The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Hillview Farm on July 13, 2014, 07:09:53 am

Title: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Hillview Farm on July 13, 2014, 07:09:53 am
Hello all,  :wave:

Just as the hay is ready to cut..... Rain! And I've not had a clear 5 days to make since  :gloomy:

Can anyone recommend a good and accurate forecaster? I've been looking at a few and they all say different things!!!  :rant:

who do you use?
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: PipSqueak on July 13, 2014, 07:42:41 am
I use the BBC weather app - not perfect but pretty good.
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: tizaala on July 13, 2014, 07:48:08 am
Sky home page has a weather forecast you can put your exact location in . it is never too far wrong as it uses your local weather station for info.
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: PipSqueak on July 13, 2014, 07:50:43 am
I should have said, the BBC one picks on your location, plus you can add in other locations too. 

The majority of weather apps use Met Office data, so unless you find one with another source they will all be similar. I thought the Apple one pretty useless!
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: GeorgieB82 on July 13, 2014, 08:34:46 am
netweather.tv is my point of call
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Castle Farm on July 13, 2014, 08:50:10 am
I use XCweather.co.uk
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Bionic on July 13, 2014, 09:06:45 am
Weather.com and put your own location in
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Ina on July 13, 2014, 09:16:59 am
Well, if they all use metoffice data, you might as well use them... (Which is what I do.) Nobody can be 100% correct. If they predict 50% chance of rain, then there's still a 50% chance of no rain...
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: henchard on July 13, 2014, 09:24:13 am
The Metoffice

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk)

becuase I can't see the point of not going straight 'to the horses mouth'

and

Weatherweb

http://www.weatherweb.net/wxwebtv2.php (http://www.weatherweb.net/wxwebtv2.php)

because Simon Keeling looks at longer term trends etc and does specific forecasts for Farmers
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Alistair on July 13, 2014, 09:42:43 am
Bit of seaweed and a pinecone
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: john and helen on July 13, 2014, 10:15:42 am
if we are planning a kayak trip,
we use 3 sites,
XC , weather,
the MET
and magic seaweed
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: bloomer on July 13, 2014, 10:38:41 am
Since moving to scotland I now go with the open the cutains in the morning and have a look method, weirdly I find most forecast models can't understand scotland!!!
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: midtown on July 13, 2014, 12:26:50 pm
http://www.singerscreations.com/WeatherWatcherLive/ (http://www.singerscreations.com/WeatherWatcherLive/)
Very accurate and reliable using data from your local recording stations.
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: marka on July 13, 2014, 01:32:57 pm
 We use the met office but as already has been pointed out they are only a prediction.

Since moving to Scotland, we use the principle that 'if its not raining, then just wait a while and it soon will !'
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Formatted on July 13, 2014, 01:53:29 pm
This is a great website for looking at rain http://www.raintoday.co.uk/ (http://www.raintoday.co.uk/)
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Ina on July 13, 2014, 03:35:07 pm
We use the met office but as already has been pointed out they are only a prediction.

Since moving to Scotland, we use the principle that 'if its not raining, then just wait a while and it soon will !'

I wish! We had heavy rain forecast for the night, with light rain for today. Had about 2mm in all. The garden is desperately dry... It's been like that for weeks!
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: lord flynn on July 13, 2014, 05:50:40 pm
if you are in Scotland and on FB, Windy Wilson is pretty good-just don't upset him  ;)



Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: cloddopper on July 14, 2014, 12:30:33 am
if we are planning a kayak trip,
we use 3 sites,
XC , weather,
the MET
and magic seaweed

+1
 Those tend to be much more accurate & are updated many times a day.
The general BBC stuff is not usually as good for they pay much more money for them than the BBC.
 At the best the BBC is only good for two days if you are looking for a regional accuracy . It used to be that the BBC showed the isobars and direction of movement

Now it's been dumbed down so it is cheap and also allows you to make a cup of tea whilst it's on.

Your sites are ideal for planning sea angling trips a week of so ahead , as you can see the arrows showing weather & wind movement patterns & see the temperature of the fronts.
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: bigchicken on July 14, 2014, 12:43:19 am
Weather forecasts your having a laugh, does anyone know any job where you can get it so wrong so many times and still keep the job. If the ground is wet it could be raining. :raining:
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Factotum on July 14, 2014, 10:52:15 pm
I keep an eye on this site:

http://www.yr.no/ (http://www.yr.no/)

I get a forecast for our location, rather than the nearest town. The Norwegians seem more accurate than the Met Office.

Also hoping for a lull to make hay - the grass was cut late last week & Steve's been out turning when the sun's out  - nearly dry but then today it rained...Still, it's nice and windy now, maybe the fields will get a blow-dry over night.

Sue
Title: Re: weather forecasts??? what does everyone use??
Post by: Foobar on July 16, 2014, 02:29:24 pm
farmersweather.co.uk (webcast daily at 12:30pm)
metcheck.com
accuweather.com
metoffice.co.uk


... and then take an average :).


metoffice and metcheck have rain radar pictures so you can see if rain is close by.
metcheck has been very accurate in the past but has gone off a bit recently.  my current fav is accuweather (esp cos it shows you a calendar month view, and it shows a current against average temperature graph)


Have tried xcweather in the past, but it's data isn't so "accessible" as these others in terms of presentation.