Cloud Free Night – new Australian weather forecast website

[wastro]

Cloud Free Night (www.cloudfreenight.com (http://www.cloudfreenight.com)) is a new weather website developed by (myself) Robert Dahni (retired Meteorologist) with advice from Phil Hart.

Cloud Free Night (Cloud Forecasts for Australian Astronomers) is a non-profit online weather forecast information service, for the benefit of the Australian amateur and professional research astronomy community. It is unique in offering a comparison of the widely available forecasts from the United States GFS global model with higher resolution forecasts from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology ACCESS model.

Cloud Free Night provides forecast maps for specific Australian regions, and forecast meteograms summarising the 72 hour forecast for particular locations. The maps allow you to toggle between the GFS and ACCESS models at any point while the meteograms (time-series graphs) present detailed cloud information or a summary comparison of the two models.

There is also a mobile-friendly interface to the Cloud Free Night forecast map (http://cloudfreenight.com/mobile/map.html) and meteogram (http://cloudfreenight.com/mobile/meteogram.html) images.

Please check it out and tell us what you think?

[ngcles]

Hi Robert,

Thanks mate, looks very useful indeed.

Best,

L.

[Bombardon]

Many thanks, Robert. It provides a much better indication of what kind of cloud we are dealing with , namely, low, middle and high and a real indication of where the wind direction is. Linking a weather pattern to not only predict if we are going to get viewing in is useful but it might help in explaining over time why we can get a freak pattern of excellent seeing.any thanks for your efforts and sharing the site.Regards, Eugene

[RobF]

Thanks so much Robert and Phil. I've felt lost in recent months without the old animated ACCESS models. Especially this time or year. ACCESS from your page showing clouds 10pm tonight, GFS all clear until much later. Will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

The amateur astro community should be very thankful.

[Phil Hart]

Just want to add my recommendation that you check this site out - Robert has put a truck load of work into it.

We can no longer view BoM ACCESS model via Lawrie Rikus' CSIRO reasearch website, so this is now the only website where you can get cloud forecast data from the Australian BoM ACCESS model.

The ability to switch between and easily compare U.S. GFS and BoM ACCESS models is a huge advantage. But don't take my word for it.. try it yourself! :)

Phil

[Exfso]

Brilliant, thanks very much :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

This is unreal! Thanks Robert & Phil. Fantastic tool. :bowdown:

[marc4darkskies]

Outstanding!! :thumbsup: Thankyou!

Cheers, Marcus

[kaizersoje]

Looks great, guys!

[RobF]

And last night shows why ACCESS is so valuable for Aussies. GFS (7Timer etc) showed Brissy clear until 3am, ACCESS clouding over after 10pm. Perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to celebrate the clouds that appeared at 10pm :lol:

[Spookyer]

Looks like could be very useful thank you

[Atmos]

I am assuming that the true weather is always going to lie somewhere between the ACCESS and GRS models :)

[RobF]

My experience over the years has been they all predict the generation and (generally) eastward drift of medium and high cloud really well.

Southeasterly onshore winds during the very humid SE QLD summer months are a roll of the dice, but ACCESS seems to have better resolution and modelling.

Agree will be interesting to see how they compare, so wise to have easier A/B swapping between GFS and ACCESS on the new site. The best situation for any extended upcoming astro session would be clear across the board for all available forecasts for sure.

[alan meehan]

This site is great thanks for the effort Robert &Phil

[HenryNZ]

Can this be extended to cover your neighbour in NZ please pretty please?

[AG Hybrid]

Thats great. Top work.

[wastro]

Cloud Free Night can include New Zealand because the Australian ACCESS model data extends just past 180E. We are currently completing a major website re-design primarily for better mobile device support. Please could you send me (rdahni@metvis.com.au) an email with your request and we can discuss how and when this could happen.

[Chris.B]

brilliant!!!!

[silversheltie]

This looks really useful - but I'm not very good at interpreting time zones for the cloud maps - how do you find the local time in Melbourne when the time is given in EDT?

[wastro]

EDT is defined as Eastern Daylight (Savings) Time (Time Zone Abbreviation) which is the current local time for Melbourne displayed on the forecast maps.

[silversheltie]

Thanks Robert, when I looked up EDT it came up with the time in the USA hence the confusion :lol:

This is a great tool, thanks for making it

[wastro]

Thanks to the advice and support of the Australian astronomy community, the Cloud Free Night (CFN) website has been completely re-designed and is available for preview at http://cloudfreenight.com/beta.html. The new CFN site interface is now optimised on both the desktop and mobile device. Feedback is most welcome. It is intended to update the current CFN website over Easter. Contributions will help cover running costs and expand the range of products available.

