*** Windguru and Windfinder *** Wrong info???

Elf 786

Sealiner
i regulary use windfinder or guru for wind updates etc but noticed that as of late that it gives the in correct info. i no that the info cannot be accurate all the time but it just upsets me when it shows a SE of about 15-20km  blowing and u end up fishing  NW of 30??? any1 esle experince this!!!!
 

willem wikkel spies

Moderator
Staff member
Elfie

i think that sa has unique weather patterns. only take it as a indication.
thats why at st lucia, not even the sa weather is right. if it says 20 km, then expect 25 knots.

julle is mos van die kaap, die kaap van storms...............................
ss
 

TOE 007

Sealiner
thats it Henry , well Elf , i use windfinder , windguru , wavescape , and magic seeweed , i have been dissapointed in the past , what i have picked up it that either they are pretty trustworthy , or completly wrong .

If i could predict the weather and wind right i would be a millionaire .

Its a pity cause some of use travel long distances to fish , leaving just to rock up in Struis , and the wind is exactly opposite, dash it!
nowadays i fone folks that stay where ever i go fish , to ask them , but some of them are really rigting bedonnerd LOL
i check all the sites to then make a call to fish of to stay at home !
 

saber

Senior Member
it also depends how far ahead you are looking for. I find windguru quite accurate. But they're not using physical weather stations, they use US Navy satelites from what i understand. When there are cold fronts in and around cape town the weather predictions change quite often as the movement of the front effects there predictions. If your refering to this weekend, i found windguru spot on. They predicted NW for today for a while now and the wind yesturday was correct as well. But you have to keep on checking. It does update every hour.

But yes they do get it wrong sometimes.

I dont really look at swell and temperature predictions but i have heard that their swell predictions isn't really accurate for false bay beacuse they dont take into accoun the effect of the point on the running of the swells.
 

BluFlu

Sealiner
I am not saying this was the case but the issue I have found with all the weather sites is when the weather changes. If the SW shows it is blowing for a week and you are fishing say day three it is accurate. If the wind is changing from S to N then the timing is sometimes a bit off as the change happens sooner or later than predicted.

My method is hardly fool proof but I use the Ski Boat forecast on Weather SA (seems this drives all the local sites like weather24 etc) with the short term Bouyweather forecasts and then compare this with Windfinder to see what the intraday is like.
 

Cpt. Hook

Sealiner
Elf 786 wrote:
i regulary use windfinder or guru for wind updates etc but noticed that as of late that it gives the in correct info. i no that the info cannot be accurate all the time but it just upsets me when it shows a SE of about 15-20km  blowing and u end up fishing  NW of 30??? any1 esle experince this!!!!

All these reports are based on readings, trends and statisical data, often they are wrong.

I use 4 weather sites, if they all agree usually it is corrrect, if there are variances then you know to expect something else.
 

Fish4Fun

Member
The problem with weather forecasters is....that they are wrong too often to take them seriously - and right too often to ignore them!!::S
 

G.I.JOE

Senior Member
My Pa het altyd gese as ek jok gaan ek n weervoorspleller word, dit was 30 jaar terug toe weer nog min of meer voorspelbaar was....my 2 sent
 

Psy

Sealiner
lol....remember its only a forecast....so hes also guessing half the time..just his 'interpretation' of the weather "prediction"

:)
 

PatrickH

Senior Member
We have found that the combination of Windguru, Windfinder and Weather Underground have been reasonably accurate, even to the hour.

However on Saturday they got it wrong at Langebaan as the wind was supposed to be 5 knots southerly in the morning and switch to north in evening.

When we arrived at 7.00 am it was already blowing north.

But when all is said and done, they are a reasonable guide worth using

Regards

Paddy

 
 

Fanie

Sealiner
Hey Elf 786,

You could get your own ananometer and wind direction indicator. Not sure how you plan to use it, but if you throw a barometer into the mix you can pretty well predict your own weather to the nearest lamp pole. If you add a humidity meter even a better picture. None of the above is rocket science and you figure behaviour out quite quickly.
 

Pylstert

Sealiner
Windguru etc only make use of weather sattelite data,

SA Weather uses actual landbased data and is a pretty good onse stop shop for weather, it might not give you so much detail as Windguru (but that is often inaccurate in any case and a longshot)

If you want actual data, use Romanrock and http://www.iweathar.co.za/stations.php?stage=1&p_id=1

They have a station at Struis so you can see hourly updates of the weather there

Weather predictions beyond 3 days are very iffy, sometimes they are spot on, but you can not rely on them, its the "nature" of weather
 

Elf 786

Sealiner
Pylstert wrote:
Windguru etc only make use of weather sattelite data,

SA Weather uses actual landbased data and is a pretty good onse stop shop for weather, it might not give you so much detail as Windguru (but that is often inaccurate in any case and a longshot)

If you want actual data, use Romanrock and http://www.iweathar.co.za/stations.php?stage=1&p_id=1

They have a station at Struis so you can see hourly updates of the weather there

Weather predictions beyond 3 days are very iffy, sometimes they are spot on, but you can not rely on them, its the "nature" of weather
@ henry and pylstert.... THANKS
 

saber

Senior Member
what i like about windguru is that you can also be location specific ie muizenberg, stand, cape point etc.

Pylstert, didn't you say SA weather predicted NW for saturday? LOL
 

Pylstert

Sealiner
they did right at the beginning of the week but it changed to SE as the front took longer to move in. SA weather also has more locations and additional services but you have ot subscribe for that. Unfortunately the ocean info for Cape Town is not great whereas for Durban they have far more infomation. Wind Guru is amazing considering what info they have at hand and they update it more often than SA Weather site
 

saber

Senior Member
what i find amazing is the weather on the news channels are seriouslty K43#$K! I suppose they have to take a brief view of the entire day but i generally don't pay much attention. Especially when the one channel is predicting a pumping SE and the other a moderate NW which ive seen a few times LOL
 

Fanie

Sealiner
You're right about that Saber, seems they don't want to pay the weather buro and hence get a tshwanier to check out the window...
 
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