getting the wind behind you

I don't know about medium term but http://www.xcweather.co.uk/
gives current wind reports with about 5 days forecast.

Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
[email hidden] http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html

Quoted message said:

Does anybody know if anybody does mid range (days to weeks ahead)
forecasting of this nature?

XCweather is an excellent site for live wind/weather information (designed
for glider pilots): http://www.xcweather.co.uk/ -- it also has some
short-term wind forecsats. Don't know about medium-term, I wouldn't trust a
forecast claiming to accurately predict weather a amtter of weeks ahead,
anyway.

Quoted message said:

Compared with normal weather forecasting, it should be relatively easy,
in that we want to know whether the wind is going to be in our face or
at our back

Up to a point... Wind systems blow into but also around moving low
pressure areas, so according to how far a system has progressed and
exactly how you stand relative to its centre the wind may be in a
completely different direction after just a few hours, which when you're
trying to nail it down a few days in advance is Non Trivial work :-(

Quoted message said:

I just emailed the met office
and am waiting for something from them but wondered what you lot use
(if anything?).

Cross fingers, chant mystic prayers, chalk magical symbols.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Quoted message said:

Compared with normal weather forecasting, it should be relatively easy,
in that we want to know whether the wind is going to be in our face or
at our back

Up to a point... Wind systems blow into but also around moving low
pressure areas, so according to how far a system has progressed and
exactly how you stand relative to its centre the wind may be in a
completely different direction after just a few hours, which when you're
trying to nail it down a few days in advance is Non Trivial work :-(

Quoted message said:

I just emailed the met office
and am waiting for something from them but wondered what you lot use
(if anything?).

Cross fingers, chant mystic prayers, chalk magical symbols.

met office offered me a medium term forecast for 180 pounds

Simon Bennett said:

Quoted message said:

Does anybody know if anybody does mid range (days to weeks ahead)
forecasting of this nature?

XCweather is an excellent site for live wind/weather information (designed
for glider pilots): http://www.xcweather.co.uk/ -- it also has some
short-term wind forecsats. Don't know about medium-term, I wouldn't trust a
forecast claiming to accurately predict weather a amtter of weeks ahead,
anyway.

Yes and no. Precise forecasts are just never going to exist more than a
few days out, but everywhere has prevailing conditions and the
prevailing winds aren't going to be from the same direction for all 12
months of the year, are they? Some sort of clue as to what winds are
likely for a particular area in a given time of the year must be feasible?

chris harrison said:

Yes and no. Precise forecasts are just never going to exist more than a
few days out, but everywhere has prevailing conditions and the
prevailing winds aren't going to be from the same direction for all 12
months of the year, are they?

Well... yes, I'm afraid. The UK has prevailing westerlies throughout
the year, meaning it's a bit more likely to be westerly than easterly,
northerly or southerly on any given random day. We get more weather
from over the Atlantic than for over Europe, it's all generally moving
westwards with the prevailing winds.

Quoted message said:

Some sort of clue as to what winds are
likely for a particular area in a given time of the year must be feasible?

As above. The area is "the UK", the time of year is January to
December. Note that "more likely" for a Westerly is not "sufficiently
more likely you should bet money on it" :-(
Note the e2es tend to do SW to NE in part because you're marginally more
likely to get wind with you rather than against you, but I don't think
you'll have to look /too/ hard to find someone that spent the majority
of the time into headwinds.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

met office offered me a medium term forecast for 180 pounds

I'll do one cheaper that'll probably be as (in)accurate :-)

www.weatheronline.co.uk is a good site along with the previously mentioned
xcweather.

www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/wind.shtml another for lottery tips.
--
Pete
http:[email hidden]/Stuff

<[email hidden]> wrote in message Does anybody know if
anybody does mid range (days to

Quoted message said:

weeks ahead) forecasting of this nature? I just emailed the met office
and am waiting for something from them but wondered what you lot use
(if anything?).

