Can we please have a weather update only? To fix the issues with mostly one type of clouds, different layers, the return of lightning (disappeared since su7) propper fog, realistc and varied cumuloninmbus?
Needles to say that most of the time my flights are in a sea full of scattered cumulus, often too close to the ground and very gray! I know the next update will try to tackle clouds layers, but still, a weather update only could be very very useful in my opinion 
Hard to say where the problem is,
I just closed one flight on Vatsim and weather was perfect, also more different layers and clouds formations. On approach I had bad weather, rain on some places. Try fly on different places as test.
I have seen this too - however here is the issue I can explain (or perhaps you already experienced this if you used MSFS since the start?) - when you take off and climb up to the bottom of that “wonderful looking” layer of clouds, take note - there is no sudden “break” into the clouds where you lose visibility as in real life (OR how MSFS used to be before METAR). Instead, it’s some kind of slow “transition” where a fog like scene starts to surround you. You can still see the ground, climbing up and up and up, but the fog seems to get “thicker” around you when finally as you keep climbing “through” the layer, the ground becomes invisible BUT then the blue sky above then appears.
We know this is not how clouds are. We are supposed to get a sense of motion and more importantly the loss of visibility in an OPAQUE cloud. The clouds are now just fog-like and super-transparent puffs.
In the real world entering and exiting clouds can be disorientating and adds to the complexity of flying IFR. But not so in MSFS since the big cloud change SU5’ish? And METAR made it even worse.
And the issue of “transparent” clouds is for every cloud in MSFS since like SU5. I can see SOMETIMES in the real world happening, but are very RARE that we get transparent/light see-through clouds like this; but look at the OP screenshot closer.
See how transparent all of the clouds are? Then look at the cloud where the arrow is pointing - that LOOKS like it is opaque right? But once you get close to this opaque looking cloud, it turns into fragmented transparent puffs just like the ones closer in the screenshot. Smoke in mirrors tricks they put in to help with performance at the expense of ugly unrealistic clouds.
My experience, and i have tested a lot of places, is that especially in the presence of very low clouds, linke under or around 1000ft, tgey turn into convective very gray looking clouds. Sometimes i get the odd better looking skie but it never last for the whole flight let alone a few days. You just need to hgave a look at the METAR topic in the bug section to get a deeper idea of what of the majority of us are experiencing, the issues are many. I started playing before su 7 and the weather is nothing of what it was pre that. Playing on xbox series x and my performance was way way better back then!
Agree, and when coming closer to clouds that sometimes are not transparent they fades away or that they dissapear some every second like a transition. Well this is only one issue with the weather now. After su7 it has many issues. How could they change the system into this and say it was an improvement? That is my question. What are the amazing blending they talked about pre su7? There is none what i can see. Blending to me i thought should be something we couldn’t notice at all.
Oops! I posted a new topic not realizing this one was here, even though I replied to it a while back (my old age!)
Anyway I think this topic is awesome because it encompasses many other threads and we really just need an update dedicated to just weather. So I voted on this topic.
Totally agree with the OP! With all these weather ideas and great suggestions, could Asobo consider dedicating one sim update to weather only? Fixing and creating an upgraded weather system update?
Great ideas such as here: Add more options for live-weather than only ON/OFF
And here: Realistic Dangerous Weather - Physics Simulation - #28 by HomieFFM
And here: Clouds are are just not realistic
also: Are Microburstphysics in MSFS 2020 implemented?
And many many more great threads about weather improvements/suggestions.
basically it’s all covered with:
Thermals, Up & Downdrafts - Realism Update
this thread covers more the wishlist for general basic improvements
(very high in the rankings with 540 votes now)
and then recently I made another thread which you have linked already:
Realistic Dangerous Weather - Physics Simulation
this thread aims for the more extreme stuff in terms of realism, also going straight up there in the 3 Months rankings. So I think most people also want more realism which is a very nice direction
I can also recommend those you wrote. Thank you for trying making this sim as realistic as possible with those topics
I hope they can add those with optional limits because then we can all enjoy the sim as simple or realistic as we want it to be. I think a simulator always should strive to be as realistic as possible. Then if it’s possible to add limits as options i can’t argue with that.
