What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Weather programs

sirlegin

Well Known Member
Both of these programs are good but which is the most accurate: Weathermeister or Weatherspork?
Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
I've never used Weathermeister so can't comment on it but I do use WeatherSpork and fly IFR quite a bit. WeatherSpork has been very accurate for me and has never let me down.
 
Like both

I like them both but recently have been using weatherspork more , I like the way the data is integrated and in particular the visual profile and gridded data views with the departure time sliders.

Just used weatherspork last week to pick departure time for Petit Jean and used the slider to determine the best time to find a gap in the weather and leave Tulsa, worked pretty well.

All the data is on the government aviation site for free but the integrated views are worth the subscriptions, I will probably keep them both as weathermeister is good for long trips.
YMMV
Figs
 
I like WeatherSpork. I have had Weather24Pilot for several years, but found I had to relearn how to use it every time I needed it. WeatherSpork is much more intuitive. YMMV
 
Weatherspork

I've only used Weatherspork, but have found it to be pretty accurate. I really like the profile depiction of your route since it predicts visibility and conditions at particular altitudes and times. John
 
I’ve never used Weatherspork, so I can’t give you any kind of comparison, but I’ve been using Weathermeister since it was new - probably over a dozen years, and it has always served me well.

Your question regarding accuracy - all of the weather services I know of use government data - they just display it in different forms, so the accuracy should be the same in all cases. Teh way the data is displayed will vary, but not the content.

Paul
 
A possible alternative

As Paul said, all the main sites use data provided by National Weather Service. Windy lets you actually change models. You can choose to look at output from any of the three main models, NAM, ECMWF, or GFS. Nice visualization tools as well. Here is the cloud base view which is useful if worried about VFR clouds.
 
I've been using windy.com more often in addition to weathermeister.
I like that you can switch between different forecast models and get and idea of the variability in the forecast.
If they all agree then there's a good chance it'll be right!
 
I used both regularly. WeatherSpork is great for cross country planning. I like that it assists in identification of different departure times that may have better weather along your route. I also like that it shows you the various altitudes that you may experience IMC. The last two years it?s allowed me to fly it almost vfr conditions to OSH the entire route while on an IFR flight plan.

The issue with WeatherSpork is that it primarily features larger airports. It doesn?t have all the data for smaller airports. I think this is an area where Weathermeister shines.

Like others have stated, it?s not about accuracy. It?s more about data presentation that allows you to make more informed decisions. Like I said, I use both regularly.
 
For me, the Weatherspork route-grid with departure time slider, and profile views make it a killer app.
 
Like Paul, we've been using Weathermeister for 12yrs. It is our main go-to tool.
 
The issue with WeatherSpork is that it primarily features larger airports. It doesn’t have all the data for smaller airports. I think this is an area where Weathermeister shines.

Bob,

When you say that Weathermeister shines because it has "data" for smaller airports, what do you mean specifically? That is has aviation-specific forecasts (like ceiling, surface visibility and wind) for these smaller airports? Or are you talking about surface observations (METARs) for these smaller airports?
 
Bob,

When you say that Weathermeister shines because it has "data" for smaller airports, what do you mean specifically? That is has aviation-specific forecasts (like ceiling, surface visibility and wind) for these smaller airports? Or are you talking about surface observations (METARs) for these smaller airports?

Because I can easily see metars for uncontrolled airports along with tafs for nearby larger airports.

When i enter waypoints for a flight plans into WeatherSpork, the route and airport profiles will show no data for waypoints that may be smaller unit rolled airports.

For longer flight plans and attempting to predict the future, I understand why airports that have more forecast data is used. The majority of my flights are 1-2 hours with a departure within the hour. I find that Waethermeister gives me a quicker picture faster.

There?s no question that WeatherSpork is better for long cross country planning in my opinion.
 
WEathermeister

I used to use Weathermeister but, probably just bad timing, it didn't work around the time that I was going to renew. With all of the positive comments about WeatherSporx, I switched. Along with NavMonster, Weathersporx gives me a lot of great weather information.
 
I have used weathermeister for about a decade and when windy came around started using that as well. Now I use windy almost exclusively because 1) it offers multiple models (as already mentioned), 2) it has a lot more Canadian information (which weathermeister doesn't provide) and 3) it's free (though one can make a donation). Will probably be dropping my weathermeister subscription this year.
 
I've used weathermeister since it came out, and really like it.

Started using weatherspork this year.

I now use both, and find the combo perfect for long trip planning. I've flown the -10 to KAEJ from Indy VFR four times since June this year, along with multiple other VFR trips in the midwest.

Weatherspork has great graphical depictions, and good high level overview of trip planning. Weathermeister gets me a lot more of the little details (good winds aloft, TAFs and METARs along the way, fuel prices, etc).
 
I have used weathermeister for about a decade and when windy came around started using that as well. Now I use windy almost exclusively because 1) it offers multiple models (as already mentioned), 2) it has a lot more Canadian information (which weathermeister doesn't provide) and 3) it's free (though one can make a donation). Will probably be dropping my weathermeister subscription this year.

Thanks for the replies. I have been using Weathermeister since 2011. I really like the Weatherspork sliding capability for time of departure etc. I have looked into Windy.com and find it very useful for cloud bases etc so I think I may incorporate these 2 in the future. Windy.com is also free and accepts donations.
 
Because I can easily see metars for uncontrolled airports along with tafs for nearby larger airports.

Bob,

Hmmm? WeatherSpork does provide METARs all along your route and forecasts for larger and medium size (uncontrolled) airports (more airports than you'll get with TAFs only).

When i enter waypoints for a flight plans into WeatherSpork, the route and airport profiles will show no data for waypoints that may be smaller unit rolled airports.

If you are looking at the weather for the future (a forecast), it will definitely provide all the airports covered by TAFs, plus another 1200 smaller uncontrolled and controlled airports where the forecast is updated hourly.

The majority of my flights are 1-2 hours with a departure within the hour. I find that Weathermeister gives me a quicker picture faster.

Understand, but WeatherSpork provides all of the METARs along that short route, plus it covers forecasts for all of the airports that have a TAF plus many more smaller (uncontrolled) airports that don't have a TAF. And the forecasts are updated hourly. Seems like this is actually better than Weathermeister.
 
Back
Top