[Stonius]

Fantastic! Nice work!

It all make sense to me except the jetstream map. Is the dark blue good or bad? Or is it the wind speed within the blue that is important?

Markus

[sharptrack2]

I really like the beta site! Great work guys! So much easier to navigate.

[goober]

Great work, Rob. We are rolling out ACCESS APS2 at the moment. Does that impact you? I assume you are using APS1?

[multiweb]

+1 Terrific resource. All your weather needs in one location. Very neat. :thumbsup:

[peter_4059]

Really enjoying the meteogram format. Is it possible for the site to remember my location from one session to the next rather than having to keep selecting it each time?

[Mick]

Nice site but no coverage for the northern regions.

[wastro]

Jetstream represents the upper level wind and like the cloud maps, red is meant to be bad and blue is good. Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere and can adversely after seeing similar to strong low level winds.

[wastro]

Cloud Free Night currently uses the ACCESS-R APS1 model data from the Bureau of Meteorology's OPeNDAP server. When ACCESS APS2 goes operational it will "seamlessly" switch to the newer model data.

[wastro]

Please tell us what locations you would like coverage for? You are most welcome to PM/email any details...

[wastro]

Absolutely. While in the Meteogram page click on the button "Bookmark Location". Then add to home screen on mobile or to favourites bar on browser. From there on Cloud Free Night will remember you when you use the shortcut.

[Stonius]

Thanks Rob! :-)

[strongmanmike]

So far proved rather accurate :thumbsup: Nice work guys

Mike

[MortonH]

I'm confused.

When I click "Now" below the chart the text above says 1400 EDT. Above that it says NSW +003 hr.

Both numbers change if I click on the numbers below the chart to advance by 12/6/3 hours.

Am I reading this wrong?

[pdthomas23]

Morton,

The chart is for 1400 EDT.
The +003 hr means reference time plus 3 hours. This means the reference time is 1100 EDT or 0000 UT. Advancing the time by 3 hours should move the chart time to 1700 EDT, which is also Reference Time (0000 UT) +6 hrs.

Peter Thomas
Oakleigh

[MortonH]

Ah, makes sense now.

Should have said before, the site is VERY cool! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[wastro]

Cloud Free Night (www.cloudfreenight.com (http://www.cloudfreenight.com)) has been updated with a completely re-designed interface optimised on both the desktop and mobile device. Satellite (Himawari-8) imagery has also been added to complement the model forecast maps and meteograms. Feedback most welcome.

[Phil Hart]

If you've been using a GFS based forecast in the past (and there haven't been many other easy options until now) then you should see a noticeable improvement using BoM ACCESS model. Clouds still damn difficult but ACCESS much better in Australian domain than GFS for short-term forecasts.

Phil

[RobF]

The new map interface appears to only got out to +12hrs now?
Would be SO helpful to have 3 (or even 5) days out. The old animated ACCESS maps were helpful before a long trip to figure out what cloud might be blowing your way, even at lowest res.

Any chance of getting back at least 24/48/72hr buttons (or am I missing something)?

[Phil Hart]

The maps still go forward 72 hours which is the full range of the ACCESS-R (Regional) models. The 12/6/3 links at the bottom of the maps are to increment the time forward in those steps. Have another look and let us know..

Phil

[RobF]

Thanks Phil. Appreciate those pointers - not smart enough to figure that out myself :D :ashamed:

[Atmos]

I think you just need to keep pushing the hour buttons. 12hr doesn't quite mean go to +12hr but +12hr from last position.

[multiweb]

Don't even need to push buttons. Just slide the map sideways for time change or up and down for different map types. It's all under the help button with the question mark.

[RobF]

Thanks for your help too Marc.

Hang on, I thought you were a software guru - you're not saying we should actually read the instructions are you?? :D

[multiweb]

:lol: well... I did rtfm this time.

[Octane]

Sorry I'm late to the party. Just wanted to add my kudos. This is fantastic!

Now, this may seem a bit redundant, but, do you have any plans to release an actual app for iOS?

I'd pay for it. :)

H

[wastro]

The CFN website experience on a mobile device is actually quite amazing, once you have worked out all the navigation/swiping options. But, there are currently no plans to release a CFN app. You could always contribute to the running costs of the CFN service.:thanx:

[wastro]

Cloud Free Night now has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Cloud-Free-Night-459994404198839/ where updates will be posted. Feedback through this page is most welcome.