UKH

A new free online mountain weather service has recently been launched - and this one's a little different

Read more at http://www.ukhillwalking.com/news/item.php?id=68049

In reply to UKH News:

Just to make things clearer. Are MyWeather2.com affiliates/sponsors or partners of UKC in anyway?

In reply to The_flying_climber: No. Why?

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

metcheck have done this for years, with almost as much accuracy as you'd get from a piece of seaweed hanging by the door.

I hope the new lot are better, but it's not promising - they are claiming to be able to forecast a piece of land a few hundred meters in area, to a 3 hour time slot, 6 days in advance. Which rather suggests it's all automated.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Just seemed a little strange to positivity recommend a website if UKH admit they have no idea of its accuracy or usefulness yet. It makes it seem like a paid for plug.

The fact the only source or meteorological data is the US's worldwide network seems rather interesting, don't the Met-office already use this data in ADDITION to their extensive data collection and processing. Who has the bigger super-computer the Met-office or a small American website?

In reply to The_flying_climber: Sorry if it comes across as a plug but I'm not sure where we 'recommend' anything. We're just reporting their existence. The data question is a good one and I'm glad you've raised it.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

You raise a really interesting point about 'recommendation'. The way I have seen it;

- If a commercial company want to pay to advertise on the site that's fine BUT it does not mean it has been endorsed or recommended by UKC/UKH.

- On the other hand, If UKC/UKH choose to advertise a product/service of their own accord and independently of the manufacturer/service-provider then this can be seen as a recommendation (with the exception of the very few bad reviews published) - what would be the point otherwise?

Where does this news article fall then, its an independent review with no connection to the service-provider. You have now told me that their is no UKC/UKH recommendation and the article openly states the accuracy of their service is unknown, so I have to ask - 'what's the point?'

In reply to The_flying_climber: I don't really get what you're asking. It's not an advert. You seem to want to suggest that it's advertorial. It's not. It's just a bit of news about something that people may or may not find useful - and that's up to them to decide.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Why doesn't every launch of a new mountain weather website get a news report then?

Here are a few more ideas for slow news days:

http://www.wunderground.com/
http://www.snow-forecast.com/
http://www.winterhighland.info/
http://www.meteoalarm.eu/
http://www.accuweather.com

Again, I have no idea of the accuracy but they might be useful to someone.... somewhere

In reply to The_flying_climber: If they'd thought to contact us then we might've followed up on one or another of them too. Which is your favourite?

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Personally I have a log-in for the met office aviation services - hard work to understand without a bit of training but arguably the most complete source of weather data available in the UK. The free service is not too bad either.

Can you clarify who contacted who first? Did a member of the UKC/UKH staff spot it then send emails asking questions? It doesn't say anything about being contacted by MyWeather2 first.

In reply to The_flying_climber:
The new service is being reported all over the place, so I assume they issued a press release.

In reply to The_flying_climber: I'm slightly mystified by this level of questioning, and in the nicest possible way I'm not sure why you expect anything to be clarified. But just this once: they contacted us; I then followed up with a list of questions; their response to these are given in the article. And that's all I've time for now; news doesn't gather itself.

In reply to Toreador: Thanks, all makes sense now.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

It's called 'transparency' and is something I personally fell very strongly about.

Its sad that users are discouraged from asking the source of news articles but I really didn't mean anything offensive Dan, sorry.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

"news doesn't gather itself." - No it arrives by email.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

And sometimes you wonder why you bother no doubt! Smile and wave!


At least I for one appreciate your efforts.

Nn

In reply to UKH News:
For a first test, it's currently showing sunshine and showers for Knoydart on Saturday, and stunning weather Sunday and Monday with cloudless skies and light south-easterlies.
All other forecasts are predicting torrential rain on Saturday, and cloud/light rain Sunday and Monday, with hill fog and gale force northerlies.
Watch this space...

In reply to Toreador:
The met office forecast has moved to agree with myweather2, which has just increased its wind speeds slightly.

In reply to Toreador:
myweather2 sticking with sunshine Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday. Met Office says cloudy and wet Saturday to Monday, drier Tuesday. MWIS says cloudy and wet Saturday Sunday.

In reply to Toreador:
Same story today. At least myweather2 is sticking to its guns. Just hope it's right and everyone else is wrong!

In reply to Toreador:
The new service didn't come out very well. It consistently forecast cloudless skies with no rain - but in fact we had almost no sign of sunshine for 7 out of 9 days, with occasional light rain.
TBH pretty much what I'd expected, the new forecast is clearly done by computer, and apparently using just one model. I'll stick with the humans at MWIS and Metoffice.

reply to UKH News: used it couple of times last couple of weeks thought it was okay pretty acurate for areas i was walking. still check others as well but thought they were okay.