The Chainlink

Weather app suggestions?

Is anyone aware of an (ideally free) app for current and future weather conditions including wind speed and direction (yup- I'm a regular rider of the LFT...)?

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Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on February 7, 2013 at 7:59pm

I use the Gene App. I check my outdoor thermometer and look out the window to see how much the trees are shaking and what the street looks like. I have yet to miss a bike commute due to weather.

Permalink Reply by flores on February 8, 2013 at 12:16pm

Shameless plug for a mobile web app I built when I was commuting on the CHILFT, it pulls data from a buoy on the lake and tweets with the #CHILFT lkfrnt.com

Permalink Reply by Andrew Bedno on February 8, 2013 at 12:24pm

Whoa.  That's amazing.  Exactly what this thread asked for.  Go see: http://lkfrnt.com

(@flores: You may want to use the hash tag AND the activetranslft user.  The user doesn't always use the hash tag.  You can do an or search in the rss/xml url, something like #chiftp%20OR%20from:activetranslft)

I'm gonna have to study the data buoys thing.

Permalink Reply by Mark Potts on February 8, 2013 at 1:12pm

It doesn't have to be complex, although utilizing the localized weather reports available sounds really cool, but it would be nice to have a weather report linked to each event posted.

The report can be updated as forecasts are presented, perhaps listed with a % of accuracy that gradually increases as the day grows nearer (i bet the weather services present this info)... and for WAY distant stuff averages can be presented just to give a general idea of what to expect.

It would also be nice if this info was stored for past events, just to have some data to reference in the future.

A current (animated preferably) overhead weather map of the area would be really cool too, especially if this map linked into a zoomable/world map something how google maps does it.



Melissa said:

If The Chainlink were to incorporate a feature for information on weather or road conditions, what would you want it to look like or do?  (There have been a few requests in the past.) 

Permalink Reply by Rich Svehla on February 9, 2013 at 10:27am

Here is the NOAA offshore Chicago lakefront data page, real time and 24 hour history. Wind speed and direction, wind gusts, and air temp. This reporting station rarely goes offline.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=chii2

(You multiply windspeed in knots by 1.1 to get miles per hour)

The Northerly Island data is often a 'no data' offline station but here it is too.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=cnii2

Permalink Reply by Rich Svehla on February 9, 2013 at 10:51am

And here is the nearshore marine two-day forecast.

http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/forecasts/marine/near_shore/lm/lmz...

Again, multiply windspeed in knots by 1.1 to get miles per hour. 

Chainlink might consider a lakefront weather page linked to the nearshore forecast, together with the realtime offshore data. I think NOAA has the most accurate data and most accurate lakefront forecasting.

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on February 9, 2013 at 11:15am

Hey Rich,

So I checked out your link and if I'm reading it correctly, the station location at 42.000 N 87.500 W is in Lake Michigan about 4 miles offshore from Devon Ave and the monitoring equipment is about 70 feet above the water. So that has got to be a structure visible from the lakefront, particularly if you're viewing it from a high rise building along the shore, north of Foster, but I can't see it.

Those links are really cool, thanks.



Rich Svehla said:

Here is the NOAA offshore Chicago lakefront data page, real time and 24 hour history. Wind speed and direction, wind gusts, and air temp. This reporting station rarely goes offline.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=chii2

Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on February 9, 2013 at 2:18pm

These links are awesome.  Thanks!

Rich Svehla said:

Here is the NOAA offshore Chicago lakefront data page, real time and 24 hour history. Wind speed and direction, wind gusts, and air temp. This reporting station rarely goes offline.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=chii2

(You multiply windspeed in knots by 1.1 to get miles per hour)

The Northerly Island data is often a 'no data' offline station but here it is too.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=cnii2

Permalink Reply by Andrew Bedno on February 11, 2013 at 12:12am

I scoured the above links and plotted the Chicago lakefront weather stations. There're only nine, and half of them have been out for weeks. Foster, Montrose, North, Oak, all down.

Only Waukeegan, offshore Devon, Northerly Island and Calumet were reporting.

So that may be it for lakefront.  Unless there's a dark mass of Oregon Scientific / Arduino hobbyists.

Anyone got thoughts on ground station feeds?  Google weather layer links to a dozen or so through weather.com, but I've gotta believe the root source is public.

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