Today Kulusuk (BGKK) in Greenland is forecast by METAR and TAF light snow, wind 8 knots, then calm winds after 3pm UTC. In the sim, unflyable winds in an Arrow III. Not good if for any reason you want to use live weather. 
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Hope I am wrong but, I think many in this thread nailed it about Asobo changing the way the clouds are rendered/drawn or whatever to save on memory, frames, xbox or whatever reason. There was a marked and negative change to the clouds variety and ālookā; and I donāt think weāre ever going to see this improve in MSFS. It is arcade look from now on Iām afraid.
MSFS cannot draw overcast anymore (like all the old sims - how is this always an issue?), and this is unique to MSFS ONLY: post SU8 now cannot even draw perfectly clear high pressure skies and instead it is putting small āpopcornā clouds all over the place. Clouds may LOOK opaque far away but are just smoke in mirrors blobs of TRANSPARENT like fog or something once you get close. Does not feel like youāre in a cloud anymore. Doesnāt feel like the original MSFS anymore, either. 
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If it is true that they are reducing visuals in the pursuit of performance gains, then that sucks as I just dumped a boat load of cash into a gaming machine for the sole purpose of running MSFS on max settings. Why couldnāt they release a version for PC and a āliteā one for xbox? However, currently I am less concerned about that than I am about them fixing these insane winds and extreme transitions in weather. Itās bordering on unflyable as it is - with jets at higher altitudes - regardless of diminished visuals. When you look at it āgloballyā, MSFS is supposed to be a āsimulationā engine (environment, weather, terrain etc) and 3rd party scenery and aircraft addons are the icing on the cake. I do hope that Asobo/Microsoft do get the weather right - incorporated METAR or not - as, from my perspective, itās one of the fundamental base ingredients of the sim.
EDIT: I would have liked to have conveyed in my post that part of the dissappointment with the current state of the sim is that I have such high expectations for it. It really is a masterpiece of software and things like the present weather issues simply detract from it so much.
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So weāve delivered a few descriptions but this one hits the spot. Maybe the weather around the airport is a bit more āaccurateā (If at all), but arcade look is really the right word! ,
I know some people donāt understand that but for me the āmagicā (part of it at least) of this SIM was taken away in one fell swoop!l
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Well, if a METAR states fog. Iām sure itās not āaccurateā with a static fog circle around the airport and the airport is located in the center of that fog circle all the time. And iām sure itās not popping up as soon as it is reported on METAR either.
To me the weather were more accurate pre su7. I didnāt expected it to match real world weather. I expected it to match predictions, nothing else. Those that expected it to match āMETARā at release had wrong all the time. Look now how bad the weather is when Asobo listening to those that didnāt know that the sim used prediction as weather complaining and voting that it needs to match METAR 100%, instead of just telling the truth (MSFS uses Meteoblue data, nothing else). Asobo actually fixed a thing that we didnāt have at release. Still we have many things that actually needs fixing that we had in the sim at release. Like prediction to match the weather in the sim all the time. It didnāt do that all the time but Asobo decided to implement METAR instead of fixing the predicted data to match 100%. Now nothing matches instead. If i compare the weather in the sim with prediction it doesnāt match the predicted data. If i compare the weather with METAR it doesnāt match that either. This METAR thing only makes me more confused. Why did the weather in sim need to match METAR when it should have matched prediction at release? We that expect the weather only match Meteoblue as they advertised before release of this sim. Shouldnāt we be able to have that too?
A METAR doesnāt have information about 60 layers of cloud data.
I would like Asobo to explain exactly how it is meant to be working or else we canāt know what should match what. They released a video of partnership with Meteoblue before release 2020. Something like that explaining the completely new weather system in use.
Hello Perrry ;
Accurate was meant rather ironically (sometimes claimed so or put as a reason by the Asobo), for me the weather has been āgetting worseā even before SU7. I think the expressions āaccurateā āpreciseā ārealisticā have a different meaning for everyone, for me personally almost none of the expressions apply to this SIM at the moment. The reason why you donāt see the fronts coming up is because they are interrupted by this METAR and something is constantly being inerpolated and they are not one system. And that is the smallest problem - for me, the āmagicā of the weather is gone anyway and I start the SIM sporadically only for testing and then usually turn off again and that after almost 1000 hours (before SU7). So much for that and no matter what some think.
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Exactly the same thoughts that i have. Spot on actually 
I were also around the same amount of hours pre SU4 with only enjoyment. Only some irritating issues like the wind at 225@3kts all the time that i knew were data issues that i knew would be fixed by fixing the Meteoblue weather. But instead they added the METAR winds, temp and preassure because that issue got the highest votes. And in that thread they asked Asobo to implement METAR winds and that they did instead of fixing the actual problem. After SU4 they removed the gusts and since then i have not been able to enjoy the sim anymore. Only used it for testing if that has gotten back again. But now they stated it was removed because it was overdone. I had big hopes it would be fixed in the āimprovementsā update SU7 but the complete picture of detailed weather is now gone and changed to something else that i didnāt have at release.
