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.
MGC Webcam: Pointing west to the windsock at the MGC.
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.
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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.
- Shrewbury
- Lyth Hill, near Shrewsbury
- Much Wenlock
- Malverns
- Featherstone, Staffs
- Gyrn. The station is located on Pentre Farm, which is the farm directly below the main flying ridge.
Other webcams
- Barmouth – multiple cams & weather station, useful for seeing the weather coming in from the coast.
- DSC (Mam Tor)
- DSC other
- All UK – some of these will no longer be active.
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 current (but temporary) RASP page is at: http://rasp.stratus.org.uk/app/rasptablegm/rasptable.php 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
- XC Weather
- Metcheck Shropshire, today and tomorrow
- Metcheck Shropshire, 16 days
- Metcheck Church Stretton
- Met Office UK visible satellite
- Met Office surface pressureWendy Windblows weather stations. Subscription, but you can pay per call.
- RASP Not the simplest of things, you need to learn how to interpret them, but they are specifically aimed at XC pilots. They are the source of the Blipspots listed below. (For a web cast on interpreting RASP, see http://www.judithmole.net/blog/?page_id=3205). NOTE: the usual location for RASP is no longer available. This is the backup page, which will be replaced once there is a new permanent location.
- Frixo is a road travel reporting website, that provides users with the up-to-date road traffic information. Data is updated every 5 minutes using sensors placed on motorways and common A / B roads.
- Sat24 satellite most recent image below