Where do you find accurate weather online?

[Ryan P]

OpenSnow also has weather forecasts for the summit, I personally find them to be consistently the most accurate source over mountain-forecast/NOAA/etc.

[two lunches]

OpenSnow also has weather forecasts for the summit, I personally find them to be consistently the most accurate source over mountain-forecast/NOAA/etc.

the reason i like OpenSnow is that it consistently provides the worst-case scenario at the summit. however, it's wildly inaccurate for the approach/lower elevations on any hike or ski day.

[Rampaging Baloths]

As someone who is a meteorologist.

NWS/NOAA is the best. Doing the point and click is good. But also reading the forecast discussion and clicking the meteogram (the hourly) is good and gives a lot of context.

[jibler]

wunderground people!

I keep saying it - 'they tell you the weather the other guys won't'


i particularly like the 10day forecast because you get all these different data points all mapped into one flowing forecast

it has been used to successfully spot Phish summer weather events many many days out by me more than once now acutally.....




including me calling out issues with the big festival last summer and hurricane remnants.....and that was called like 10 days in advance

[madmattd]

NWS/NOAA is the best. Doing the point and click is good. But also reading the forecast discussion and clicking the meteogram (the hourly) is good and gives a lot of context.

Also paying attention to the elevation at the point forecast you click on is key with NOAA - even though you clicked on the top of a 14,000' peak, the elevation for that forecast square might be at 11,000' which can be quite relevant! So sometimes you need to poke around a little in the neighboring area to get an elevation forecast more useful for your goals (I find this most important in winter with wind forecasts). Fully agreed on the aspect of reading the forecast and looking at the hourly graphs to get a much better idea of what is predicted. Just generally ignore the cloud cover graph, that's seemingly a very hard thing to predict and I find NOAA to often miss hard on that one - but they're usually (not always!) pretty good for the overall weather.

I'm pretty sure NWS/NOAA is where most of the others are getting their raw model data from anyway.

I have refused to even look at Mountain-Forecast for at least 10 years now - back then I was at least looking at it a little when hiking in the NorthEast, and it was laughably inaccurate almost every time and in complete disagreement with all other reputable sources - and in the wrong direction (it was wildly optimistic). Maybe its gotten better since, or maybe it's more accurate out here in the West, but that experience back then over an extended A-B-C comparison period turned me off to that site.

Generally I use Weather Channel/Wunderground/similar for general valley weather trends (and IDing potential weather windows 10 days out to keep an eye on as the other forecasts come into better resolution), and NOAA for the fine details of the higher elevations, different areas, etc I'm looking to go.

[seano]

NWS/NOAA is the best. Doing the point and click is good. But also reading the forecast discussion and clicking the meteogram (the hourly) is good and gives a lot of context.

The forecast discussion is essential — actual meteorologists, sometimes with decades of experience in local weather, giving their interpretation of the models’ outputs.

[Rampaging Baloths]

NWS/NOAA is the best. Doing the point and click is good. But also reading the forecast discussion and clicking the meteogram (the hourly) is good and gives a lot of context.

Just generally ignore the cloud cover graph, that's seemingly a very hard thing to predict and I find NOAA to often miss hard on that one - but they're usually (not always!) pretty good for the overall weather.

That's because cloud cover is one of the most challenging aspects to get correct. And also '100 % cloud cover' could mean lots of things.

Is it a low level stratus deck? Thin high level cirrus covering the upper atmosphere?

That might give you 100 cloud cover but there is context that is missing.

[nyker]

Usually use a couple, Wunderground was the go-to for fishing forecasts back in the day but that's good for general weather too and I like NOAA.

[ride2climb]

This website works to give the weather for any small spot. Scroll down to the little map, then use the map to select the weather at any location ---- it's a little tricky but it works. Currently, I think that I have the box on Long's summit -- high temps are about 40F. https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.p ... lat=40.255

[SkaredShtles]

This website works to give the weather for any small spot. Scroll down to the little map, then use the map to select the weather at any location ---- it's a little tricky but it works. Currently, I think that I have the box on Long's summit -- high temps are about 40F. https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.p ... lat=40.255

That forecast is NOAA - credit where credit is due.

[rmcpherson]

NWS/NOAA is the best. Doing the point and click is good. But also reading the forecast discussion and clicking the meteogram (the hourly) is good and gives a lot of context.

The forecast discussion is essential — actual meteorologists, sometimes with decades of experience in local weather, giving their interpretation of the models’ outputs.

Completely agree on the value of the forecast discussion, especially for giving broader context to the point forecasts as well as building understanding of meteorology and weather patterns over time. (I love that I can now click through to a NWS point forecast from Caltopo by tapping on the map.)

I have also found Mountain Forecast to be fairly inaccurate, sometimes wildly, while giving the appearance of certainty.

A couple other tools that I frequently use that haven't been mentioned in this thread:

Windy is excellent for viewing graphical model forecasts and comparing across models. The Euro model (ECMWF) tends to be the more accurate one of the two big global models due to a lack of investment in the US model (GFS). Some of the other models like the HRRR can be useful as well, especially for short term forecasts. The Meteogram view in Windy is useful for understanding weather and cloud levels at different elevations.

For high-resolution radar and lightning data during the North American Monsoon, I've found Radarscope to be the best tool (with their $10/year tier subscription that includes lightning data). It's great for evaluating incoming storms and storm tracks in realtime and making informed decisions about whether to bail below tree line. Of course this depends on having internet connectivity but that's becoming more ubiquitous in the mountains, for better or worse.

[ride2climb]

This website works to give the weather for any small spot. Scroll down to the little map, then use the map to select the weather at any location ---- it's a little tricky but it works. Currently, I think that I have the box on Long's summit -- high temps are about 40F. https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.p ... lat=40.255

That forecast is NOAA - credit where credit is due.

Right. Someone did say NOAA before my post. Thanks.