Webcams and weather

 

Long Mynd webcams and weather station

There are various webcams at the Mynd, courtesy of the Midland Gliding Club. Time is displayed in GMT, wind speed in knots. So to get the actual time, in summer, add one hour to the displayed time!

LMSC Webcam: Pointing north to the LMSC site.

Pointing at LMSC launch

MGC Webcam: Pointing west to the windsock at the MGC.

Pointing west to windsock Time lapse webcams We now have two time lapse cams (courtesy of the MGC) West cam: this shows the sky state over the last 40 minutes, updated every minute. If this image is static on your mobile device, or to see it slightly bigger, use this link instead. Refresh the page to update the image.

Hangar cam: this is the view from the hangar looking east towards the usual MGC launch point, over the last hour. The images are updated each minute from just before/after sunrise/sunset. If this image is static on your mobile device, or to see it slightly bigger, use this link instead. Refresh the page to update the image.

Weather station information. This is also located at the MGC. Updates every 15 minutes.

Data summary

Wind direction and QNH over last 4 hours Wind speed over last 4 hours

 

Sarn

Sarn is currently open to LMSC members only (temporary guest membership can be obtained by contacting any committee member)

This image below is from our weather station located near Sarn with the camera pointing at take off. Data collected constantly but averaged over 15 minutes, camera every ten minutes.

Wind strengths etc. will be pretty accurate in in WNW – NE. It massively under-reads in an East or SE direction, but surprisingly tends to show the wind quite accurately as it runs down the hill behind when it is South to South West in direction.

Most recent camera image below (updated every 10 minutes).

Link to full data capture (history, trends in graphs and charts) – Opens in a new window. Once in that new window if you click on the header ‘Camera’ you will get a complete listing of the days photographs in time order rather than just the one current one. If it is flyable wings can just about be seen ground handling or flying.

 Long Mynd sky from the west

The club have put a webcam looking east towards the Long Mynd. The unit is located 7Km due west of the MGC clubhouse and looks towards the sky over our part of the hill. It’s too far away to see the hill or people flying, but is ideal to see what’s on the way while you’re sitting in orographic cloud on the Mynd, or if you expect conditions to change. There is a windsock about 30 metres away from the camera – it’s just a small lightweight one about 8 metres above ground. Currently it is mostly white which is not so easy to see. There are buildings nearby but it is reported that it is surprisingly reliable for direction and strength. Updates every 15 minutes.

Other live weather stations

Other local weather stations are listed below.

Other webcams

RASP

RASP is particularly useful for XC pilots, showing a wide variety of soundings, including thermal strength. It is complex to understand, so there is a web cast available at: http://www.judithmole.net/blog/?page_id=3205

The actual RASP page is at: http://rasp.inn.leedsmet.ac.uk/RASPtableGM/RASPtableGM.html which shows the overall UK situation; or you can use http://rasp.stratus.org.uk/app/blipbytp.php  which gives a direct link the British Gliding Association turn point page, as this is by far the best page to go when wanting to know the overall info for a particular site. The turnpoint to select is MYN (for the Mynd). Others which could be useful when planning an XC are:

Builth Wells BUI Clee CLE Cosford Airfield CSF Droitwich DRO Hay Bluff HAB Leominster LEO Llanfyllin LFN Llangollen LLA Llanfair Caereinion LLC Lleweni Parc LLE Llantysilio LLS Llandrindod Wells LLW Long Marston LMA Leominster NWLMW Ludlow LUD Oswestry OSW Rhayader RHY Shobdon SHO Shrewsbury SHS Snitterfield SNI Stratford SOA Stourport STP Telford TEL Whitchurch Shropshire WHI

BLIPSPOTS and SKEW soundings

A Blipspot is taken from RASP forecasts, and provides an hour by hour forecast readout for:

  • Thermal Updraft Velocity in fpm (shown as W*)and Thermal height
  • Surface and upper wind speeds and direction
  • % surface sun etc.

These are available on the pages for the individual sites. These are a bit complicated, so see the main RASP page for an explanation.

Useful Links