Amateur meteorology

[MattTuck]

Anyone else in the North East (or elsewhere, if you're having a really rainy year) becoming an amateur meteorlogist just so you can decide when to ride?

What sites do you folks use to get your weather info? I use mostly wunderground.com. Are there any sites out there that suggest times to do outdoor activities? That might be a neat little website idea.


PS. I don't mind riding in the rain, just don't like the clean-up afterward.

[regularguy412]

Try this one for the NE.

http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Conus/northeast_loop.php

There are links to all the US geographical areas at the bottom of the page. You can see precip that's on its way or that may have already dissipated.

Mike in AR:beer:

[MattTuck]

Thanks! That's a great site. I used to have it at some point in the past but had since lost it! Thanks for putting it back on my radar... pun intended.


Looks like another awesome evening for riding!

[JumpStart]

Weather.com is pretty good. Enter your zip code to get local forecasts, including hourly precipitation probabilities. Also, there is an interactive weather radar that includes a predictive "future" loop option.

[Ray]

Weather.com is pretty good. Enter your zip code to get local forecasts, including hourly precipitation probabilities. Also, there is an interactive weather radar that includes a predictive "future" loop option.
That's the one I use. It's got a great mobile app so if things look threatening mid-ride, I can pull out the phone, look at the map in motion, and see where the weather is, which way it's heading, and about how fast it's moving. It's helped me reroute rides a number of times to avoid storms.

-Ray

[CNY rider]

nws.noaa.gov.
Includes forecasts, radar links, and the forecasters discussion which can be interesting to read (sometimes hard to interpret as it uses weather jargon).

[dogdriver]

If you have an airport nearby, find the daily forcast on line. It updates every couple hours, and WX people are REALLY good at predicting what the wx will be for the next several hours, but take hits for not being able to predict the exact conditions for Tommy's picnic 9 days from now...

Another good trick is to have a barometer around the house-- if it went down over night and is cloudy outside, I'll bet a quarter that its going to rain in the next few hours. If it went up, the wx will clear if it isn't already.

Finally, never forget that a "30% chance" of thunderstorms really means a 100% chance of rain in 30% of the coverage area.

My $.02, Chris

[johnnymossville]

I use weather.com also. I find it's radar screens and hour by hour forecasts very accurate. Just type in your zip and go.

[Steevo]

Agree 100% on not minding riding in the rain, but the clean up is a drag.

That being said, I usually use Weather.com with the understanding that they bias their forecast toward precip. Better to call for rain that never happens than the opposite. Sometimes I'll check NOAA or weather underground as well.

This season in the northeast has been challenging. I've adjusted ride times to avoid rain. I've ridden closer to home to make for an easy exit. I've luckily missed some storms - just last night I rode in Westchester with light drizzle, while across the river at home (probably 5 miles away as the clouds blow) there was a major thunderstorm.

[johnnymossville]

Riding in the rain isn't so bad. What I'm not a big fan of is heading out the door for a ride while it's raining.

I've done that a bunch of times this year riding home from work.