I didnāt expected it to heading this route. Since release they added more & more things from METAR and to me it only has gotten worse by doing that. I donāt understand why iām even here telling my point. It doesnāt have any value anyway. Only those saying METAR is needed is value. I think itās because i felt it has so much potential at release. Now i canāt feel that potential at all anymore.
I actually had hopes they would improve the weather by implementing more various data from Meteoblue instead to have the weather even more varied instead they making the weather less varied.
They telling they will have even more sources of weather injected into the sim that isnāt calculated to fit Meteoblue. I think we will see the weather to be even more confusing after that. I would like to have only one source of weather (Meteoblue) but that they told us is not possible so i think we that want that will not feel the weather getting better in the future.
Agree, we see accurate in different ways. To us itās accurate when it behaves like IRL. To others itās accurate when it matches METAR.
Thats why i feel a toggle for METAR would have made both sides happy. But now the sides has switched i guess. Those enjoying accurate to METAR enjoy the sim but we that enjoy a believable weather is not anymore.
METAR=Accurate to real world weather that has already heppened below 5000ft most of the time. 3rd party addons use this type of weather.
Meteoblue= Accurate to how real world weather behaves and sometimes accurate to real world weather but should always match the weather we have in the sim if it works correctly.
METAR/Meteoblue blending= I donāt really know. To me it feels neither accurate or believable. Maybe a bit more accurate to real world weather but much less believable. I donāt know what data should match what. Makes me confused.
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A thing i thought about is that how amazing weather we actually had at release of this sim. The only thing we complained about was the accuracy right? The rest was fine. That means we actually had realisitic weather at release. Realistic and accurate are completely different things. Accurate doesnāt automatically means more realistic weather.
After SU7 and all of the METAR integrations we can see many things about the weather that makes it unrealisitic such as.
Unrealistic generic clouds that looks almost the same everywhere (popcornclouds & vulcano ash type of clouds ).
Unrealistic fog circle around airport.
Unrealistic Metar-bubbles
Unrealistic wind, temp & preassure switches between Meteoblue & METAR
Unrealistic constant wind speeds on ground (no gusts)
Unrealistic sudden transitions in weather.
The only thing weāve gained is a bit more accurate weather. Much more losses in realism to get that.
METAR and removal of gusts made the sim weather much more unrealistic. Itās a fact. Too sad they wanted to make the sim weather more unrealistic to please those that wanted it to be accurate all the time instead of realistic all the time.
Meteoblue (simulates weather) Isnāt that what we ask for in a flight simulator to have simulated weather?
METAR is only a limited weather report. Much more data than that needs to be collected in real time to be able to simulate real weather locally and globally in real time. Actually the data from the whole atmosphere needs to be collected. How is that possible to do. I think if it were possible Meteoblue would already send that data to Asobo. But we know Meteoblue needs time to calculate that data to fit the rest of the world.
Some says we need accurate local weather. But itās unrealistic to have simulated weather outside of the airports and not accurate simulated weather over airports. And itās not possible to blend them because itās different times and types of weather. Predicted is future simulated weather and METAR is reports of weather that already has happened.
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Basically, the idea of āāincluding METAR data is not so bad.
The way it was integrated is terrible. You listed the problems.
And instead of taking care of it and making it better, they actually made it worse, see popcorn clouds and fog behavior. It couldnāt be more obvious or wrong.
A very clear statement about their future plans to release something like this.
If they continue like this, the MSFS will become a Arcard Game.
Flight simulation without working weather? Like a ship simulation without wind and waves.
PMDG, Fenix āāor other study lvl will not change anything about it.
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I would add to your list:
Additionally to popcornclouds & vulcano ash type clouds: puffy, flat and arcade type clouds
Unable to render overcast
Incorrect clouds base
Missing layers
Missing cloud types
Missing weather fronts
pixeled clouds
So many things to improve, how long it will take and is it in their plans ?
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thanks for the above ādetailingā of the missing features !
so - for me as a MSFS fanboy this is a ādisasterā. many may NOT feel that way, I can possibly understand, thatās why I talk about my opinion (of course there are so much worse problems in this world right now, say that every time, than missing clouds in MSFS) !
But for me, of course I donāt want to insult anyone or make the work of the developers worse than it is - but for me it almost borders on deception (I know thatās a pretty hard way of putting it)!
But to change such a revolutionary approach, which has also been promised and has already partly worked, in this way āradicallyā is simply not ok, without options, itās as simple as that.
To simplify the whole thing like this - and as errorhasoccured has already said, to simplify it āaracade-styleā like this, be it because of performance, be it because of VATSIM or whatever, almost cries out for a refund, even if it takes place 2 years later. Please excuse my harsh words, I started the SIM again today for a long time after SU8 and in Europe it is partly āunbelievably badā - wrong clouds, āwrongā weather, generic clouds everywhere where apparently āinterpolationā is doneā¦I know some donāt want to hear it and of course it is also unfair to say āunusableā (for some this is of course not true) !
