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Old November 1st 16, 08:25 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Renny[_2_]
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Default Comparing Drjack XCSkies RASP and TopMeteo - U.S. Soaring - Comments?

On Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 4:22:26 PM UTC-6, WaltWX wrote:
I am interested in hear U.S. glider pilot comments on the pros/cons of all these sites for soaring forecasts. I have used them all at one time or another and find them generally comparable. But, some like RASP and DrJack do a much better job of locating convergence zones/shear lines. Geo-referencing data and ease of use varies a lot. The biggest difficulty is that archive and looking at past forecasts makes it difficult to do inter comparisons.

Your inputs will valuable to me as I am in the process of writing an article for Soaring magazine discussing the basic of Numerical Weather Prediction and how it relates to these soaring web sites.

Walt Rogers WX


Walt,
I began using TopMeteo once I became aware of it at the SSA Greenville Convention. I signed up for a year after the promotional period and have used it for flights out of Moriarty this year. I did a lot of comparisons of the TopMeteo forecasts versus what actually "happened" at Moriarty and overall I was very pleased with the results. I like the fact that all of the data I need is on one page and I can print it out and bring it with me to review at the field prior to takeoff. Nothing is perfect, but generally the forecasts on thermal strength, flight top, winds aloft and cloud information are pretty accurate on most days. When the forecast was off it generally was not a significant variance. So, overall I am very pleased and will renew for 2017. Having used XC Skies for years, I have found TopMeteo to be a better service (at least for me) and I will probably not renew XC Skies next year.
Thanks - Renny