While waiting for my customization, I’ve been running the Atalanta forecast using the auto run (with my location and station data) I haven’t used the complete manual runs (sorry Tom) and don’t or can’t get the idea of what exactally is automatic. Basically I believe I only have to input the READY data and all else is done automagically. Is that the extent of needed input or have I missed the big picture?
–Dave
Dave you have the basic idea once you have the ready data, which unfortunately cannot be automated, you can set WXSim to create forecasts as often as you like with all the other data being automatically gathered by WXSimate. The ready data probably only needs to be obtained once per day, although for more accuracy you could do it every 6 or 12 hours dependant on the update frequency of that data you select.
I understand the ready data is now only available manually because people were gathering the data far too frequently for them to cope. Pity it gets spoilt by over use like that. I dont know any more about it, or whether anyoen has suggested that they perhaps allow some kind of registration which could allow the data to be collected (or sent) once every say 12 hours which would help enormously with something like WXSim.
Stuart
Yes, I found out about the ready data. Have to enter a series of letters to get access.
Any idea how of the break point in running an auto forecast? The auto feature allows up to once per hour. Is once an hour too much, once a day not enough, morning and evening? Just trying to get an idea of what others are doing.
–Dave
Dave this is such a complex program that I am only a beginner… anyway currently I am running my forecast once a day and at the moment manually to see what tweaks I may or may not need and how the different settings affect the result.
Stuart
I’ve run it hourly on several occasions to see how it would do, but that was on my laptop. I don’t think “breaking” is an issue. I’ll soon begin running on my WD machine and plan on an early morning forecast, another in the morning once the solar sensor has provided info, then again in the early afternoon because I think I remember the documentation saying that’s the best time. I wonder when all the various weather service data are updated and if that might be a factor? - Jim
Thanks, Jim. Just got my files from Tom and can’t wait to see how well it will perform. I’ll most likely will run one each hour to see the difference.
–Dave
Hi everybody,
Just a quick post here …
My reason for making the auto run no more than once per hour is that the supporting surface data (METAR) is usually available only once per hour. I recommend running it based on data near the top of the hour.
Regarding manual versus auto runs, I believe I will always urge users to learn it manually first, though I don’t know how to make anybody do that! 
I think you really have to in order to understand (at least partly) what the program is actually doing, and what data it’s using. Once you’ve gotten used to it manually, you can leave various settings how you want them and the auto runs can do the bulk of the work for you.
By the way, I’m alternating between filling a few orders I’ve gotten recently (thanks!) and development of this new version. Today has mostly been development. In particular I’ve been working on the precipitation probablility rouitnes. Before, WXSIM made a somewhat crude computation based on cloud cover, pressure, stability, etc. Now I’m factoring in (heavily) the amount of precipitation suggested by FOUS and/or READY (or even whatever you might click on the Interrupt Planner). I studied up to 20 years of data for five cities with widely varying climates to come up with a function with precipitation probablilty as an output and amount of model precipitation and temperature as inputs. Generally, the more rain is forecast, the more likely it is to happen at all, but for a given amount of rain, the probability goes down somewhat with increasing temperature. Anyway, I’m now starting to work this into that text output.
More soon!
Tom