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John Cochrane[_2_]
April 1st 11, 04:20 PM
Blipmaps show up upside down after upgrading to firefox 4. Has anyone
seen and solved this problem?
Thanks
John Cochrane

Tony[_5_]
April 1st 11, 04:27 PM
On Apr 1, 10:20*am, John Cochrane >
wrote:
> Blipmaps show up upside down after upgrading to firefox 4. Has anyone
> seen and solved this problem?
> Thanks
> John Cochrane

every year on April 1. Very annoying if you're actually interested in
the soaring forecast for the day.

Bob
April 1st 11, 04:28 PM
On Apr 1, 8:20*am, John Cochrane >
wrote:
> Blipmaps show up upside down after upgrading to firefox 4. Has anyone
> seen and solved this problem?
> Thanks
> John Cochrane

Just wait til tomorrow.

Mike the Strike
April 1st 11, 05:13 PM
On Apr 1, 8:28*am, Bob > wrote:
> On Apr 1, 8:20*am, John Cochrane >
> wrote:
>
> > Blipmaps show up upside down after upgrading to firefox 4. Has anyone
> > seen and solved this problem?
> > Thanks
> > John Cochrane
>
> Just wait til tomorrow.

Just switch to XC Skies - readable interactive maps that are always
the right way up and more features.

Haven't looked at Blipmaps since switching two years ago.

Mike

Eric Greenwell[_4_]
April 1st 11, 05:23 PM
On 4/1/2011 9:13 AM, Mike the Strike wrote:
> On Apr 1, 8:28 am, > wrote:
>> On Apr 1, 8:20 am, John >
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Blipmaps show up upside down after upgrading to firefox 4. Has anyone
>>> seen and solved this problem?
>>> Thanks
>>> John Cochrane
>>
>> Just wait til tomorrow.
>
> Just switch to XC Skies - readable interactive maps that are always
> the right way up and more features.
>
> Haven't looked at Blipmaps since switching two years ago.

Before you switch, make sure the forecasts are adequate for your
purposes. A good interface and more features have little value if the
forecasts don't match your weather. In fact, I still prefer the Blipmap
interface by a small margin - quick, easy, adequate.

I followed both for a couple years, and Blipmaps gave more reliable
forecasts in my primary area, the Pacific NW. The "more features" were
intriguing, but not useful because they used the GFS model, which works
poorly in the NW area. I'll revisit XC Skies when they NAM model is
available with the "more features".

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

Andy[_1_]
April 1st 11, 06:06 PM
On Apr 1, 9:23*am, Eric Greenwell > wrote:
> On 4/1/2011 9:13 AM, Mike the Strike wrote:
>
> > On Apr 1, 8:28 am, > *wrote:
> >> On Apr 1, 8:20 am, John >
> >> wrote:
>
> >>> Blipmaps show up upside down after upgrading to firefox 4. Has anyone
> >>> seen and solved this problem?
> >>> Thanks
> >>> John Cochrane
>
> >> Just wait til tomorrow.
>
> > Just switch to XC Skies - readable interactive maps that are always
> > the right way up and more features.
>
> > Haven't looked at Blipmaps since switching two years ago.
>
> Before you switch, make sure the forecasts are adequate for your
> purposes. A good interface and more features have little value if the
> forecasts don't match your weather. In fact, I still prefer the Blipmap
> interface by a small margin - quick, easy, adequate.
>
> I followed both for a couple years, and Blipmaps gave more reliable
> forecasts in my primary area, the Pacific NW. The "more features" were
> intriguing, but not useful because they used the GFS model, which works
> poorly in the NW area. I'll revisit XC Skies when they NAM model is
> available with the "more features".
>
> --
> Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
> email me)
> - "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarmhttp://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

Our local soaring group was recently gven a presentation on the
features of XCSkies. One of the features of much local interest in
the spot forecast. I asked what model the spot forecast is based on
since I had noticed the spot forecast didn't change when the forecast
model was changed.

There was a stunned silence, then it became apparent that no one
actually knew where the data they valued so highly had actually come
from.

I have a subsription to XC skies but it is about to lapse. Not
decided yet if I will renew. My primary weather sources are still the
local NWS, and looking out of the window.


