Winter Cycling - Don't listen to the weather report on local news!

It has been my experience that listening or watching the local weather report can create a problem for a cyclist who is riding in the winter.:( The local weather people are not happy unless they make the audience unhappy about the cold 40 degree winter. Compared to last year when the weather was in the teens or worse, this winter has been mild. It is not that cold!:notamused: The best thing to do is to keep a journal. Record the temps and how you felt with the amount of clothes you wore that day. Do Not Pay Attention to the local weather report.

With all of the great weather sites online these days, I can't imagine why anyone would rely on a TV weather nitwit. I mean, if you need a talking head (chosen for looks over knowledge) to tell you to "bundle up" when it's 15 degrees and blowing 30 mph from the north, there isn't much hope for ya.

Particularly TV weather.. They might tell you one thing; then, you look out the window and its doing exactly the opposite.. What I trust the most. Click on the US Weather Bureau. Bring up their live radar site.. That I think I can trust..

The noaa.gov Hourly Weather Forecast is usually quite accurate for temperatures. The precipitation forecast can be way off at times, but at least I see an estimate of when the rain will arrive, and how heavy it should be.

The page graphs temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation percentages and amounts, and more. Hover over an hour column, and it shows the numbers for that hour at the bottom of the page.

Here's an example for Chicago (http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=41.83700&lon=-87.68500&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical).

I care about two things, weather-wise. (1) What's the temperature now, and forecast at the end of a long ride? Need those to dress properly. (2) What's the weather radar look like? Green precipitation and cool, add rain jacket. Yellow coming, ride fast or defer. Blue, there's going to be idiots sliding around in SUVs, red or purple, hunker down.

NOAA or classic.wunderground.com provide them quickly and easily, without needing to watch commercials for insurance, cars, trucks, and wannabes for every elected office for the next eight months.

usairnet.com/[your city] is the only one I'd trust. Accurate and frequently updated with particular atttention paid to precipitation, wind speed and direction, humidity and dew point.

Google "Pilot weather report [your city]" to get there.

Montreal weather is so variable that it can be sunny on one side of the island and rainy on the other. Personally I find the most accurate way to acess things is still to just look out the window!

They call them "weather terrorists" around here. Always sounding the alarm and predicting the worst possible outcomes for any day. Insane and always way off. And lately they gone to this "feels like" temperature instead of the actual temp and wind speed. WTF? This is all for the "benefit" of most people who barely set foot outside here in the winter.

I hate them all, and ignore them for the most part. I use phone apps, they work great.

They call them "weather terrorists" around here. Always sounding the alarm and predicting the worst possible outcomes for any day. Insane and always way off. And lately they gone to this "feels like" temperature instead of the actual temp and wind speed. WTF? This is all for the "benefit" of most people who barely set foot outside here in the winter.

I hate them all, and ignore them for the most part. I use phone apps, they work great.
LOL Politicians and weather people seem to be all about keeping a straight face while promising things they have absolutely no control over. I wonder if there's special training for that.

I think the tv weather plays games with your head. They get into your head to scare you. I hate tv weather.

Yep, every gust of wind a hurricane every snowflake a blizzard... exciting if you never leave the couch.

In Southern California, they put the camera down in the gutter to make a little running water into a storm.

But they don't have much weather to work with...

Local on TV is 150 miles inland.. I go by NOAA. weather.gov, it is using local sensors..

WEATHER ALERT
-----------------

Got your attention, didn't I?

Yes, there is a bit of sensationalism involved in weather nowadays, isn't there?

And it's trickled down into public conscience too- school districts all over the country, even in traditional snow country, cancel classes at the merest hint of severe weather. It's an object of ridicule among the locals here.


My opinion, even if the weather forecaster is not a fearmonger, is that not many television weatherpeople are really in tune with the weather. Locally here, the 'forecast' from all the press and etc are snow several times this week. Fine,

but right now NOAA shows stagnant high pressure building across much of the US this week,

NOAA 7 day graphical forecast loop -EXCELLENT WEATHER TOOL (http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/day0-7loop.html)


maybe a little brush of a low pressure system midweek that will dress the upper great lakes and new england Wed/thurs; not a lot of snow is going to come according to MY forecast based on NOAA's predicted models, but the weather 'report' is for snow several times.

and the townsfolk are all talking about the upcoming snow.....it's wierd.

Its weird. The more time I spend outside the less concerned I am with weather reports. I think it is because I adopt a "be prepared for anything the season will dish out" attitude. If I underdress, there's extra layers in my panniers. If I overdress, there's extra room in my panniers. If it rains - there's rain gear in my panniers.

