Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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khain
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Joined: 5 Feb 2014, 5:42pm

Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by khain »

I can't be doing with bloated, java-script heavy weather websites and apps so created a simple text-only forecast. Loads in a few seconds on a 2g connection even in very poor reception areas and has mountain forecasts too.

http://www.tourbybike.co.uk/text-forecast/
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mjr
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by mjr »

That's very useful. Does the data you're getting include predicted wind directions/speeds? That's the main thing missing compared to my usual graphics-heavy www.timeanddate.com forecasts.
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Psamathe
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by Psamathe »

You don't say where you are getting your forecasts from (e.g. Met Office, GFS, etc.).

Your forecast pages don't say when the forecast was issued (so if things stopped working as expected you could be using a somewhat out of date forecast).

Ian
motty
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by motty »

Thanks for posting, I have bookmarked your site
khain
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by khain »

Thanks for the feedback. The forecasts come from the Met Office and are updated daily. Showing the last-update date/time is a good idea and I think that info is supplied but not in a very friendly format.

The text forecasts warn of strong winds but unfortunately the direction is often missing. I would need to load in a different dataset for that which would add a fair amount of complexity but would certainly be worthwhile.
Psamathe
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by Psamathe »

Just some (small) text at the bottom of the page e.g. "Issued by UK Met Office at 11:07".

Ian
khain
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by khain »

Psamathe wrote:Just some (small) text at the bottom of the page e.g. "Issued by UK Met Office at 11:07".

Ian


Nice one, thanks. I think I left the time out as it was given in a weird format that was hard to parse but I'll have another look at it.
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mjr
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by mjr »

Could just post whatever they give you, as long as it's not epoch seconds or something awful. Humans are fairly good parsers.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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BeeKeeper
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by BeeKeeper »

Well done - but why are you effectively restricting yourself to touring bikes? 'tis a very small audience in the Big World. A site called say "text forecast" might attract a much wider audience.
As other have said things like wind and direction would really add to the value of the site.
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simonineaston
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by simonineaston »

Excellent - thanks!
+ 1 for wind / direction.
Have popped that in my Faves, next to cycle.travel :-)
S
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Paulatic
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by Paulatic »

I think because, looking at my own area, it is so general covering such a large area it becomes useless. As I write this it is raining where I am. It is dry and cloudy 30mls away and what it's like 90mls to the east I haven't a clue. But wouldn't surprise me it was dry and sunny.
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khain
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by khain »

Paulatic wrote:I think because, looking at my own area, it is so general covering such a large area it becomes useless. As I write this it is raining where I am. It is dry and cloudy 30mls away and what it's like 90mls to the east I haven't a clue. But wouldn't surprise me it was dry and sunny.

For myself a broader area is more useful for cycle touring. 30 miles isn't that many hours cycling.

Going for more precise areas means a total (and much more complicated) rebuild since the text forecasts the met supplies are only for regions. It will also make the site navigation much more complicated and probably require some sort of search facility, or else lots of hyperlinks.

I'll have a look at adding wind direction and speed and possibly when I'm doing it a way will present itself to add more precise locations.
Psamathe
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by Psamathe »

I often find the rainfall radar more useful that a forecast for today. So after breakfast think about a cycle and check the Met Office forecast and they are saying e.g. heavy showers. So I check the rainfall radar and it is blindingly clear there are no heavy showers so I ignore the Met Office and go. Similarly if Met Office forecast e.g. cloudy but sky looks "ominous", so check rainfall radar, see the rain on it's way and stay home and watch the rain and wonder why the Met Office don't look at their own radar data !

Of course it is only any use for "today" - so not really a replacement for forecasting.

Ian
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syklist
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Re: Text Only UK Weather Forecasts

Post by syklist »

The mobile site at YR.no is pretty lightweight, perhaps worth a look. It loads quickly on my old Nokia candy bar phone (using Opera Mini). It shows wind direction and speed as well as temperature and precipitation.

For example the forecast for Scunthorpe
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