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Interesting SkippySky info from Andrew:
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Hi Andrew,
SkippySky is a Marvel!
I understand that SkippySky posts 3-hour interval predictions, derived from GFS info.
But how often are these updated: i.e. what is the time currency of SkippySky? (I have noted changes between AM and PM when I check, so it must be less than around 8 hours).
Cheers!
Dean
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Hi Dean,
The GFS data is updated every 6 hours, and that's what I do with SkippySky too, notwithstanding any outages with my
Telstra Bigpond service, or outages with the American GFS servers. Or my aging PC that's been on 24/7/365 for 4 years.
It barely gets through uploading one set of maps when it's time to start downloading new data!
The GFS computer weather model takes a snapshot of all the latest Met readings from
around the globe every 6 hours, and "seeds" its model of the atmosphere with those readings as a start point.
So the rolling release of 3 hourly predictions every 6 hours means that the predictions are only just ahead of real, live data.
But as we all know, chaos can start to play havoc with any prediction the further out in time you go.
Much of the cost involved in running the site is "invisible" to the Missus, but funding a new, grunty modern PC
is a bit harder to hide in the noise.
Cheers,
Andrew
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