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How often are the forecasts updated?

The forecasts are updated continuously during the day. Below you can see the latest update-times:

Last update of precipitation maps:
Friday 15 Mar at 05:25
Last update of cloud and temperature-maps:
Thursday 14 Mar at 19:35
Last update of coastal maps:
Friday 15 Mar at 04:21

During summer: (May 1 to September 30)

  • The first update at around 07:00 (latest at 08:00)
  • At least one update between 12:00 and 15:00, depending on the weather 3 updates can be done between 11:00 and 19:00
  • The nightly update around 21.00

During winter:

  • If the nightly weather is good the update is around midnight
  • If needed there can be one or more updates between 21:00 and 07:00
  • 24 hour monitoring of the weather to compare the development of the weather to our forecasts, and do updates when unexpected weather arrives, like snowstorms during the night.

What do the wind-arrows mean?

The bars on the arrows tell you how strong the wind is:

  • = One half bar, 4 mph
  • = One full bar, 11 mph
  • = Triangle, 56 mph

When more than one bar or trinagle appear you calculate the sum of the respective values:

  • = 71 mph

Wind strength on land:

Symbol mph General term Effect of the wind
0.0-0.9 Calm Smoke raises vertically, leaves are motionless
1-3 Light air Wind motion visible in smoke
4-7 Light breeze Wind felt on exposed skin, leaves rustle
8-12 Gentle breeze Leaves and smaller branches in constant motion
13-17 Moderate breeze Dust and paper raised, small branches begin to move
18-24 Fresh breeze Branches of a moderate size move, small trees begin to sway
25-30 Strong wind Large branches move, whistling heard in overhead wires, umbrella use becomes difficult, empty rubbish bins tip over
31-38 High wind Whole trees in motion, effort needed to walk against the wind
39-46 Gale Small branches broken off trees, cars veer on road, progress on foot is seriously impeded
47-54 Strong gale Some branches break off trees, and some small trees blow over
55-63 Storm Trees fall over or uprooted, saplings bent and deformed.
64-72 Violent storm Widespread damage to vegetation. Many roofing surfaces are damaged
73- Hurricane Very widespread damage to vegetation. Some windows may break, mobile homes and poorly constructed sheds and barns are damaged. Debris may be hurled about.

Wind strength at sea:

Symbol mph Knots General term Effect of the wind
0.0-0.9 0-1 Calm Flat
1-3 1-3 Light air Ripples without crests
4-7 4-6 Light breeze Small wavelets. Crests of glassy appearance, not breaking
8-12 7-10 Gentle breeze Large wavelets. Crests begin to break; scattered whitecaps
13-17 11-16 Moderate breeze Small waves with breaking crests. Fairly frequent white horses
18-24 17-21 Fresh breeze Moderate waves of some length. Many white horses. Small amounts of spray
25-30 22-27 Strong breeze Long waves begin to form. White foam crests are very frequent. Some airborne spray is present
31-38 28-33 High wind Sea heaps up. Some foam from breaking waves is blown into streaks along wind direction. Moderate amounts of airborne spray.
39-46 34-40 Gale Moderately high waves with breaking crests forming spindrift. Well-marked streaks of foam are blown along wind direction. Considerable airborne spray.
47-54 41-47 Strong gale High waves whose crests sometimes roll over. Dense foam is blown along wind direction. Large amounts of airborne spray may begin to reduce visibility.
55-63 48-55 Storm Very high waves with overhanging crests. Large patches of foam from wave crests give the sea a white appearance. Considerable tumbling of waves with heavy impact. Large amounts of airborne spray reduce visibility.
64-72 56-63 Violent storm Exceptionally high waves. Very large patches of foam, driven before the wind, cover much of the sea surface. Very large amounts of airborne spray severely reduce visibility.
73- 64- Hurricane Huge waves. Sea is completely white with foam and spray. Air is filled with driving spray, greatly reducing visibility.

What do the weather-icons mean?

Daytime:

  • = Clear
  • = Mostly clear
  • = Partly cloudy
  • = Partly cloudy and light rain
  • = Partly cloudy and light wet snow
  • = Partly cloudy and light snow
  • = Partly cloudy and showers
  • = Partly cloudy and wet snow showers
  • = Partly cloudy and snow showers
  • = Partly cloudy, possible thunderstorms with rain
  • = Cloudy
  • = Cloudy and light rain
  • = Cloudy and light wet snow
  • = Cloudy and light snow
  • = Cloudy and showers
  • = Cloudy and wet snow showers
  • = Cloudy and snow showers
  • = Cloudy, thunderstorms with rain
  • = Overcast
  • = Overcast and light rain
  • = Overcast and light wet snow
  • = Overcast and light snow
  • = Overcast and showers
  • = Overcast and wet snow showers
  • = Overcast and snow showers
  • = Overcast and rain
  • = Overcast and wet snow
  • = Overcast and snow
  • = Overcast, thunderstorms with rain

Nighttime:

  • = Clear
  • = Mostly clear
  • = Partly cloudy
  • = Partly cloudy and light rain
  • = Partly cloudy and light wet snow
  • = Partly cloudy and light snow
  • = Partly cloudy and showers
  • = Partly cloudy and wet snow showers
  • = Partly cloudy and snow showers
  • = Partly cloudy, possible thunderstorms with rain
  • = Cloudy
  • = Cloudy and light rain
  • = Cloudy and light wet snow
  • = Cloudy and light snow
  • = Cloudy and showers
  • = Cloudy and wet snow showers
  • = Cloudy and snow showers
  • = Cloudy, thunderstorms with rain
  • = Overcast
  • = Overcast and light rain
  • = Overcast and light wet snow
  • = Overcast and light snow
  • = Overcast and showers
  • = Overcast and wet snow showers
  • = Overcast and snow showers
  • = Overcast and rain
  • = Overcast and wet snow
  • = Overcast and snow
  • = Overcast, thunderstorms with rain

How many cm of snow is 1 mm water / precipitation?

One mm of water will give roughly 1 cm of snow. The amount of snow depends of how dense, cold and dry the snow is.

If it snows in colder temperatures than 5-10 degrees below freezing, one mm of water can sometimes give more than 2 cm of snow, while wet and heavy snow around freezing will give a thinner layer of snow.

More about Forecast.co.uk

Forecast.co.uk is a weather site that presents very accurate and detailed weather forecasts for 20,000 places in the United Kingdom and 200,000 places around the world.

We use some of the most innovative forecasting models and tools in the world, in collaboration with high quality data providers such as Foreca.

Our aim is to provide sophisticated weather data in a manner easy to understand and use. The most important question for us is: “Was the Forecast accurate?”

The Forecast.co.uk team

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