose. Check out ocean currents and temps, surface winds and temps, etc. See their about page for a more detailed summary of the options.
(Score: 1) by idetuxs on Saturday July 22 2017, @03:40AM (3 children)
I'm a sailor too (occasional). I use windguru.cz which is quite popular where I am. And also heard of windy.com, but I don't visit the site often.
Is predictwind accurate? Windguru has its misses, but it's pretty useful}
cheers
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday July 22 2017, @04:05AM (2 children)
Likewise a sailor. I get Grib files to load in to my routing software from Saildocs at: https://sailmail.com/grib-files-saildocs-weather-data/ [sailmail.com]
They can email a graphic Grib.
The best visual rendering of Grib files for the average user is https://www.windy.com [windy.com]
They not only show wind patterns, but also also Pressure cells, precipitation, swell height and direction as well as other stuff.
For local weather when on the dirt, I still like https://www.wunderground.com/ [wunderground.com]
As mentioned above http://www.weather.gov/ [weather.gov]
is pretty good too.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Saturday July 22 2017, @04:58AM
Not much of a sailor:
I just follow the Skipper and Gilligan.
and Mary-Anne ;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Saturday July 22 2017, @08:06AM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!