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Posts: 12
| Was planning on getting on the water this morning but looked at todays forecast last night and decided it would be best to wake up, check it again and go from there. Long story short, I decided to stay in as the forecast had not changed. They were calling for storms all morning with an 70-90% chance of precipitation all morning, and we haven't seen a drop of rain. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather play it safe. However, I am disappointed that I did not make it out. This is the second time in two weeks that I have had this issue.
So I guess why question is which outlet do you get your weather info from? I have been using weather.com, but have had similar issues with accuweather in the past as well. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | i go to accuweather.com and look at the radar vs. reading someone's opinion. it usually tells you what's happening and what's not within the closer window. |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | I have the myRadar app. It's pretty simple to be your own meteorologist, at least precipitation wise. I defer to the "experts" for wind forecasts. Weather.com is accurate enough for that. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | try this one for wind …
http://hint.fm/wind/ |
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Location: Contrarian Island | there is a 70-90% chance meteorologists will get the forecast wrong... like Sled said, check the radar/satellite and fish when you can...a little rain won't hurt ya.. storms are one thing, but not fishing due to a chance of precip?
Edited by BNelson 10/13/2014 12:07 PM
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Posts: 70
Location: Winfield,IN | I check weather bug app, weather.com and accuweather.com before the trip and compare between them all then go anyways and pack my rain gear. I also look at the radar and make a guess if I'm going to get a storm or not. |
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Posts: 12
| BNelson - 10/13/2014 12:06 PM
there is a 70-90% chance meteorologists will get the forecast wrong... like Sled said, check the radar/satellite and fish when you can...a little rain won't hurt ya.. storms are one thing, but not fishing due to a chance of precip?
I am certainly not scared of fishing in rain, lightning however is another story.
Thanks for the replies. I do check the radar frequently, guess Il start relying on that more than forecasts. |
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Location: Sun Prairie, WI | For radar, I really like NOAA Hi Def Radar app. For forecasts, which ARE helpful to get an idea of what might be happening days in advance, I go to noaa.gov. |
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Posts: 434
Location: searchin for 50 | You actually believe the weatherman, that's a good one! I have a weather rock that I rely on. I am sure you have heard how it works before.
If its wet its raining.
If its moving around its windy.
If I can't see it it's foggy
if it has snow on it it's snowing.
Edited by Raider150 10/13/2014 1:54 PM
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Posts: 20181
Location: oswego, il | I have a weather.com and an accuweather app on my phone. Weather.com is frequently way off. Accuweather is more reliable but the app wont show wind direction only velocity for future days which is irritating. |
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| I wake up and look out the window at the tree tops and see what they are doing. That determines lake and style of fishing for the day. |
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Posts: 833
| http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=MPX&issuedby=MPX&produ...
I'm sure someone will chime in and say TMI. Well so be it.
The jargon in that discussion page is THICK. However, if you learn to read it, it will tell you what the forecast models are predicting in terms of where the weather will likely show up and when. (time of day.) My beleif is that the TV meterologist reads this and dumbs it down to a generic forecast for his entire area of viewership. The where part is the big thing. Many times a front will come in to the Twin Cities and either stay N or S. I cannot tell you how many times I've taken this information into account and enjoyed a nice overcast fishing day while another part of town was getting soaked.
I've found that the detail above does a FAR better job of predicting what is coming, of cousre it is never 100%. I also use a radar app on my phone when a nasty might be incoming. YMMV |
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Posts: 2097
| mnmusky - 10/13/2014 3:20 PM
I wake up and look out the window at the tree tops and see what they are doing. That determines lake and style of fishing for the day.
Generally in my area, it is calm as it can be first thing in the morning and the wind does not show up till later on in the morning. |
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Posts: 345
Location: Poynette WI. | depending on where your located you can download the local news station weather app. I use channel 27 near madison most of the time. I use the general forcast more for wind direction and temp. also use the radar for rain and storms. the more i use it, the better i get at reading it. it give you an idea of how fast a storm/rain is moving in and out. I also live by a river and i have found a lot of the storms coming from the west tend to start traveling up the river when they reach it. Also I've had my entire area covered in green on the radar and never felt a drop. Its not always the most accurate but if it's showing alot of colors, especially red on the radar i pay more attention. |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Minnesota. | Weather Underground....aka Wunderground. Just type in your preferred loc. Works for me.
http://www.wunderground.com
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Posts: 279
Location: Central Wisconsin | Another vote for Wunderground! I also rely on a local station for the "futurecast" prediction as far as timing of potential storms. |
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Posts: 577
Location: Germantown, WI | Weather underground or weather bug app |
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Posts: 1000
| weather underground. their wundermap is awesome and the barometric pressure forecast is very useful |
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Posts: 311
Location: Lake St.Clair | I stopped checking after the thousands of times I was lied to.
the weather rock had me laughing thank you lol. |
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Posts: 860
Location: NE Ohio | i have the 'weather channel' app, 'weather bug' app, and 'NOAA weather' app all free and loaded in my phone. i look at them all and make a decision from there. radar, pressure, and wind speed / direction is what i look at the most. |
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Posts: 7
Location: Plover, WI | Raindar is a good simple app that let's you see what is actually coming down for rain. A different perspective than just radar or satellite.
Fish the great lakes a lot and I have found Wind Alert apps forecast graph for any given location to be extremely accurate. Especially for direction and gust ranges.
