Zambretti Forecaster

Has anyone ever seen/used a Zambretti Forecaster? See pic below…

I’ve just got hold of one of these for a few pounds just for a bit of fun to see how well it works. You set the atmospheric pressure and wind direction and then look in one of three windows on the middle dial depending on whether the pressure is rising, falling or steady. That gives you a letter code, which you look up on the back of the forecaster to find out the weather.

The blurb with it suggests that it gives a correct forecast around 90% of the time. The one I have is only for the northern hemisphere, but I guess someone probably makes one for ‘down south’.

I’ve also just got hold of a 1909 book called ‘Weather Forecasting’ which will make interesting reading. I wonder if forecasting has changed much since then?

That’s interesting, according to this (well locked down) website http://www.temeraire.co.uk/Catalog%20pages/22.htm it’s at least 91% accurate. Be interesting to see how it works for you.

The blurb with it suggests that it gives a correct forecast around 90% of the time.

Of course, they could be defining forcast as what will happen 15 min from now. Most people could do that!!!

That's interesting, according to this (well locked down) website [http://www.temeraire.co.uk/Catalog%20pages/22.htm](http://www.temeraire.co.uk/Catalog%20pages/22.htm) it's at least 91% accurate. Be interesting to see how it works for you.

That’s where it came from, although it didn’t cost me that much :wink:

Of course, they could be defining forcast as what will happen 15 min from now. Most people could do that!!!

The forecast is for the next 12 hours.

After a very unscientific test so far (two forecasts) it’s proving pretty accurate. It wasn’t raining last night and it showed ‘Fairly fine, poss early showers’. It’s raining as I type!

This morning it shows something between ‘Fairly fine, showers likely’ or ‘Showery, bright intervals’. Whilst it is raining, it’s showery as opposed to persistent.

Negretti & Zambra were very well known barometer makers (and I think other scientific instruments) from the early 1900’s.

That's interesting, according to this (well locked down) website [http://www.temeraire.co.uk/Catalog%20pages/22.htm](http://www.temeraire.co.uk/Catalog%20pages/22.htm) it's at least 91% accurate. Be interesting to see how it works for you.

That’s where it came from, although it didn’t cost me that much :wink:

I guessed that, it was the only reference I could find.

Make a cool java app if you reverse engineered it
:smiley:

I understand that the forecaster in the Davis Vantage Pro uses a variation of this algorithym for its forecast…

Tom

[quote=“administrator”]Has anyone ever seen/used a Zambretti Forecaster? See pic below…
quote]

I understand that the forecaster in the Davis Vantage Pro uses a variation of this algorithym for its forecast...

Have you seen the algorithm described anywhere? The disk has proved pretty accurate so far and it would be interesting to use the algorithm with data from WD to do a more scientific comparison of its accuracy.

Sorry I’m late. I just picked up this thread. I wrote a java app for this. Is anyone interested in it? I’m happy to share the source.

My mind is brimming with possibilities…can Java read from a MySQL database? If so, could your app pick up data from the (beta) MySQL database that WD can now create? If so, the app would be a neat addition to a web site that had WD data stored behind it in a database!

By the way…hello from 29-ish miles away!

Ha. A fine question. Not familiar with MySQL. I’m sure it can. I have the java app rigged up to read from (and update) a text file, so we could perhaps get MySQL to give out a text report?

Getting any rain? We’re waiting for a thunderstorm to test our new lightning detector.

Could it read the info it needs from the WD clientraw.txt file? There’s much more info than it needs, but I think you should find the info you need in that file.

Rain…none measurable in the last 24 hours. There was some rain briefly yesterday evening, but not heavy or prolonged, i.e. less than 1mm. Have you bought the detector or built it yourself?

Getting any rain? We're waiting for a thunderstorm to test our new lightning detector.

I bet it triggered a few times this evening! I was just going to say I can still hear it rumbling on, but I think they’re doing some Eurofighter test flights this evening. I hope the plane is waterproof!

I can’t find clientraw.txt. Do you have to do something to get it created? If the data’s in there, it should be possible to get it out.

We certainly have had some rain this evening, and I can confirm that the lightning detector works fine! We got a Hobby Board one, made up, and adapted it as recommended by Zeppline.

Yes, Eurofighter’s been around. They just brought 3 back from the Singapore air show. If they’re flying tonight they’d better be lightning proof!

but I think they're doing some Eurofighter test flights this evening. I hope the plane is waterproof!
Back when I lived on a hilltop in the UK we had a problem of being scared witless by fighter aircraft that were apparently using our hilltop as a marker to turn during very low altitude flying exercises. We had a public meeting with a bunch of government folks and the RAF during which someone happened to remark "Seems to happen mostly on nice days when you are out in the garden" to which the response was "Well, that's probably true, we can't fly in the rain" 8O

So the moral is: if you want to have a war, do it in the rain. (Oh, but the other side probably can’t fly in the rain either…)

Go to Setup | Control Panel | Web files/web page Real time FTP/SVG | third tab and you can turn on the creation/upload of the clientraw.txt file there.

I’ll have to investigate Hobby Boards. I hadn’t seen them before but they do have a few interesting items.

[quote=“nikoshepherd”]

Well, that’s probably true, we can’t fly in the rain" 8O
Lets see, if the Nazis had that logic, that could be why they lost the battle of britian :lol: to much rain in the UK to attack

Go to Setup | Control Panel | Web files/web page Real time FTP/SVG | third tab and you can turn on the creation/upload of the clientraw.txt file there.
I've had a look at that page, and it's rather cryptic. Can I just create clientraw without turning on the upload app? I've found the description of the file, but I'd like to see an example as well.

OK, got it. I’ll have a look over the weekend.