how do i get tomorrow's weather?

[cooperplace]

basic question, I know. I go to NAIPS, log in, get an area briefing, cut and paste it into the plain English converter, and it only gives me weather until 12.30 am tomorrow, even tho' I typed 24 hrs validity into NAIPS. I changed that to 48 hrs but no joy. How do I get the weather forecast for 10am tomorrow?

 

thanks

 

 

[turboplanner]

basic question, I know. I go to NAIPS, log in, get an area briefing, cut and paste it into the plain English converter, and it only gives me weather until 12.30 am tomorrow, even tho' I typed 24 hrs validity into NAIPS. I changed that to 48 hrs but no joy. How do I get the weather forecast for 10am tomorrow?thanks

The closer to your departure time, the more accurate the forecast; and vice versa.

 

 

[Happyflyer]

basic question, I know. I go to NAIPS, log in, get an area briefing, cut and paste it into the plain English converter, and it only gives me weather until 12.30 am tomorrow, even tho' I typed 24 hrs validity into NAIPS. I changed that to 48 hrs but no joy. How do I get the weather forecast for 10am tomorrow?thanks

You can only get the one area forecast. If you want a further forecast just look at the general BOM weather for the general trend. Major airports have extended TAF forecasts that you can use if you are flying near one. I suggest you check the aviation forecast every day without the plain English converter. Use the knowledge centre on the BOM site to make sense of it and in a couple of weeks you will be able to read them easily. Cheers

 

 

[billwoodmason]

In my experience with NAIPS it is good for 24 hours after your request. In recent years the weather reports they provide however seem to tend on the worst case scenario or in other words a more severe report than is ever the case. I guess they are covering their a--e, but sometimes when you read the report you wouldn't go flying when in fact you could quite safely? I now check multiple scources to get a more balanced opinion to make my decision whether flying to my destination is safe and take the NAIPS report with a grain of salt.

 

 

[cooperplace]

OK, thank you everyone. As you can tell, I'm learning navs.

 

 

[DWF]

The Area and TAF forecasts issued by MET via NAIPS are usually only valid for 6 to 12 hours (or in some cases up to 24 hours for major airports).

 

If you want weather for the next day you will have to use the BOM site or Weatherzone, etc and work out your own winds, etc for the route (METEYE is useful here).

 

It is a nuisance but in most cases you will not be able to get a valid NAIPS forecast to use to flight plan the evening before your flight.

 

 

[cscotthendry]

For longer range weather predicts, I use the Meteye function from the BOM and als the Interactive wind and wave forecasts also from the BOM. I've found a fair bit of differences between Willyweather, weatherzone and a few others.

 

Windyty is also useful, but causes problems on my iPad mini.

 

 

[SDQDI]

In my experience with NAIPS it is good for 24 hours after your request. In recent years the weather reports they provide however seem to tend on the worst case scenario or in other words a more severe report than is ever the case. I guess they are covering their a--e, but sometimes when you read the report you wouldn't go flying when in fact you could quite safely? I now check multiple scources to get a more balanced opinion to make my decision whether flying to my destination is safe and take the NAIPS report with a grain of salt.

That hasn't always been my experience Bill. A few times now I have found myself in worse weather than what was forecast on Naips. Keeping an ear open for amended forecasts on the relevant area frequency is a must IMO.

I am no expert by any means but just wanted to point out that they can get it wrong both ways.

 

 

[cooperplace]

thanks everyone, this is all good to know and not only does it address my Q., but also gives lots of context and other sources of weather info.

 

 

[cooperplace]

can anyone recommend an android app that I could use to look up the weather?

 

 

[turboplanner]

can anyone recommend an android app that I could use to look up the weather?

If you're learning Navs, do it thoroughly, learn NAIPS, learn Navigation, get that base under your belt before looking for short cuts. One guy, who is no longer with us didn't bother with that, so he missed the "severe turbulence" in the NAIPS warning, which is aviation orientated, and snapped his wing off. By all means check a couple of apps, but always get the NAIPS forecast before you leave. Surely your instructor is saying this?

 

 

[Jay_1984]

If you're looking for an Android app, try Trackdirect by Control-J

 

It's basically a naips portal, but have found it a good tool to have. It saves the last search you input as well as the last brief, but has a refresh button to update.

 

Best advice I can give is to get the area and TAF for a few fields Close to Home each day, even if not flying, and monitor the real conditions against the briefs during the day. Also check out the Synoptics. Thus really helps learning how to interpret the briefs.

 

Other piece is to get into the Met ground theory texts and have a read of the AIP Met sections.

 

 

[Neil_S]

I always check windyty as it has a graphical display of the forecast winds at various levels up to 10,000 ft and above, and also a cloud overlay forecast. It covers 4 or 5 days ahead. You can zoom in and out, and click at any point to get a detailed forecast for that exact location. I used it yesterday and managed to find a slot of a few hours when winds were light and cloud at around 30% to plan a flight to the 12 Apostles, a destination that has eluded me a couple of times before due to high levels of low cloud at the coast.

 

On the day of your planned flight combine that with the area forecast from NAIPS which, by definition, covers a huge area, and you get a good idea of the overall picture.

 

Willyweather is also useful for an idea of weather (esp. rain) a few days out, but only covers ground level winds and has no info wrt cloud.

 

Good luck with your Navs!

 

Cheers,

 

Neil

 

 

[Nightmare]

OK, thank you everyone. As you can tell, I'm learning navs.

I found the 4 day weather maps forecast on BOM very helpful. I found the meteorological section in the XC training fascinating.

[dutchroll]

thanks everyone, this is all good to know and not only does it address my Q., but also gives lots of context and other sources of weather info.

