I’ve added a bunch of new layers to the UK Met Office 2km model for PRO users:
- Wind Speed
- Wind Gusts
- Wind Gust Differential (experimental - shown above, discussed below)
- Dew Point
- Dew Point Depression
- Visibility
- 1hr Precipitation
Wind, Gusts and Wind Gust Differential
Wind Gust Differential (WGD) is simply Wind Gust speed minus Wind Speed at ground level. My theory is that, as photographers, we can cope with steady winds up to a point - it becomes a question of weighting your tripod down sufficiently. What’s hard to cope with is when the wind suddenly gusts well above that steady state - it makes for unpredictable, nervy shooting!
So, the WGD is a guide to this. You’ll almost certainly want to check the default wind speed forecast too.
Let me know what you think.
Dew Point Depression
This is for astrophotographers and astronomers to predict risk of lens fogging. Blue colors mean damp air near the point of condensation. Red indicates no risk of condensation.
Visibility
This is an “all reasons” visibility forecast - it can reflect the impacts of rainfall, fog, low cloud. I’m not sure whether smoke or pollution is factored in also - I suspect not, as those layers are not included separately in the source model.
1hr Precipitation
This is “all source” precipitation. Per the documentation:
Implied depth of the layer of liquid water which has been deposited on the surface in the previous hour. This included rain, snow, and hail with the ice phase precipitation being considered as a liquid water equivalent (lwe) value. It includes the contribution from the model convection scheme if this is invoked (true for Global models but not the UK models) as well as that from the model precipitation scheme.