I don't know if this is why MSFS goofs, but METARS aren't necessarily where
ATIS is derived from. At my home field (KBLI), METARs are derived from the
ASOS, an automated weather setup, which in the case of KBLI doesn't even
broadcast on the radio. You call a phone number to listen to it. Since it is
a machine, it can easily goof on clouds and precip. It only sees the patch
of sky its sensor is aimed at. Its biggest use is that it is real-time, so
you can track trends in things like wind and barometric pressure easily.

ATIS recordings are often more acurate because the person in the tower that
makes the observations doesn't have the limitations of the machine. But of
course the METAR data is what is availiable to the sim, so that's what we
get.

Another problem can happen if you live right between two reporting stations.
I trained out of Lynden WA, and it is smack between Abbottsford and
Bellingham. There can be drastic differences between the two, and on a day
when the weather was crazy, and I wanted to do a sim-flight out of Lynden,
it was 50-50 that the weather in the sim would match what I saw outside.

Plus, at least here in the Pacific Northwest, a METAR thats an hour old is
many times useless

I personally think the best use for the Real World Weather feature is that
it creates a word with varied conditions, without you having manufacture it.
Who cares if its not quite whats really outside. Rarely IRL does the weather
really match the forecast anyway!


"Don Purcella" wrote in message
...
I call it real weird weather

"John431" wrote in message
nk.net...
I have been down loading real world weather. But, it doesn't match the
actual weather as determined from tuning in the FAA automatic weather
stations on the Internet. http://www1.faa.gov/asos/map/map.htm. I've
compared it by listening to the ATIS at the airport of FS2002 and
comparing
it with the actual FAA weather report. It is pretty far off. I've made
sure the time at the airport and the time of the weather report were
about
the same.

Anyone else have this problem?

John431