So that the people who donāt mind so much understand the weather fetishists better - itās the same when people use the photogrammetry or the bing map data (and these are also the basic data of this SIM) - and in the forums you often read ābad photogrammetry or bad bing map dataā that MS or Asobo come here and simply turn them off with the reason that it costs too much power and you canāt get it better there in terms of quality.
well my dear, how would that look here ā¦
So for me, as a guideline, my āhome airportā LOXT is a good indicator, before SU6, if of course forecast was true here (was of course not always 100% no question) I saw almost the āsameā in the SIM when I looked out the window. (you have to know that LOXT very rarely has a current METAR report). Since SU7 I have NOT once (unless it was a cloudless sky) seen what was really true in terms of appearance. (Maybe because LOXT has no METAR and is pretty close to LOWW and therefore in that āinterpolation zoneā or whatever)
And Iām talking about my impression here, if anyone is happy with that - please, no problem at all - not trying to convince anyone - just for me unfortunately the term āunusableā remains (I know itās not fair) !
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To me it feels like the community just asked to get the old FSX type of METAR-weather back because the weather didnāt match something it shouldnāt have matched. It should have matched Meteoblue data, nothing else. And now we got METAR-weather with some things added from the detailed Meteoblue weather simulation added on top of it. I thought we liked the idea of prediction based weather before release of the sim then suddenly we wanted the old type of weather back or blended in. Well, i could see potential in the old weather system. Not this completely new different weather system or rendering they use.
Before this sim i actually always seen improvement of weather rendering/simulation in flight simulators. Never seen/feel it getting worse. That actually makes me the most dissapointed. I never used a Flight sim that forced me to use a completely different weather system than it got released with either. Either i could change to the old system or i could changed version of the sim if i were not happy with the changes until they fixed it.
We never know what issues we are forced to stick with in the next sim update.
We have so many different opinions about whats realistic and thats why they canāt force those kind of changes on us in my opinion.
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This pic looking into sunset illustrates one of the problems, the halo of clouds around the horizon. Here though you can see distinctly the bottom of the cloud halo rather than it being blended into the ground by white light during the day. If this was a one shot deal, no big deal but itās always the same cloud halo, at the same altitude, never gets closer or further away it would seem. 
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Good Lord I am getting so tired of seeing this exact same sky in Live Weather. 9 out of 10 flights these days are giving me this skyscape with nothing but XPlane-style puffs everywhere!
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How can we ever get a realistic global airflow model, dynamic weather and other āsimulatedā aspects of weather if we absolutely needs it to be set at METAR values?
If we take wind for an example. If you read 20kts on METAR and you standing behind a house for cover is that wind on the METAR matching that wind then? That thing i want simulated near ground level, and now we canāt have that because of the winds needs to be set at METAR values.
The only thing that we cares about is that it should be accurate all the time it seems 
That makes the weather simulation simple. Itās actually easier to make it set at METAR values than making it dynamic and realistic.
I still in disbelief when I think back before su 7ā¦how on earth are they allowing this mess to go on for so long?
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Maybe MS decided to give Steve Balmer another go at managing a project or two
I suspect now Asobo simply doesnāt have the same level of manpower to maintain the title as they did in the beginning. In the long run MSFS caters to a specific group of aviation fansā¦it simply doesnāt make sense financially to invest more once the initial hype has died down. So anything can take a really long time to happen. Sorry folks, but I think it all just comes down to money.
Imagine if MSFS sells like hot cakes like Elden Ring or any popular live service games, you think they would still treat such a glaring issue/regression with months of non-response?
Just my two cents. Honestly I wouldnāt expect any major change to this regression in the foreseeable future. š¤·
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I suspect the same. It is not possible that the devolopers that have implemented METAR in SU7 are the same than the ones that developped the original weather system. They would have noticed right away that something is going wrong about clouds rendering.
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Well the community wanted to have METAR/Meteoblue blending without knowing the outcome of it. It sounds to good to be true. If that were a such a perfect way handling weather why do not Meteoblue use that and get perfect accurate forecasts all the time?
We didnāt have METAR integrated at release, if it were we wouldnāt be here complaining because we had not experienced the weather with only one source of weather. Now after su7 we experience the weather in the sim with multiple sources. One for each airport actually together with Meteoblue source.
If they abandone the sim why did they make this change that they canāt handle? And they say itās better to fix it instead of making toggles for it. But when will it be fixed then? We donāt even know if Asobo can fix it right?
Well if you had done the METAR/Meteoblue blending how would you do it? Try be as constructive as possible.
I have tried come up with ideas but to me it feels so pointless adding them. It would have been easier if we could accept the forecasts not always match real world conditions.
If i look at a forecast and then look outside and see the weather not matching i accept the forecast didnāt match. I canāt change the real weather by blending the real world weather with forecasts. Or just use 3rd party METAR addons while on ground and then switch to live-weather while in the air. Then you blended it fine by your self.