Best Weather Forecast site? Your favorite?

Wade Rivers

Wade Rivers

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I'm kinda addicted to checking the weather and trying to schedule fishing trips accordingly.

I use https://www.wunderground.com/ , NOAA https://www.weather.gov/ , and Windfinder.com

The three sites all have a different interface and present the information in different formats. I like Wunderground's Wundermap and Windfinders wind map best. However, I do find discrepencies between the three. I haven't really figured out which one is most accurate in forecasting.
 
I use Windy, Willy Weather and NOAA and search by location.
The wind is my main concern. None are perfect and the European and NAM models vary quite a bit, sometimes to the point you’d think they are forecasting for different planets.
SF
 
I use the same sites that you linked and also windy.com. I like wunderground for the 10-day trend and use weather.gov and windy for the 24 hours prior to go time.

while weather forecasts have never been more sophisticated, they still miss on a regular basis. Especially W forecasts.
 
Basic Forecasts: https://a.atmos.washington.edu/data/data.php?loc=forecasts (they are the NWS forecasts, but an easy text presentation)
Mountain Forecasts: https://nwac.us/mountain-weather-forecast/
On my phone or for satellite images: https://www.weatherbug.com/appdownload/
Wind: https://www.windy.com/ (I actually pay for the premium)

Pacific Northwest Weather Watch on youtube is also well worth a watch for his daily forecasts. More of a "general" PNW forecast, but lots of interesting info on incoming weather patterns/events

 
Noaa, Ventusky, and PNW Weather Watch are my daily spots to check. I read the Noaa forecast discussion also, and visit the UW Nw Modeling site for the HRR short term forecast (1 1/3 km WRF-GFS)
After a while, you can sort of figure out how the various weather models do for accuracy in your area and lean on those a bit more.
I spend most days outside, so weather matters.
 
I check weather forecasts an average of about twice a month I suppose. I grew up here in western WA where weather forecasting was known to be some kind of cruel joke. The weather forecast for tomorrow was whatever it was today and the preceding 2 or 3 days, until it was wrong. Then same ole, same ole. The forecast for beyond tomorrow was just a wild azz guess. Admittedly, PNW weather forecasting has improved immensely since the NWS installed more weather bouys in the ocean. But I'm still getting used to the notion that the local weather forecast might actually be accurate a lot of the time. When I was growing up, an accurate 10-day forecast was truly laughable.
 
Salmo_g said:
I check weather forecasts an average of about twice a month I suppose. I grew up here in western WA where weather forecasting was known to be some kind of cruel joke. The weather forecast for tomorrow was whatever it was today and the preceding 2 or 3 days, until it was wrong. Then same ole, same ole. The forecast for beyond tomorrow was just a wild azz guess. Admittedly, PNW weather forecasting has improved immensely since the NWS installed more weather bouys in the ocean. But I'm still getting used to the notion that the local weather forecast might actually be accurate a lot of the time. When I was growing up, an accurate 10-day forecast was truly laughable.
Click to expand...

This is me.
 
Besides windy, noaa, underground...we are lucky locally and have someone who does a great job interpreting the micro zones of The Gorge. Check out Gorge is my gym. Also good for Mt Hood reports in the Winter.
 
Windy is so awesome. Being able to scroll around a map with a wind overlay is great for helping me choose which beach to fish (or not fish). The Sound + Canal geography is big enough that wind speeds and directions can be very different at different locations, and you can see the big picture on Windy.

I just need another app called Fishy that shows me which beaches the fish are and aren’t at.
 
I look outside and generally to the south since most of the weather comes from there.. I go outside , wet my finger and stick it in the air. If my hat blows off, it is windy. If I get wet, it is raining.
 
I'm only ever concerned with wind and water conditions in regards to weather, but I use Noaa pinpoint, Windy, and recently to a lesser degree, Windfinder.

Where I work on the ocean at least it seems like Windy has been very hit or miss the last few years. For a while it was quite reliable, but I've noticed a times where it was quite a ways off in regards to wind in particular.

I've always liked the Noaa pinpoint, but last year they changed their format for reporting ocean conditions and it's kinda irritating. Instead of listing wave height and duration, as something like " W Swell 5' @ 11 seconds. Wind waves 2' or less" they now seem to lump swell and wind waves together and will just list it like "Waves 7'". I much prefer the detail of the old format and so do most people I know.

Last year we also noticed huge discrepenacies in forecasts between each users phone when we were looking. One morning in particular myself and two other captains were looking at a very questionable forecast. Myself and one of the captains thought we could make it work, but the third captain was concerned it was going to be too much. As our conversation progressed it became obvious that we were not all looking at the same forecast. Eventually we all three pulled up the Noaa pinpoint, drug the cursor to the same exact location, and we got three different forecasts. Two were similar and appeared doable, one was noticably worse and a very clear no go. If I recall, we went that day and it didn't turn out too bad. But since that morning we compared notes several other times and saw the same thing. Vastly different forecasts at the same location. Kinda frustrating.
 
Most likely an artifact of model selection, IMO.
To use any Wx Fcst to its full potential, it helps to have a good idea which model most accurately predicts the weather in the forecast area. While that sounds sorta silly, I've found the ECMWF forecasts are the most accurate in my immediate 50-mile radius, and especially good when forecasting at sub-landscape scale in several areas with problematic micro-climates.
I should also add that most models have a very high degree of uncertainty when going past 6-7 days. The forecasts I use most are 15- and 21-hr.
 
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