Otherwise for "normal" weather weatherbug is good. Gives you a lot of hourly information out a few days. |
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Posts: 23
| wunderground, love it. |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | I believe the farther north you are the more you deal with unpredictable weather. A strong frontal system south can have spin off smaller systems that develop rapidly. Also if you are on or near big water, they can create their own weather at times. I was fed up with the forecasters getting it wrong all the time way back when. They said sunshine I would grab my rainsuit and go! I planned the exact opposite for most of one season. I kept track, and basically learned that I was wrong almost 50% of the time....about the same as the forecasters ran. |
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Posts: 20181
Location: oswego, il | Right now the weather forecast for belle river next week is night and day between weather.com and accuweather. |
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| Check out sailflow.com for wind. |
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Posts: 2752
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | My preference is NOAA - NWS radars. Besides its free! Looks like its a rainy morning up in Presque Isle, WI. I wonder where Howie is muskie fishing or is he sitting in a treestand or ground blind??
http://radar.weather.gov/
Radars for Canada Fishing ->
http://weather.gc.ca/radar/index_e.html?id=ONT
As has mentioned, learn the weather folks jargon....
Have fun!
Al
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Posts: 3790
| National Weather Service broadcast on a cheap ass 20y/o Radio Shack WeatheRadio. Tells me all I need to know to be safe on the water now and exactly how the wind will change direction and speed over the next 48 hours. Its a great little unit, the 9v battery lasts years and it gets reception anywhere in at least the northern midwest. |
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Posts: 676
Location: Wisconsin | www.weather.gov Why not use the source everyone else uses, like TV stations and weather.com.
Apps.
WX Alert USA. Takes the info from NOAA and gives you the best information of any app. Very detailed. For 3 bucks, worth every penny.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/weather-alert-usa/id314502416?mt=8
RadarScope. Best radar app hands down. Yup, nothing good is free. I can track cells, get ETA to my position, see warnings even before they are announced on TV or radio. I can even select different types of radar returns, if I want to know if the cell is rotating. Fast updates too, other apps might be on 15 minute delay.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/radarscope/id288419283?mt=8 |
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Posts: 2752
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | LOL- If you're waiting to see if a large thunderstorm cell has rotation you are taking a serious risk! All you need to know is the base reflectivity, direction and speed relative to your location. The NWS radars give you that - just click on loop. You can also zoom in on specific cells or your location.
If its moving at 30mph and is 10 miles from your location - you need to get off the water. If you don't have a smart phone, here's a couple of tips..
If you can hear the thunder its to close.....its within 10 miles of your location. Also if you listen and watch the lightning in the approaching thunder storm cell, you can tell the relative storm intensity by the time duration between the flashes/thunder - the cell recharge time is relative to the updraft/downdraft speed, its a vertical loop, not horizontal rotation. THat's the same mechanism that creates hail stones.
The tornado cell that leveled Big Flats, WI. was like a disco strobe light, I know, I watched it from Hwy 21 & County Z east of Necedah, I was ~5 miles south of the storm.
Lightning and lightning protection are one of my electrical engineering hobbies. I credit my Grandma Warner with starting my fascination with lightning, we used to sit on the front porch at the farm and watch the storms - yes we watched a couple of tornado's too. My Grandpa & Dad were not to happy with our hobby.....but we all went to the basement when ordered to do so.
Learn to use the NWS pages and Canadian pages, they are free. Why wait or rely on someone's interpretation of NWS radar data to see whats happening. You have a smart phone, be smart about using it or as Ranger suggested get NWS weather radio.....oh yeah, you are already paying for the NWS with your taxes, so I guess its not really free.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/biggest-storm/draper-text
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131023-national-geo...
Look at this image and tell me you can predict what lightning is going to do or that it alway hits the highest object.. Look in detail at what the right lightning bolt does!
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/chasing-lightning/peter-p...
Be safe, have fun!
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 10/27/2014 8:58 AM
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Posts: 676
Location: Wisconsin |
Lightning intensity isn't always a good indicator for severe storms. I look at storm rotation because I do some storm chasing and weather is a hobby.
But out on the water, I do use the apps because they are better. I will monitor storms and tracks and will determine if I need to get off the water or not. It's a better resource than the generic radar that the NOAA sites put out, which I don't know why because it is the same.
The photos below are the NOAA website zoomed down, not really great and useful. The RadarScope app photos are zoomed down, can give you ETA for cells, I can put in a range circle of my position to cells, and the fun bonus of getting velocity returns. It is a shame that the NOAA website haven't updated the radar page to allow for better information. Why guess? Even better resource is the SPC Mesoscale Analysis http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/new/viewsector.php?sector=13&parm=cbsig&underlay=1&source=1#
(2014-10-27 10.01.40.png)
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Posts: 4266
| I trust NOAA, they are accurate and have hourly updates.
I bought my last GPS/Locator because it had Sirius Weather radar included. Since many reports track a storm from city to city, in unfamiliar territory that doesn't help , so I figured radar was the best choice. Unfortunately it was installed incorrectly and when I tried to use it, it caused the external unit on the console to smoke and heat up like crazy. So I kept the NOAA weather radio and a map of the region in the boat. |
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Posts: 183
Location: Grand Forks ND | I use an app called MyCast. Not free, but I love the radar. Updates every 5-10 minutes. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Yesterday i checked the Weather Network and Acu Weather and the Environment Canada marine forecast for eastern lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River between Kingston and Prescott. All had 25KM winds with gust to 50KM with risk of morning and afternoon T storms. I canceled a trip and the winds remained relatively calm with no rain till late in the evening.
I was bummed out all day so tomorrow I'm heading down no matter what the weatherman says. |
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Posts: 45
Location: TC Metro / NW WI | Jeremy - 10/13/2014 3:48 PM
Weather Underground....aka Wunderground. Just type in your preferred loc. Works for me.
http://www.wunderground.com
+1 for wunderground.com also use weather channel app. |
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| with my wet finger |
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Posts: 559
| Authentic weather app. You get the idea what the weather is like |
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