Windy.com: See the wind, temperature, rain and air quality around you
windy.com
windy.com
I live in the flatlands near some mountains. I can look at one of the websites that show data from personal weather stations to see that the temperature is 15 degrees cooler up on the mountains. But windy shows the temp there being the same as here. I figure it’s just averaging the various locations around (but not on) the mountains. Better data exists, but they don’t seem to have it.
Turns out being very specifically wrong is more convincing than just being generally wrong.
EDIT: I should add that windy may be the best forecasting app there is. I was more commenting on the fact that the specificity made me follow it blindly when I should have been treating it like any other forecast.
I think you are misinterpreting what Windy is showing. It's not trying to show the current temperature at the selected location, it's showing the current forecast for the temperature at that location according to a particular model. On the lower right, you can choose from different forecast models, and the "temperature" at the location you select will probably change. If you choose a finer grained model than the default (there are different third party models available for different locales) you might find one that does a better job of dealing with mountains. And on the lower left, you can change the "time" slider to show the forecast for the next few days according to the chosen model.
So yes, there is interpolation happening, but it's interpolation from a model that is already based on an artificial grid, and not based on interpolating from the actual temperatures as recorded on the ground. What I find useful about Windy is the ability to compare the output of different weather models, and thus get a idea of the uncertainty of the forecast. To access this, choose a location, and then click "Compare" on the bottom bar. If all 5 models available to me agree, it's probably a good guess. If one of them is radically different, one should be slightly skeptical. If they all disagree, probably best to assume that the forecast is inherently unpredictable.
That's why pilots don't like Windy actually. We prefer to read source readings and forecasts and guess-interpolate manually, no need in extra layer of complexity.
E.g. if I want to check visibility at my small airport, where no weather forecasts are made, I check a few larger airports around, and also learn today's "big picture" weather state (fronts? inversions?), to estimate what should I expect at my local airport.
It's like debugging a website software having raw DB data vs. screenshot.
It has PM1, 2.5, 4, and 10 sensors, and CO, NO, NO2, SO2, and soon to be H2S (which will replace CO or SO2 as there’s a specific configuration/limit) electrochemical sensors.
There is no noise sensor in this one, but I do plan on measuring the noise too.
I’d like people to report when they experience bad air quality, and eventually have enough data to say under these specific conditions, people report X, and then use that data to notify people.
I plan on deploying more pods in Gary, lil grass roots project!
Edit: Also, how much does the AQMesh sensor cost?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402...
> All the HQ values exceeded the threshold value, set at the unity, implying that H2S, SO2 and NH3 are likely to cause adverse health effects in the area. Conclusively, continuous operation of this abattoir within the residential area can constitute a great environmental menace to the residents of the area and can result in complication to those with existing health challenge.
RE cost: I'm currently on a 3 month rental through https://ambilabs.com, but plan on renting longer, and possibly purchase down the line. I think purchase price is somewhere around $10,000+ with a $1000/yr fee. I got a special deal, but it's a few thousand dollars for a few months, definitely not cheap, but grade A service so far!
There may be other sites that are doing this, but I don't think Windy creates any forecasts on its own. Instead, it provides a nice graphical interface to show forecasts that have been made by others. In my US location, they offer the choice of ECMWF 9km (European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasts), GFS 22km (Basic free model provided by NOAA), NAM 5km (Regional mesoscale model run by NCEP), ICON 13km (German DWD), and Meteoblue (Swiss from the University of Basel).
https://www.iqair.com/ca/air-quality-map?lat=41.59337&lng=-8...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28486389 (1052 points/215 comments)
Also:
4 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15094639 (580 points/Aug 24, 2017/103 comments)
What's great is that despite the complexity of the presentation, the data itself is a simple image (jpg, strangely?) and everything is just animated in javascript, so other than the scripts (which are cached), it doesn't download a huge amount of data.
We also use long-range agricultural rain forecasts to try to schedule larger trips for decent weather windows, but this is obviously a lot riskier!
Looking at the website now, it includes temperature, precipitation, radar, satellite, clouds, wind speed, air pressure, thunderstorm, humidity, waves, snow cover and air quality. As well as past 3 days and predictions for upcoming 3-4 days.
Seems like there's also https://earth.nullschool.net, but it's not as fully featured.