For he's a jolly good fellow...

Community Spirit Awards Supreme Award goes to...Ta ta... Mark Arundel. Our very own CFI. Well done. And 10 points for those who nominated him. Todays weather??? You'd be better off going to work... NOAA off line again...this could get quite frustrating as it's the best forecast tool we have...Metservice and MetVUW are aimed at a different audience and really only provide little bits of the picture. Metservice can give us expected surface temperatues for various towns and cities. MetVUW gives quite good wind forecasts at different levels. But if you want to forecast thermals, inversions, high cloud etc etc we need to refer to atmospheric soundings. While NOAA's soundings are only a forecast to give you a handle on where the value is...last night I constructed a sounding for the Rotorua area. It forecast high cloud, mid level cloud especially during the morning (4000-6000ft) and things turning to "poo" later in the day. It also forecast westerlies increasing with hieght (as did MetVUW). As I look out the window at 10.30am I see high level cloud, crud at 4-5000ft and some signs of wave. None of it's worth racing out to pull the covers off my glider. And the weekend doesn't look too good. Hopefully I can get some soundings tonight or early in the morning.