Important points to remember about weather forecasts:

 

• the only ones which are legally valid for your flight are the aeronautical forecasts (TAFs, ARFORs, TTFs, etc) which have validity periods covering your trip, plus the buffer period.
   
   
  
• an observation (like a METAR or an AUTO) is not a forecast.
   
   
  
• notwithstanding what's "legal" above, other weather including the observations, and just the general public weather forecast on the BoM website, are all very useful for your situational awareness.
   
   
  
• aviation forecasts are designed to be as accurate and succinct as possible - this is why they have limited validity periods and don't forecast weather 2 or 3 days from now.
   
   
  
• the longer aviation forecasts, e.g. the 24-30 hour TAFs, are restricted to major airports.
   
   
  
• meteorologists are human, and short term weather is by default somewhat chaotic (anyone living in Melbourne will agree!). Their aviation forecasts in my experience are usually pretty good, but occasionally they get it wrong. They're not really designed to be pessimistic or optimistic - just reasonably accurate, and the shorter and closer the time period, the more accurate they tend to be. If the forecaster has doubt he'll put a "PROB" (with percentage) in the TAF.
   
   
  

 

 

Have a browse through AIP GEN 3.5 (Meteorological Services).

 

If you're curious as to exactly what forecast services are available for a particular airport, it will be in the ERSA. Example:

 

I'm going to Archerfield. In the ERSA entry for Archerfield it has a heading "Meteorological Information Provided" (just above the "Physical Characteristics" describing the runways). It says

 

1. TAF CAT B, METAR/SPECI, AD WRNG

 

2. AWIS..........(etc)

 

So in AIP GEN 3.5, paragraph 3.4.3 it tells me what the aerodrome forecast categories are. I can see from the table there that a "Cat B TAF" is issued 6 hourly and is valid for 12 or 18 hours, with commencement times of 00, 06, 12 and 18 UTC. Also this line tells me Archerfield will issue METAR and SPECI observations, and of course aerodrome weather warnings. So now I know what sort of validity Archerfield will have and how often they update these forecasts.

 

Flying to Bourke? Yeah I know, why would you....but let's say you are.

 

ERSA entry for Bourke says

 

1. TAF CAT D, METAR/SPECI

 

etc etc

 

So the best you'll get for Bourke, according to that table in AIP, is a 6 or 12 hourly TAF valid for "up to" 12 hours, usually commencing at 2000 and 0200 UTC.

 

 

[kgwilson]

If you are looking for a free Android app that will provide TAF & METAR data in both raw and plain English versions download Avia Weather from Google play. You can select as many aerodromes as you like by entering the ICAO or IATA code & save them or use them once or whatever you like. Updates every time you open the app but you need data or wifi connection.

 

 

[DWF]

can anyone recommend an android app that I could use to look up the weather?

I also use "TrackDirect - NAIPS Briefing" by Control-J - free download from Google Play Store. The icon is a 'globe' with a blue aircraft on it.

 

It has the handy feature of being able to show a map of those lines and areas on forecasts and sigmets showing where areas of weather, etc are.

 

 

[Birdseye]

Always verify the forecast yourself against actual conditions prior to flight. If the wind, temperature etc. are wrong, very good chance the whole forecast is.

 

 

[cooperplace]

If you're learning Navs, do it thoroughly, learn NAIPS, learn Navigation, get that base under your belt before looking for short cuts. One guy, who is no longer with us didn't bother with that, so he missed the "severe turbulence" in the NAIPS warning, which is aviation orientated, and snapped his wing off. By all means check a couple of apps, but always get the NAIPS forecast before you leave. Surely your instructor is saying this?

you've just paraphrased my instructor!

 

 

[BlurE]

Someone on this site recommended "windytv" a while back.

 

I suspect it uses BOM data, but presents in a much better format. For example you can look at the wind direction and speed at different altitudes.

 

You can also 'play' a video over a period and see the wind pick up during the day or a front come through. And you can see the forecast several days ahead.

 

Very, very good.

 

I still check NIAPS first for the official story, but windytv for a more complete picture.

 

Web based: Windytv, wind forecast

 

Android app: Windyty - Android Apps on Google Play

 

 

[zodiacpilot]

Someone on this site recommended "windytv" a while back.I suspect it uses BOM data, but presents in a much better format. For example you can look at the wind direction and speed at different altitudes.

 

You can also 'play' a video over a period and see the wind pick up during the day or a front come through. And you can see the forecast several days ahead.

 

Very, very good.

 

I still check NIAPS first for the official story, but windytv for a more complete picture.

 

Web based: Windytv, wind forecast

 

Android app: Windyty - Android Apps on Google Play

 

 

 

Someone on this site recommended "windytv" a while back.I suspect it uses BOM data, but presents in a much better format. For example you can look at the wind direction and speed at different altitudes.

 

You can also 'play' a video over a period and see the wind pick up during the day or a front come through. And you can see the forecast several days ahead.

 

Very, very good.

 

I still check NIAPS first for the official story, but windytv for a more complete picture.

 

Web based: Windytv, wind forecast

 

Android app: Windyty - Android Apps on Google Play

Looks like good wind site but DONT use as a airport info site INSTEAD of ERSA!!!

 

Checked YWTO for 'curiosity sake' & found general field info to be incorrect.

 

 

[Mike Borgelt]

This site has a nice user interface www.ventusky.com and gives you lots of information.

 

All these things use the global circulation models and are updated every few hours with real data. There are 3 major models in existence. Ventusky let you choose and compare. I used to do weather soothsaying for a living about 40 years ago.