There can obviously be more than 3 layers of cloud, so all layers should ideally be the in the sim.
Metars could in theory report more than 3 layers.
ASOS/AWOS system will typically however be limited, and you would be very luck that their automatic surface measuring equipment , “Laser Ceilometers”, would be capable of detecting more than 3 layers – very often, if the 1st layer is dense enough, they cannot penetrate and get reflections back for any additional layers after the 1st one.
Has anyone flown this evening to see if the bug that was meant to be fixed where it would load in a new weather model that was too far in advance has been fixed?
It was usually around this time of day that it loaded in the new model which before used to give weather that was about 24 hours in advance
Always? At no point does the realism become useful for training and testing dangerous scenarios? The current Sim is much more sophisticated and realistic than pilots of old, and even astronauts, used - were they merely playing a “game”?
It is not inconceivable (even likely?) that in the future, it will be possible to simulate with such accuracy that it is indistinguishable from real life - will THAT still be a game?
It may not be intention, but I find the attitude in your post to be pompous and arrogant. The “I am a REAL pilot, I only play this as a game” is annoying and degrades a good many of the forum members.
Yes, it is JUST a sim, but if you aspire to as much realism as possible, as a means to learn a new skill or simply to experience something you cannot do in real life (for any number of reasons) then I personally don’t think that qualifies as a “game” - although, you could argue that life itself is a game - and some would also argue that we exist in a simulation (it is actually statistically far more likely that we are, but that is a very different, and deeply philosophical, argument) - so who knows!
Any simulation CAN be used as a game, or entertainment (after all, that’s what games have ALWAYS been - human children, and the young of many animals, play to develops their life skills) but to dismiss it as only that, with regard to the use case of many on this forum, is just plain wrong.
I just did this exact test at my home airport KMKE. I loaded up earlier today when it was mostly sunny out with a few clouds and that was depicted in the sim. It is mostly cloudy outside now and in sim it is as well. The forecasted weather here is FEW250 which is not what I’m seeing so I think it is loading correctly at least for me
No, this has been discussed multiple times. For each latitude/longitude grid point, the model will contain a forecast for each discrete hour from the model start time to 24 hours later. That is 24 individual hour forecasts. If you are in KORD at 1500Z, you should get the forecast specifically for 1500Z - not 1400 or 1600. That is not to say that even if the sim delivers the correct model data for the current location and time, it will perfectly match the current METAR weather. One is a prediction, the other is based on actual observed weather.
The problem with METAR as the sole source of weather is that a METAR is only valid for a specific airport, to a radius of about 5 miles and up to a few thousand feet altitude (and that only for clouds - a METAR gives no information on temperature or wind anywhere but right on the surface).
The model covers a much broader area horizontally and vertically.
So this sounds like the weather should be advancing throughout the day, on an hourly basis, but still based off the model from the last weather load, either the 0000Z or 1200Z model.
Dear ASOBO/MS team!
I have the highest respect for your work. And I apologize if it seems that I am asking too much. But if you provide “LIVE weather” in MSFS, I would like to have at least approximately similar weather and at least the basic data (wind, QNH and whether the sun is shining, it is cloudy or it is raining) at the airport should match the METAR data. I realize that you can’t 100% simulate the weather here. Surely nobody asks for that. But it should be possible either with VATSIM etc. to exchange the data and there should at least match the official data, otherwise you can not play or simulate it in VATSIM or equal. I had the impression that it worked quite well before the patch. After the patch, you properly can set the LIVE weather in multiplayer mode from the beginning - but the data apparently no longer match to the extent that was the case before the patch. In this aspect I don’t consider the problem as solved yet - but at least still in an observation status. Therefore, my request to continue to address this problem, as it is for many of us already an essential factor for the fun of the game/simulator. Today I wanted to fly in Vienna, but instead of the cloudy sky I had a heavy rain shower with completely wrong wind. This improved after hours but by then my enjoyment was already gone. However, I will continue to monitor it and gladly make my contribution to improve the situation. Because basically the MSFS is a great thing - and we here are certainly aware that it is far from finished. It is a “work in progress” and we will gladly continue to accompany this progress! My best regards - a thankful customer!
I’d look a little closer. Your weather seems to be about 12 hours ahead also. Pay close attention to the position of the storms. The bottom arm of that storm is hitting the tip of Spain, same as in the forecast for tomorrow at 0900Z.
Basing RW WX on (12hr) forecasts in MSFS is just not going to work. Have they ever heard of the butterfly effect? It will surely work for areas with very “stable” WX systems. Now what do they do for the rest of us…LOL!
Yes, exactly. Far too often though, the server appears to be providing the wrong forecast hour, or even the wrong day. The latest patch is supposed to help improve that - it remains to be seen how well it will work going forward.
Since the model is updated twice each day, ideally any specific forecast hour prediction should be no more than 12 hours removed from the model initialization time.
Can confirm for me the bug that this patch was meant to address, where the game loads in the weather model too far in advance usually around 19:00z, is sadly still present.
Sigh, I’ve just about lost all patience for this game now.
