The forecast model works well much of the time. I have definitely seen problems where the overall model is accurate, but the server gives the forecast for the wrong time of day in the sim. That is a Microsoft problem to solve, as they manage the server that sends out the MeteoBlue data.
The only option other than using a model is METAR data, and that is fine at a specific airport, but of no use in remote areas with no nearby airports, or over the ocean.
Snow depth doesn’t work at the moment for The Netherlands. Most places should have between 2-20cm, but none of the airports I tested show any snow on the ground.
EHAM for example:
And the lighting is too dark.
Amen. Incredibly inconsistent. When it is semi-accurate (I.e. Ceilings) I have yet to see any precipitation in the air . The ground will show evidence of snow or rain that is on the metar. True whether it should be snowing or raining.
Well once again real weather is not working today in the USA. I attempted a starting flight at KBOS because it’s snowing there. In the sim you guessed it. No falling snow. This happens all the time to me. Real weather is still broken. I’m glad it works for you as well as some others. But for me falling snow never works.
We had some heavy snow here at the weekend, in the UK. I checked in the sim about an hour later, and there was no snow on the ground at all. Live weather was working, according to the reported atmospheric pressure, and the sky looked about right, as it was overcast, but no snow.
Something to bear in mind, I believe the weather in the sim is an hour behind real time.
I think I read that somewhere too, but it had been snowing for hours by then, before I got up.
When the game was released it was posted in the official announcement that weather was downloaded twice a day for its source, and applied in game based on current time and time of actual weather download. ie its predicted weather based on live weather. The twice a day time is the same time for everyone world wide, not for your specific time zone. ie the ‘current’ live weather that you load when you start the game could be as much as 11 hours and 59 mins old.
Yes, that is so.
It has also been determined that due to server issues, that predicted weather is an hour behind.
Wow.
That – sucks
They seem to have a very different definition of the word “live” than the rest of humanity
It is live weather (well, to a degree!)
It is based on a predicted model, much like a weather forecast.
The program checks the weather, which it does, as as mentioned, twice daily.
It then makes a prediction of what the weather should be, over the next twelve hours, and then sends that info to MSFS.
You are not flying in weather conditions that existed twelve hours ago.
You are flying in the predicted weather for your flight’s time, bearing in mind that there is an unplanned server issue that makes this prediction one hour behind.
One thing that Jorg Neumann (head of MSFS) has said is that he intends to make the weather in the sim quite good, and it seems when he speaks on the subject to be quite passionate about his ability to do so.
I would not be surprised to find that he does.
When, is probably more the question!
I have seen nothing to indicate that “predicted” weather is always an hour behind. I myself have seen cases where the server gives the forecasted weather for 12 hours before (or 12 hours after) the current UTC time. That bug is obvious when it exists, and can be detected by comparing the Live Weather cloud map with a current satellite photo - but this does not happen every time.
METARS are a different matter. Live Weather now does use current METARS for airport surface wind, temperature and pressure. Unless the weather at a given airport is rapidly changing, official METAR observations are only taken once each hour (usually at 7 minutes before the top of the hour), and it can take several minutes for the observation to appear on the worldwide data feed of airport METAR observations. That affects all simulator weather programs that use METARS, including Active Sky for P3D or X-Plane’s native NOAA weather feed.
I believe I read, or heard, that in one of the development updates.
It was mentioned as a server issue, beyond MSFS direct control, but they were actively working on getting the issue addressed.
I do appreciate your keeping us up-to date, there are so many changes to the sim it’s hard to keep track of them all!! 
I think the issue they were having at the time was with the METAR server, which was not part of the original Live Weather system. The server that provides surface METAR data is not the same server that provides the MeteoBlue forecast model. In fact, it is not even a Microsoft IP address - in is on the Amazon AWS network. I think Asobo contracted with a 3rd party data provider specifically for surface METAR reports, once they decided to add some METAR elements to the existing Live Weather system.
Yes, that was indeed the issue I was referring to!
Currently overcast in London …MSFS clear skies. Tried all the tricks to get it to work. Live weather is exactly the same conditions as clear skies.
I have restarted the Sim and it’s working now…and then ctd
The CTD is probably due to the Bing Data issue.
Did you turn Bing Data off?