This site does a forecast up to 10 days out.

http://uk.weather.com/weather/local/UKXX0075?day=2&vert=WeatherCity

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

The more different weather forecasting sites you look at the more confusing
it gets, but least you can pick and choose which to believe depending on
your personal optimism/pessimism levels.
Several years in the run-up to the Glastonbury festival I've trawled around
for indications as to how much of a mudbath we're going to get and they all
disagree. I was even moved to write to the BBC to ask why their 5 day
forecasts disagree so often with those of the Met Office, and to the Met
Office to ask why day 1 of their 5 dayers disagree with their own 24 hour
forecasts. The answers came down to "interpretation".
The BBC does a monthly outlook:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/monthly_outlook.shtml

POHB said:

The BBC does a monthly outlook:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/monthly_outlook.shtml

Updated on a weekly basis!

POHB said:

The more different weather forecasting sites you look at the more confusing
it gets, but least you can pick and choose which to believe depending on
your personal optimism/pessimism levels.

I've noticed this has brought about a certain way of going about things
when lining up something to do. There's a tendency to skip about sites
and either confirm if you find /anything/ good or cancel if there's
/anything/ bad, or some shade in between according to mood.

Given the range of forecasts now available, it often seems short
circuiting the browsing and going according to mood anyway might be
easier...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch wrote On 02/28/06 10:55,:

Quoted message said:

POHB said:

The more different weather forecasting sites you look at the more confusing
it gets, but least you can pick and choose which to believe depending on
your personal optimism/pessimism levels.

I've noticed this has brought about a certain way of going about things
when lining up something to do. There's a tendency to skip about sites
and either confirm if you find /anything/ good or cancel if there's
/anything/ bad, or some shade in between according to mood.

Given the range of forecasts now available, it often seems short
circuiting the browsing and going according to mood anyway might be
easier...

As in so many things, I think Jerome K Jerome had it right...

---
But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it
comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand. The
prophet we like is the old man who, on the particularly gloomy-looking
morning of some day when we particularly want it to be fine, looks round
the horizon with a particularly knowing eye, and says:

"Oh no, sir, I think it will clear up all right. It will break all right
enough, sir."

"Ah, he knows", we say, as we wish him good-morning, and start off;
"wonderful how these old fellows can tell!"

And we feel an affection for that man which is not at all lessened by
the circumstances of its NOT clearing up, but continuing to rain
steadily all day.

"Ah, well," we feel, "he did his best."

For the man that prophesies us bad weather, on the contrary, we
entertain only bitter and revengeful thoughts.

"Going to clear up, d'ye think?" we shout, cheerily, as we pass.

"Well, no, sir; I'm afraid it's settled down for the day," he replies,
shaking his head.

"Stupid old fool!" we mutter, "what's HE know about it?" And, if his
portent proves correct, we come back feeling still more angry against
him, and with a vague notion that, somehow or other, he has had
something to do with it.
---

Mike

Peter Clinch said:

chris harrison said:

Yes and no. Precise forecasts are just never going to exist more than
a few days out, but everywhere has prevailing conditions and the
prevailing winds aren't going to be from the same direction for all 12
months of the year, are they?

Well... yes, I'm afraid. The UK has prevailing westerlies throughout
the year, meaning it's a bit more likely to be westerly than easterly,
northerly or southerly on any given random day. We get more weather
from over the Atlantic than for over Europe, it's all generally moving
westwards with the prevailing winds.

Right, I'm with you most of the way but I *know* that there are
peculiarities for particular areas of the country for particular times
of year that are predictable.

I'm a rower and I know that the 2000m course at Nottingham sees a shift
in the wind patterns from Winter to Summer - that the prevailing
conditions shift around which makes unrowable conditions more likely in
the summer (i.e. regatta racing season) than winter (training sessions
for the local clubs). Perhaps this is due to the land-locked nature of
the area and hotter earth temperatures.

Whatever the reasons, this kind of local pecularities might be
predictable with a little more specificity than "we're in the UK,
south-west is where it's generally at"?