
About Windy (2018) - ohmyblock
https://community.windy.com/topic/4/about-windy/6
======
yardie
I’ve been using Windyty since it’s launch. As a sailor, the visuals were
extremely critical in planning passages. Where we could plan down to the
minute of when to make course and sailplan changes.

Now we’re on land and I’ve introduced to it to my colleagues. While I can read
weatherfaxes, gribs, and navtexes it would take a full for your average
layperson to read and interpret that data. Windy makes it very easy for anyone
to conceptualize weather models and create their own predictions.

~~~
slowhand09
"Where we could plan down to the minute of when to make course and sailplan
changes."

As a racing sailor I get that you can PLAN when to do these things, but Windy
isn't giving you info from models accurate enough for this to be optimal. It
just make you feel good and the picture are pretty.

~~~
yardie
If you have wind, polars, currents, and sea states you should have a good
grasp at where you're boat will be and at what time.

Also, the closer you are to your start time the better the model. If I go
sailing in the next 30 minutes, the model is really damn accurate.

~~~
lbrindze
at ~9km resolution they may be accurate but I doubt you can plan things down
to the minute or even have any certainty of what weather conditions to expect
near shore where terrain will greatly affect the flow of 10m winds. also Windy
only works over a strong network connection so during actual passages it isn't
really that helpful (compared wx gribs which can typically be downloaded over
ham radio)

All that being said, Windy is an amazing product, and definitely a boon for
visualizing model data and making that accessible to anyone with a decent
internet connection!

source: thousands of miles of single-handed ocean sailing and I also handle wx
model data daily at my job.

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dbrgn
As a paragliding pilot, this is one of the best weather resources for me
(along with [https://meteo-parapente.com/](https://meteo-parapente.com/)).
Fantastic visualizations, fantastic data sources.

Note: Depending on your region, it might be a good idea to compare forecasts
of different weather model. GFS with its 22km resolution is not well-suited
for forecasts in the mountains, where the model may completely "overlook" an
entire (large) valley. Weather phenomena like the Föhn are also not modelled
well. ECMWF with 9km resolution is often better. In the alps, I've had good
experience with NEMS (by Meteoblue) as well as COSMO by Meteoswiss (which is
not (yet?) available on Windy).

Overview over the prediction models:
[https://community.windy.com/topic/12/what-source-of-
weather-...](https://community.windy.com/topic/12/what-source-of-weather-data-
windy-use)

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nathancahill
My go to weather app, along with Dark Sky. Can't say enough good things about
it. Constantly updated with new, useful features.

There's something to be said for a software company not taking a ton of VC
money, hiring hundreds of people, and shutting down in 3-4 years. From the
last photo they have a ~10 person team.

~~~
protomikron
It is indeed a cool project. However I am interested how they make money?
Their apps seem to have IAPs, or how does their business-model work?

~~~
drej
The project was started (and still being partly coded by) one of the most
successful Czech internet entrepreneurs, currently ~16th wealthiest Czech out
there, his fortune estimated at ~$.7bn, so this venture seems to be self
funded.

I can dig up an interview I read with him (in Czech), but I can't recall him
talking about the financial side of things. He rarely talks to the press, so
it's hard to come by this sort of information.

~~~
gitgud
That's kind of amazing. Is it common for wealthy entrepreneurs to create self-
funded projects like this?

Sounds like some kind of internet-philanthropy...

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amai
GUI-wise Windy is nice, but for a good forecast I prefer
[https://www.meteoblue.com](https://www.meteoblue.com), e.g.
[https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/multimodelense...](https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/multimodelensemble/zurich_switzerland_2657896)

Although the wind map of meteoblue looks good, too:
[https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/windmap/zurich...](https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/windmap/zurich_switzerland_2657896)

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RivieraKid
The author is also the founder and owner of a local Google-like company
(search, email, maps, media, etc.), that's where he gets the funding for
Windy.

~~~
rplnt
And their maps are far superior to Google if you are looking for a map
experience. I.e. you want to see a map, understand it, use it. With Google you
get a grey blob of nothing where you can see a plotted route and reviews for
your destination. It's useful, but very different.

~~~
Doctor_Fegg
Meanwhile, Windy's maps use OpenStreetMap data, but don't give OSM the
required attribution.

That's against OSM's licence and seriously not cool.

~~~
RivieraKid
They will fix it: [https://community.windy.com/topic/3353/map-
correction/15](https://community.windy.com/topic/3353/map-correction/15)

~~~
gapo
They have not fixed it for almost 3 years - except for a really really tiny
attribution only in web that too almost invisible. I challenge you to find it.

This is seriously not cool.

~~~
RivieraKid
They've fixed it in the web, mobile will be fixed in the new release according
to the linked comment. Maybe threaten to sue them if this is a priority for
you.

~~~
sm4rk0
They did not fix it by putting only "© OpenStreetMap".

From
[https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright/en](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright/en)

> How to credit OpenStreetMap

> We require that you use the credit “© OpenStreetMap contributors”.

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ksec
Off Topic:

I thought the forum was running on Discourse, but turns out to be something
called NodeBB, first time I heard of it, it is similar in design, and I think
it felt slightly faster / snapier than Discourse.

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GoodOldNe
Thought for a second someone had posted this on HN:
[https://fridababy.com/products/windi](https://fridababy.com/products/windi)
\- Which is a bit of a hack in itself, and one that I'm sure would have
generated some interesting responses.

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cmos
We use this website in oceanography to understand what kind of weather
conditions our buoys are in. Off the coast of greenland this is helpful to
shunt the wind turbines in extreme wind - not because they can't handle the
wind, but because the waves crash on the spinning blades and shatter them.

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chrismckleroy
Love Windy. Use it for surf condition predictions. Better than Surfline!

~~~
wobblegong
same, Surfline doesn't have _all_ the spots ;)

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Pigo
Man, the performance is pretty incredible considering what all it's doing. I'm
going to try it out on some other devices.

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puranjay
This is just about the most perfect marriage of domain and website I've ever
seen.

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bujak3000
Its a tragedy they dropped 3D view. Makes it pretty useless for the area
around poles

~~~
dmos62
Do you look up predictions a lot of those areas?

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classified
Very nice. And the name actually fits, which is a rarity in itself.