Andy

Mike the Strike
April 1st 11, 06:21 PM
On Apr 1, 9:23*am, Eric Greenwell > wrote:
> On 4/1/2011 9:13 AM, Mike the Strike wrote:
>
> > On Apr 1, 8:28 am, > *wrote:
> >> On Apr 1, 8:20 am, John >
> >> wrote:
>
> >>> Blipmaps show up upside down after upgrading to firefox 4. Has anyone
> >>> seen and solved this problem?
> >>> Thanks
> >>> John Cochrane
>
> >> Just wait til tomorrow.
>
> > Just switch to XC Skies - readable interactive maps that are always
> > the right way up and more features.
>
> > Haven't looked at Blipmaps since switching two years ago.
>
> Before you switch, make sure the forecasts are adequate for your
> purposes. A good interface and more features have little value if the
> forecasts don't match your weather. In fact, I still prefer the Blipmap
> interface by a small margin - quick, easy, adequate.
>
> I followed both for a couple years, and Blipmaps gave more reliable
> forecasts in my primary area, the Pacific NW. The "more features" were
> intriguing, but not useful because they used the GFS model, which works
> poorly in the NW area. I'll revisit XC Skies when they NAM model is
> available with the "more features".
>
> --
> Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
> email me)
> - "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarmhttp://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

Eric:

XC Skies allows the user to choose between GFS, NAM and RUC for the
immediate forecasts. Each model has its advantages and disadvantages
and it's not always obvious that one is better than another. Our
experience in Arizona is that GFS gives a good overview a few days
ahead, but that NAM is the overall winner. RUC is often very good,
but we have found it frequently to overestimate wind speeds.

A feature I really like is to get point forecasts and skew-t charts
for specific locations without having to input the lat/long. I have
found the skew-t from the Rapid Refresh model as the best forecast
available. It will be very interesting when this new model supersedes
RUC - I think we'll see a dramatic improvement in soaring forecasts.

As Andy has pointed out, it's not always obvious which model they
choose for some of the features, but I hope to find this out as I use
it more.

There is talk amongst some of the forecast techies of developing Dr.
Jack's RASP models into an XC Skies format, which would be very
useful.

Mike

Eric Greenwell[_4_]
April 2nd 11, 06:54 AM
On 4/1/2011 10:21 AM, Mike the Strike wrote:
> On Apr 1, 9:23 am, Eric > wrote:

>> I followed both for a couple years, and Blipmaps gave more reliable
>> forecasts in my primary area, the Pacific NW. The "more features" were
>> intriguing, but not useful because they used the GFS model, which works
>> poorly in the NW area. I'll revisit XC Skies when they NAM model is
>> available with the "more features".

> Eric:
>
> XC Skies allows the user to choose between GFS, NAM and RUC for the
> immediate forecasts. Each model has its advantages and disadvantages
> and it's not always obvious that one is better than another. Our
> experience in Arizona is that GFS gives a good overview a few days
> ahead, but that NAM is the overall winner. RUC is often very good,
> but we have found it frequently to overestimate wind speeds.

In the NW for the current days forecast, I found the RUC Blipmap to be
the best; the XCSkies NAM second best; GFS was OK for picking dud days
from great days a few days ahead.

>
> A feature I really like is to get point forecasts and skew-t charts
> for specific locations without having to input the lat/long.

Blipmaps have both features, and I sometimes use the point forecast when
I'm not sure I'm reading the color scale right.

What is missing from both programs is wave and convergence forecasting.


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

Darryl Ramm
April 2nd 11, 09:22 PM
[snip]

> Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
> email me)
> - "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
> you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

Wave and convergence forecasting is stunning in the Dr. jack RASP
forecasts.

Darryl

Eric Greenwell[_4_]
April 3rd 11, 12:41 AM
On 4/2/2011 1:22 PM, Darryl Ramm wrote:
> [snip]
>
>> Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
>> email me)
>> - "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
>> you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz
>
> Wave and convergence forecasting is stunning in the Dr. jack RASP
> forecasts.

So I hear; unfortunately, no one has done it for the NW.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

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