Topic: Weather Underground Issues and Bug Tracking - Check here before posting

[SoMDWx]

Most, if not all, snow measurements are taken manually while rain gauges (with heaters) will report liquid equivalents... There would have to be  way for WU to receive both of those methods much like the NWS local offices do via storm report  and mPing...

Jim

[56kz2slow]

On the WU website, snow and rain precipitations are not separated in the hourly, 10-day forecast and history.  Today is fine.  For example here yesterday, we received 5 cm of snow, and 10 mm of rain.  Most weather website separate the two because they are measured with different units of measure, and have a different consistency.

Most weather stations are not designed to distinguish between rain and snow. Weather Underground is designed to be a a website that reports exactly what the stations report. So I don't see this as an issue that needs to be addressed, as I don't see a solution to be implemented.

I'm referring to the forecast sections, not historical.

Edit to add.  I guess in my original post, I mentioned history too.  But given history and forecast are 2 different functions, let's focus on forecast only.

[galfert]

On the WU website, snow and rain precipitations are not separated in the hourly, 10-day forecast and history.  Today is fine.  For example here yesterday, we received 5 cm of snow, and 10 mm of rain.  Most weather website separate the two because they are measured with different units of measure, and have a different consistency.

Most weather stations are not designed to distinguish between rain and snow. Weather Underground is designed to be a a website that reports exactly what the stations report. So I don't see this as an issue that needs to be addressed, as I don't see a solution to be implemented.

I'm referring to the forecast sections, not historical.

Edit to add.  I guess in my original post, I mentioned history too.  But given history and forecast are 2 different functions, let's focus on forecast only.

I'm going to defer to others to chime in and see if they agree with you or not that this is a needed feature. The way I see it is it is either a rain day or a snow day. Total precipitation for the day is water content not height of snow.  I suppose it could snow at night and then rain during the daylight hours...but is this really an issue? Its combined because snow is water just like rain. Well maybe I don't see the issue as I live in Florida and I never see snow. Hence why if you get others to agree with you then okay.  Many weather stations measure snowfall by using heaters and they report the melted snow equivalent as rainfall. I don't see the need to separate anything. The only possible issue I see is that snow accumulation height is not reported for the forecast...which has nothing to do with total precipitation...hence no need to separate anything.

[56kz2slow]

I'm going to defer to others to chime in and see if they agree with you or not that this is a needed feature. The way I see it is it is either a rain day or a snow day. Total precipitation for the day is water content not height of snow.  I suppose it could snow at night and then rain during the daylight hours...but is this really an issue? Its combined because snow is water just like rain. Well maybe I don't see the issue as I live in Florida and I never see snow. Hence why if you get others to agree with you then okay.  Many weather stations measure snowfall by using heaters and they report the melted snow equivalent as rainfall. I don't see the need to separate anything. The only possible issue I see is that snow accumulation height is not reported for the forecast...which has nothing to do with total precipitation...hence no need to separate anything.

You are right, most weather stations don't measure snow.  They still use yardsticks in most places.  I'm talking about the hourly and 10 day forecast.  That part is not handled by our PWS, but from WU directly.   The forecast keeps showing mm all the time, even when it's snow which is measured in cm.  For example, it's calling for 2.5 cm in Montréal overnight.  That's 25 mm, but they are showing 2.5 mm in the forecast:   https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/ca/montreal   Oddly, the mobile app does it right.

So, they need to switch the units of measure when switching from rain to snow and back.

[galfert]

Interesting. So what do they do in the US for snow in regards to units?

[56kz2slow]

Not sure how the do it in US, I believe tenth or hundredth of inches, but the unit is still inches.  I mean, they could express snow in millimetres, but that is not the norm.  However, here they did the conversion to centimetre, but kept the millimetres as the unit.  2.5 cm = 25 mm, that's fine, but 2.5 cm <> 2.5 mm.

Here's an imperial example:

[PaulMy]

For the CoCoRaHS participants the US unit for snow is in 1/10"  https://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=snow  and for Canada is metric units 0.1 cm

Rain or snow-water-equivalent is in 1/100 inch or .2 mm

Enjoy,
Paul

[56kz2slow]

I finally found a good example, we have snow in the forecast.  In the top half, the units are metric, bottom half Imperial.  We are supposed to get 2.3" of snow on Dec 11, or 5.8 cm.  However, WU is showing 5.8 mm (0.58 cm).

So the issue is that in Imperial, the unit between rain and snow is the same, however the unit is different in metric, so they convert, but forget to update the unit to reflect the conversion.