I've noticed the same thing camping - just develop the habit of keeping camp ready for wind and fould weather and the only weather report you need is a glance at the western sky.

I guess if you know you're going to be stuck in the elements what difference does a weather report make?

Its weird. The more time I spend outside the less concerned I am with weather reports. I think it is because I adopt a "be prepared for anything the season will dish out" attitude. If I underdress, there's extra layers in my panniers. If I overdress, there's extra room in my panniers. If it rains - there's rain gear in my panniers.

I've noticed the same thing camping - just develop the habit of keeping camp ready for wind and fould weather and the only weather report you need is a glance at the western sky.

I guess if you know you're going to be stuck in the elements what difference does a weather report make?

+1

here is the ultimate hour by hour forecast:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?w0=t&w2=wc&w3=sfcwind&w3u=1&w8=rain&w9=snow&AheadHour=0&Submit=Submit&FcstType=graphical&textField1=42.21670&textField2=-71.21670&site=all&unit=0&dd=0&bw=0

just change to your city

...
school districts all over the country, even in traditional snow country, cancel classes at the merest hint of severe weather
...


What country are you in?

What country are you in?

The northern tier of the US.

Where i live, over 70 school districts closed Jan 22 due to COLD, not extreme conditions, and even the University cancelled classes due to cold, not a storm. it looks bluebird out there right now, but no classes across the region.

softies.

People have been killed when they relied on a weather forecast and it turned out that the weather was much more severe. It's a sue-happy country. And nobody wants that on their conscience, either.

And as others have pointed out, fear sells. Fear this, fear that. Better stay home and watch TV. You can't get your "I'm an American" merit badge unless you watch TV and know what to buy now. You'd be letting your country down otherwise.

Be that as it may, I've found NOAA to be quite accurate, if also a bit on the conservative side. I don't mind conservative. It's good to be prepared. I certainly do pay attention to the weather before I plan a bike ride. No black ice for this boy. One injury can spoil your whole season. On tour in this country, I even take a weather radio. Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.

Keep the rubber side down.

The northern tier of the US.

Where i live, over 70 school districts closed Jan 22 due to COLD, not extreme conditions, and even the University cancelled classes due to cold, not a storm. it looks bluebird out there right now, but no classes across the region.

softies.
Cold *is* an extreme condition. In fact, it's the only extreme condition that will guarantee school closure around here.

Calgary is likely to close schools below -35 C. At those temperatures, a late bus could mean frostbitten kids waiting at the bus stop. Last year at about this time, a few schools in the area were closed during our cold snap. It was "only" -32, but with a wind chill that made it feel like -50. I worked from home. Cold ain't nothing to mess with.

I always listen to the radio weather forecast in the morning as I'm waking up. I usually double check against Environment Canada, but CBC is a pretty reliable source. They also tell us what the temperature is like at the CBC building (about 2 km from my house) as well as at the airport (more like 20 km), which can be a decent difference. Also, our temperature has been known to change by 10 degrees in an hour, so since moving here I've started checking the weather compulsively.

Finally, hail is terrifying. If there's the slightest chance of a hailstorm, I'm not biking.

I'm going to advance a theory about the human condition - societies must fear something -

if it's not the lions, the huns, poverty, or the russians, we turn to fearing what 'threatens' us all - the weather outside the door.

Is this thread a joke? :lol:

I've lived all over the country over the past 50 years, and with the exception of the six years I lived in Las Vegas, where ten months of the year weather forcasts were exactly the same day in and day out with the exception of the actual high and low temps, I was usually better off looking at the radar/doppler myself rather than listening to the local "meteorologist". But for at least the past 10-15 years, with the improved doppler radar, advanced computer weather modeling, and almost every local weather report taking its feed from national sources like NOAA, I would say that today's predictions are very accurate for the most part and I will happily plan my day with confidence using their forecasts. Long gone are the days whe "Bob" and "Ted" took their best guess.

Sure the National Weather Service (NOAA) misses the highs and lows by a few degrees periodically, and they sometime predict rain or snow that never occurs or comes in a bit lighter or heavier than predicted, but anyone who still harps about the inaccuracy of todays weather forcasts is simply too young to remember when the science didn't exist to make accurate projections, or not they are not paying attention to the currently broadcast reports. Maybe its time to clear off the DVR and listen to actual live braodcasts.....

ive come to rely on weatherspark.com for everything

shows everything from wind speed to dew point in a nice and neat graph, with various types of radar as well

uses multiple data from NOAA and others and ive found it to be incredibly accurate