Where are the thunder and lightning...?

I still cannot find a functioning severe cold front in North America .

Should be a piece of cake, there are clouds and rain already there and METAR reporting TS. How is this issue not getting any traction???

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Anyone see lightning while flying in the southeast US this weekend? The sky was on fire with millions of lightning bolts over multiple days/nights from Texas to the Carolinas.
It should have been IMPOSSIBLE not to come across a TS or see lightning overnight.

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Nothing, I’ve checked today as there was a TS happening around the Pensacola region……… Not one flash or anything

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I think I might have a theory what’s going on or at least a few.

I’ll try to get a video posted, but I’ve been noticing the thunder chance increases further from the actual storm in the opposite direction of the wind.

My theory is that the lightning chance is lagging behind the actual precipitation chance. I’m not sure how much, but I’m assuming at least an hour or 2.

Good guess. I’m also doing my own little experiment. I’m running MSFS weather along with REX Weather Force. I injected MSFS weather first from the clear weather preset and then started and injected REX. So far what I have found is that MSFS is covering the depiction while REX handles the winds/temps. It’s a relatively nice tradeoff. I’m hoping in some way or form that it’s making a difference but I haven’t seen anything crazy yet. I’m hoping the reverse may be possible on my next flight where REX covers the depiction and MSFS handles the winds or there’s some sort of blend with the two. 9/10 REX has a more realistic depiction but is limited to only showing the closest METAR to the user and then globally setting that until a refresh. Hopefully through these experiments I can find a configuration that brings the best of the two together, as each can fill the missing gaps that currently exist in the weather. As such, the last flight using REX only when in Guangzhou there was lightning all over. Having started MSFS first it makes sense that the weather depiction would be through MSFS but the winds seem controlled by REX. Will see how the reverse works as the depiction of clouds by REX and the winds/additional weather from MSFS would be the best option.

You may be missing out. Since SU12 MSFS winds and gusts are actually quite good. Thunder and lightning is bound to get more prevalent as the seasons progress but then no doubt folk will be complaining again.

A quick google tells me “Around the world, there are over 3,000,000 flashes every day”

Trust me, I’ve used SU12 for awhile since I was also apart of the beta. For the amount of griping that has been going on regarding lack of turbulence or lightning, I can tell you that using REX fixes that. There was more than enough turbulence flying out of LAX which is quite common with the coastal inversion layer and the mountainous terrain nearby. The only downside if that you’re stuck with one METAR globalizing all of the data until it refreshes. Because of that you won’t get any horizon based weather flowing in as you fly. So this is why I am doing this is to see which configuration can bring the best of both worlds. So far using this combo you can have MSFS weather but REX winds. Now I want to see how using MSFS winds and REX weather plays out if it can be set that way and whether or not MSFS will fill in the areas not just around the user.

I’m mainly talking about live weather and not all of it originates from your PC, winds and gusts have definitely improved since SU12 was published openly. I grew up on the Isle of Man, there they have very changeable and often windy/gusty weather and that comes across quite well in MSFS.

Not sure what you mean by not all of it originates from the PC?? I’m very aware of how the sim functions and how the data is utilized within the sim itself. What seems to be the running argument is that the accuracy and depiction seems to be heavily dependent on where the user is located regionally. For myself being in the US I have had no connectivity problems that have been a big issue for others. Alternatively I have noticed the general weather pattern being very different between users in Europe and the weather they get versus here for myself. Again, the data may be all the same but each regional server is going to analyze and send that data differently. How that data and the quality of that data ends up on the end user is entirely a roll of the dice. Winds have been improved but nothing to the point that I haven’t already experienced with being in the beta. Not sure where you’re getting the winds improved since SU12 released as there hasn’t been a patch or update since March 21st or so.

MSFS may not stream weather but they can adjust the parameters. Only beta users had the turbulence realism settings so it stands to reason that Asobo had to keep weather tame for the non beta users. Now it’s different, if people don’t like turbulence they can basically turn it off.

Most beta changes end up being part of the initial public SU12, they can change parameters on the fly since it’s server based but for any major real affect to take place it’ll need to patch the core files so that the engine can read the new parameters. MSFS always streams the weather/weather is initially loaded from a file that is updated with each new MB (MeteoBlue) cycle. There was no taming between the Beta and non Beta users, those users were still using SU11 based algorithms until they updated to SU12 public release. The function of the realistic turbulence setting was the same in the Beta as it was in the public SU12 release aside from what other changes they made between the Beta and the release version which is what everyone is using now. I get what you’re trying to say but there’s some part of it that doesn’t make sense, not on a software technical level.

All I’m saying is they couldn’t just let rip and most likely we ex beta lot got new algorithms to match the public release. I personally was underwhelmed by the beta weather but it has improved considerably since. Not that there isn’t still a lot to do because there is especially with up/downdrafts in clouds and other thermal effects but I think they will get there soon.

There are also regional differences in the approaches to writing a METAR. E.g., clouds with a base lower than 050 are irrelevant in the terminal weather context, yet they sometimes enter METAR, and sometimes not. Similar with the VC (vicinity). It is even defined vaguely as “… between approximately 8 and 16 km from the airport …” (https://www.icao.int/safety/meteorology/amofsg/AMOFSG%20Meeting%20Material/SN%2023.pdf) :slight_smile:
All of this may make the MSFS weather in the US appear differently (i.e. the amount of the METAR caused degeneration) than in Europe, for example.

No more lightning, no more well defined storm fronts. Wind and turbulence are much improved, but still much work to be done. Hoping this still has Asobo’s attention.

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same here its annoying not seeing the lightning even in a super cell

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This sim NEEDS towering super cell T-Storms that the Canadian Prairies and American Midwest see during spring and summer. We usually call these “mothership” storm clouds in Alberta.

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Just caught at live weather thunderstorm landing at KTIX Space Coast on Floridas east side.
Real life radar shows not even a drop of rain anywhere close!

Yes. Me too.

At one time we seemed to have an over abundance of lightning. Now I never see it.

We go from one extreme to the other.

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Seems to be plenty of thunder and lightning here (Landing Challenge/Transylvania - Spotlight Event), very audible thunder rolls as well, so the thunder and lightning is most definitly still in the sim. Perhaps not just getting triggered. Unsure what the trigger conditions are for live weather to do it though, probably easier to set it up as a custom weather preset.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the weather system not showing certain things at the moment, they appear to be working on it, are very aware of the issues brought up by the community, and it’s not actually trivial to do well. It’ll happen.




Good to know…From the other side, the graphic rendition of overcasted evening is still terrible unrealistic with this orange glow everywhere.

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