Weather?

[Sabasti]

Can someone explain the weather forecasts to me?

I get the Westerly (wind coming from the west) F10 (Beaufort?), Good (visibility) (Always force 10, always good and always coming from where I want to go -_-).

What I don't get is the forecast time. Does "For the next 24 hours" mean that in 24 hours the weather *might* be close to that or does it mean that the weather is going to be like that rather much sooner up to 24hours?

[Timbo]

It's based on the shipping forecast that is broadcast on the radio here in the UK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast

I think that if you just get a simple forecast, then that's pretty much the weather now and for the next 24 hours. i.e. Westerly, Force 5, Good. You may get a more complex one, like Westerly, Force 5, becoming South Westerly Force 6 later. This lets you know that the wind is changing direction and getting stronger.

I'm not an expert, but I hope that helps a bit.

[Sabasti]

That'd work but it changes every hour... So I'd assume...

Westerly F10 Good from 'now' for approx 24 hours. In around six hours I'd expect it to say, "Westerly F10 becoming South Westerly F9, Good".

As it is I got...at 0100hrs, Westerly F10 Good... at 0600hrs I got, "Westerly F10 Good" at 0700hrs I get "South Westerly F3"... an hour later (ish) and I had 6kts of wind! Hence trying to understand where the predictions were coming from.


I appreciate forecasts can be wrong, but it seems like the forecasts aren't actually forecasts so I can't plan around them :/

[cbaldwin256]

Basically we just turn time ahead and look at what is coming next. However, as with everything it becomes fiendishly complicated to replace what would be a human forecaster's judgement - to summarise complex patterns into just a few words. It is possible that your weather has been very changeable? In order to help us improve next time could you give me the exact time of the forecast?

[Sabasti]

So in theory when it says weather in 24 hours, that should mean, (in theory) in 24hours that you'll probably have that weather? Honestly I'm just trying to find out how soon the weather comes in XD.

[cbaldwin256]

The immediate forescast is within 6 hours,. We then look forward 12+ hours for the 'later' readings.

[Sabasti]

Thank you!

[nkrukowski]

Going to pick this up again, because I've also found it a bit confusing. So when they say "for the next 24 hours," they really mean 'over the next 6 hours'? And if there is a "becoming ___ later", that means a change after about 12 hours? Just trying to understand. PS - new to the forum; absolutely love the game. Massive props to the developers. I sail in real life and this is about as realistic a simulator as I could have hoped for. Seriously, well done!

[cbaldwin256]

When we say for 24 hours we mean this is short term rather than a long term forecast. The time spans are as indicated above. If there is an event actually 23 or 24 hours ahead it will probably not be picked up, as it has to average over the periods. You can get more accurate wind speed predictions on the eSail web hub.

[Chris]

The Shearwater Weather Report on the eSail hub shows my local time and, I think, the current weather. It also lists weather conditions for other times in a table. Are those times Shearwater time, my local time, or GMT?

[Chris]

And, I guess a follow-on question is, assuming the forecast times are my personal local time, if I switch to live-sail +12 hours, will the weather advance 12 hours, or stay the same - my local time. (Honestly, I'm trying to figure out if I can 'jump' past the upcoming Storm Force winds.)

[cbaldwin256]

I’m pretty sure the hub shows local time. And yes it is possible you could avoid bad conditions by switching to +12 !

[pszabo173]

I have force 1 wind and fog from 2 days constantly in live sailing mode. Visibility is around 1/3 cable (~60 meter). What can I do for set or reset the weather in live sailing mode?

[cbaldwin256]

Switch out of multiplayer. You will then be able to change the day length to advance time to something more pleasant!