Upper air winds forecasting (GFS?)

Hello,

I’ve been investigating about this for a long time now. I’m looking for a way to retrieve upper air wind data (or forecast) in order to measure the effect of upper air wind in a flight.

For instance, if I plan for a flight from Lisbon, Portugal (LPPT) to Miami, Florida (KMIA), the winds over the typical route will be mainly 270 degrees at 60 or more knots, depending on the weather.

Now what I need is a way to get the estimated winds at different flight levels (36000ft, 38000ft…) in order to calculate the delay or not in a flight. This can influence a flight in quite a few minutes one way or the other. Typically from Europe to the US it takes longer since winds are blowing opposite direction while the other way round it’s mainly tailwind which “helps” the aircraft gain airspeed.

I found out the NOMADS website and the GFS forecast model. Now the only thing I need is a way to retrieve partial data, say for a latitude/longitude (or nearby) so that I can get the necessary data. In the end I wold be generating something like:

At 36000ft over 36N020W, winds are 270/63
At 36000ft over 37N030W, winds are 255/56

With all this wind information I could then interpolate and calculate the wind factor and estimate the duration of the flight with a much better precision.

If anyone can help me on this I would very much appreciate it. In summary, what I need is the raw/text data itself, not graphs, charts or images.

Thanks,
Miguel

Your local flight service can provide this data at an briefing. I do it here all the time when planning long distances flights

John

I’m talking about virtual flights on VATSIM, not real-life flights. However, they require the best briefing as in real life. Which is why I need the accurate winds :slight_smile:

Try GFS soundings from ARL READY Program: http://ready.arl.noaa.gov/READYcmet.php

Been to this site already and it is exactly what I need. However, it requires a captcha, while I need to get this via script/programmed in a controlled way.

Also, I don’t want to have to rely on someone else’s website and use their resources. I can get the data myself, parse it and use as I wish. The main issue here is:

a) where is the data?
b) how can I get just a small portion of what I need? (only need upper air winds, not anything else)