Amazing how time flies. It will be nine months between SU7 and SU10 and the first live weather related improvements to look forward to are cloud layer thickness and gusts, both fixes for previous updates. At this rate we might be lucky to get back to the initial weather system near the end of the sim’s expected lifespan, or not if they decide on fewer updates a year.
Yes to me it feels like we need to wait now for 8 years to have it like it was pre su7 with gusts. I don’t think we ever will have it in that state again. I think we will see more things added from METAR instead.
I’ll try to stay positive hope you are not right, even just an option to “turn metar off” and allow us to use the more “organic” and natural system they initially released which was the right thing to do.
If they announced that i would be really happy included with “we will just implement data from Meteoblue that fits the complete picture of dynamic weather from now on and focus making sure server sends correct data from Meteoblue into the sim”
we need it now more than anytime before !
+1000 for this. Actual state of live weather is false advertising for me. This is not a joke.
We need one more Update category: Atmosphere, Weather and Environment (AWE)
August 2020:
When MSFS came out I was stunned!
The aircraft were underwhelming from a accuracy standpoint, workers all over the place, vehicles on taxiways, my beloved planes not yet available, the UI - well - I got used to it.
But I loved it!
The main reason: Live Weather!
After decades of clouds synthesized based on METAR data, somehow merged to an unsatisfying whole, there finally was a weather system that - nearly - had it all: CU, CB, NS, AS, MIFG - you name it. Cirrus clouds were missing, but there were layers of high stratiform clouds that were satisfying enough.
I’ve put together a video from my early recordings to demonstrate what I mean.
With Sim Update 5 changes were made to the cloud rendering and the lighting, mainly for performance reasons.
As Live weather was solely based on the Meteoblue forecast model and thus - due to the inherent inaccuracies of a model based weather system - lacked the necessary accuracy for planning purposes and for online flying, following user demands MS/Asobo introduced with SU7 a Live weather system that integrated METAR data into the data stream.
April 2023:
The Aircraft and Avionics Update (AAU) worked magic on the respective airplanes, further enhanced with SU12. More AAU’s are to come. The Scenery has been enhanced by multiple World Updates. Features of the Core Sim have been enhanced with multiple Sim Updates.
And what about the atmosphere, where flying actually happens?
Live weather is admittedly more accurate in terms of where and at which height clouds are rendered in the sim.
But the “accuracy” of the cloud placement comes at the cost of:
Fjords in Norway are still covered by solid ice until late spring, although they never are irl, coastal areas are covered in snow although the seldomly are. Innsbruck is still covered in snow, even at 20 degrees Celsius in spring. Seasons are still not implemented.
In real world flying, as I see it, there are three challenges:
While I have no problem immersing myself in the first two items in the sim, the atmosphere leaves me bored. Massive cauliflower clouds inaccurately mimicking a warm front are a pain. Thunderstorms are mostly missing or have no impact on the flight. CU/TCU/cauliflower clouds everywhere make me yawn. Landing on a snow covered runway at 19 degrees Celsius is immersion breaking.
I could go on forever, but this post has become way too long already:
Should we accept an underwhelming simulation of the atmosphere and environment in an otherwise actively (dedicated personnel and timelines for AAU’s, WU’s and SU’s) developed flight simulator?
Or should we vote for dedicated Atomsphere, Weather and Environment Updates (AWE)?
Absolutely with you on this. it is sooo needed.
I 10000% agree with you. I stopped flying because of weather downgrade.
I agree with everything you say.
I myself have been flying significantly less due to the downgrade of live weather.
Absolutely a must-have!
There are lots of us who haven’t been playing at all due to the cruelly degraded state of Live Weather in the sim. Yet we very much wish we could enjoy the game, though we can’t. Not like this.
For months, we’ve checked these forums all but daily, hoping for some news of upcoming improvements to the weather system, so that at the very least it can be restored to a level of quality that was formerly available. Short of that, our sims are just sitting idle, unplayed, waiting…
If I could vote a million times, even if at the cost of never being able to vote on anything else after,
I’d do it in a heartbeat.
This is a make-or-break deal for myself and many others right now. The sim cannot be taken seriously so long as the weather system remains the way it is. We NEED a full-scale, all-the-best-hands-on-it weather upgrade. And sooner, rather than later.
This is my greatest hope for SU13. Anything else would be sheer disappointment.
