The Aviator's Weather Thread

[Dave Homewood]

This thread is for aviators who want to check weather online.

Feel free to add other useful weather links:

Ardmore Weather (link originally supplied by SimonG)
www.weatherpix.co.nz

North Shore Aerodrome, Dairy Flat Weather (link supplied by Stu)
www.nsacmet.co.nz/

[flyjoe180]

Masterton (Hood) Aerdrome Weather Cam and graphs

www.glidingstuff.co.nz/weather.html

[flyjoe180]

Wellington Airport Summary:

weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/NZWN.html

[flyjoe180]

Airways NZ Internet Flight Information Service (IFIS). Register as a user. Contains pre-flight information and flight planning service for operations within the New Zealand Flight Information Region.

www.ifis.airways.co.nz/


MetFlight GA Designed and produced only for use by pilots, flying clubs and flight training organisations conducting VFR or IFR recreational or training flights, at or Below 10,000ft in New Zealand. For pilots holding a Part 61 licence (PPL, CPL etc), use your licence number as the username. Password is the date of initial issue of your licence (on rear of licence).

metflight.metra.co.nz/MetFlight.php

[flyjoe180]

MetVUW Provides a seven day forecast and information using satellite imagery, weather radar, upper air data, forecast charts, as well as ocean weather.

www.metvuw.com/

[greaneyr]

Paraparaumu AWIB screenshot (updated every minute)

www.aerodrome.co.nz/jpg_pp/paraparam_awib_image.htm

[7gcbcpilot]

Most mobile phones allow internet access so if you are interested TAF/METAR/Rain Radar from MetFlight, Rain Radar from NZ Met Service and observed conditions at Ardmore and North Shore on your mobile phone then try out www.avmet.co.nz.

Avmet was started in mid-2007 because I wanted to know it was worth visiting Ardmore on the way home from the city and it has grown from there.

The site is designed specially for mobile phone users, no clutter..... just the info you need. Your plan may vary but data costs are in the region of a few cents to get TAF/METAR and observed weather. Rain Radar is a little more so don't got mad until you have seen your first months bill and know what Telecom or Vodafone want to charge you.

Planning to add GA WX and Area Forecasts by the end of Feb 2008 and always looking for additional services to include.

[Dave Homewood]

This has been recommended by a few members as the best long range 5-7 day forecast website in NZ
www.metvuw.com

[flyjoe180]

See four posts up Dave It is a very good site, lots of my friends use it for fishing and sailing as well as for flying.

[philip]

Something else that can be handy
www.coastguard.org.nz/nowcasting_site_info.html

From their site

<sup>A weather forecast is a MUST each and every time you plan your boating, and again before you leave the ramp or mooring.

Imagine how in valuable it would be to KNOW the actual wind peak and average speed and direction at seven different strategic locations around the Northern Region:

Tiritiri Matangi Island
Bean Rock
Tamaki Strait (Passage Rock)
Channel Island
Manukau Heads
South Kaipara Head
Tutukaka
* New sites are planned for the northern and west coasts and will be progressively added to the Nowcasting system.

Every minute this information is updated and broadcast continuously along with the latest weather forecast and tides on VHF Channel 21 (Waitemata and Manukau Harbours, inner Hauraki Gulf) Channel 20 (outer Hauraki Gulf), Channel 22 (West Coast - Kawhia to Manukau Heads) and Channel 23 (West Coast - Kaipara).

Coastguard Northern region members can have this information text messaged to their cellphone at no charge*.

Please fill in the form below to request this service. Please note you must register your cellphone number to receive the messages back at no charge. Allow 2 working days for registration. Other cellphone numbers can also use the system, but they are charged 99c for every data message sent back.

* first 50 data returns per annum are complimentary to Coastguard Northern Region Members. Thereafter each access attracts a fee of 99 cents.</sup>

Quite handy even if you aren't a coastguard member to check on windspeed and direction even whilst you're up in the air. Just text A to 9463

[Bruce]

It may be of interest to aviators (especially recreational pilots I guess) that the NZ Aviation federation (a lobby group representing SAA, AOPA, RNZAC and others) has succesfully lobbied Metservice to provide avition weather reports in plain language and local time. This has been a hard fought battle, however the federation firmly believed that the translation of the various IATA standard weather codes was a safety issue for recreational pilots who may not fly often enough to intuitively and accurately interpret them. As of later this year, the when obataining Metservice aviation reports, there will be an option to translate them directly into (standardised) plain language similiar to that spoken by most NZ humans.

[Dave Homewood]

Seems a good idea. A lot of pilots in NZ don't even speak normal English as a first language these days so it must be even more difficult to decipher technical jargon.

[haughtney1]

aviationweather.gov/

Its a US site, but gives TAFs and Metars for all over the globe, including NZ in decoded form for those out of practise :-)
It also allows you to view satellite wx imagery for the entire globe...I use it when ever I'm launching off across timezones.

[baz62]

Aug 11, 2009 21:22:51 GMT 12 Bruce said:

It may be of interest to aviators (especially recreational pilots I guess) that the NZ Aviation federation (a lobby group representing SAA, AOPA, RNZAC and others) has succesfully lobbied Metservice to provide avition weather reports in plain language and local time. This has been a hard fought battle, however the federation firmly believed that the translation of the various IATA standard weather codes was a safety issue for recreational pilots who may not fly often enough to intuitively and accurately interpret them. As of later this year, the when obataining Metservice aviation reports, there will be an option to translate them directly into (standardised) plain language similiar to that spoken by most NZ humans.

Thats great news as I hardly used the service as I mainly did local flights but it was a mission to "translate" the codes into something I understood! Being safety conscious ie: a scaredy cat I always compared my take on things with an instructor. ;D

[alias]

Check out www.pemet.co.nz/ no login required, just click login bar.

[alias]

I just altered the link, it works now.
No complaints though so I guess not many people tried to have a look..

[DragonflyDH90]

Ive been using it already, its great.

[flyjoe180]

That's great alias, I like the use of the red for heavy and yellow for moderate.

[beagle]

I just look out the window, yep, it's raining, back to the forum.

[rural53]

The Australian airfield weather cams project has been extended to New Zealand, myairportcams.com/ There are nine sites in New Zealand, Kerikeri, Russell, Ardmore, Tauranga, Rotorua, Ashburton, Alexandra, Bannockburn and Balfour.