Before the update I could look at the world map, look at the cloud coverage, and guess what Metroblue thought the weather was for a given airport. It may not be accurate, but at least I could guess what the game model thought was going on.
Now looking at the satellite map is pointless.
With SU7 the stated intent is that they will use, (possibly hourly?) METAR data around an airport
bubble", mixing it with the periodic (daily?) Metroblue data as you fly away from the airport.
I just flew out of my local airport. It’s raining, the METAR says it’s raining. I look at the window and it’s raining. In fact the entire region is getting a steady rain.
The sim dropped in the airport with not a cloud in the sky. I look up and see blue everywhere.
Is it because the bubble/blend doesn’t work? Is that because they can’t reliably interpret METAR? Is it because some Azure server died? Is it because they didn’t provision enough Azure resources? Is it because they didn’t get their new system right before they released it?
Who can tell. The customers don’t have enough information and the vendor isn’t talking.
But on the other hand, they say they are listening. I guess we should feel better since we’re not being ignored.