[galfert]

I finally found a good example, we have snow in the forecast.  In the top half, the units are metric, bottom half Imperial.  We are supposed to get 2.3" of snow on Dec 11, or 5.8 cm.  However, WU is showing 5.8 mm (0.58 cm).

So the issue is that in Imperial, the unit between rain and snow is the same, however the unit is different in metric, so they convert, but forget to update the unit to reflect the conversion.

Okay card added:
https://trello.com/c/UCEfq94X

Thank you!

[Cocute]

When FIX this big desing error in android browser in PWS,
if i buy weather station to see rain and bad desing cut  Precip Accum  i return station to seller.
I imagine that this problem has been reported several times I do not understand how something so basic has not been repaired for months

[galfert]

When FIX this big desing error in android browser in PWS,
if i buy weather station to see rain and bad desing cut  Precip Accum  i return station to seller.
I imagine that this problem has been reported several times I do not understand how something so basic has not been repaired for months

I've had this issue in the Trello system since July when you submitted it. The Trello system is just a tracking system for us to keep track of what is broken and what needs fixing, and to inform other users if what they are experiencing is out of their control or not. There are a lot of issues that seem to be ignored by Weather Underground and they just don't fix. Nobody has answers as to why they don't fix more and to it sooner.

https://trello.com/c/iyVrvS5F

A tip for mobile browser is to turn the phone 90° into landscape mode and then the website fits better and things don't get cut off. Not a perfect solution but it is something.

[galfert]

I've recently done a lot of cleanup on the WU issue tracking Trello site.
https://trello.com/b/qTvFtwYd/weather-underground-issues

For all the hate that WU gets they have been doing work fixing bugs big and small and adding some improvements. I've gone over a lot of the issue that were listed and many have been resolved.

It would still be good to get some feedback on these issues on the Trello site. Perhaps there are other fixed issues that I've missed. Or perhaps there are new issues that are not listed. Please join in on the Trello site and help me keep it current. Even offer your own commentary and opinions on some of the proposed issues. Stop by and check it out now with some added graphic pizzazz.

Thank you!

[WSWeather]

FYI..."login issues" are not "fixed".  You're still randomly logged out depending on which page you end up on.  Also, ridiculously repetitive element loading causes the site to be unusable on mobile.

[galfert]

FYI..."login issues" are not "fixed".  You're still randomly logged out depending on which page you end up on.  Also, ridiculously repetitive element loading causes the site to be unusable on mobile.

Thank you I've revised and moved back the card as a current issue.

[Cocute]

do you know if the translation into other languages of the interface is planned (to spanish in my case)

google web traduction works very bad with stations web


In older and better version of wunderground web  spanish language is supported.

Thanks

[galfert]

I have not heard if other language options are planned. I'll add it to the wish list as a recommendation. I suggest you also contact WU and suggest the same to them.

https://trello.com/c/7mMdPyUd

[mdv]

Dashboard map when configured to show precipitation at the various PWS locations, displays the metric values as cm rather than as mm.

This bug emerged several months ago after one or other coding update, and would appear to be a simple arithmetic coding error in the imperial-to-metric conversion algorithm since the map shows correct imperial values.

I know its not difficult conceptually to merely multiply the displayed value by 10 to derive the correct value ...  but, like the recent multiple wind vanes bug, it is a minor irritation that is easy to fix.

[galfert]

Dashboard map when configured to show precipitation at the various PWS locations, displays the metric values as cm rather than as mm.

This bug emerged several months ago after one or other coding update, and would appear to be a simple arithmetic coding error in the imperial-to-metric conversion algorithm since the map shows correct imperial values.

I know its not difficult conceptually to merely multiply the displayed value by 10 to derive the correct value ...  but, like the recent multiple wind vanes bug, it is a minor irritation that is easy to fix.

Good catch....added:
https://trello.com/c/6XPKvv23

[mdv]

I had a detailed look at the Forecast Page for my PWS, in particular the summary data table associated with "Nearby Stations". Seems all the issues I previously observed in this table appear to have been fixed.

I also no longer have an issue with the dashboard map being incorrectly sized.

So it would seem the WU Team is indeed reading our issues/bugs either through this thread or via the Trello Board, and making fixes quietly behind the scenes. Thankyou.

[ixlr8]

Hmm 6 or 8 months ago my dashboard map was resized to cover about 1/4 of my town and is now centered to a different part of my town. I have to move the map every time I want to see my station. At the same time, when I scroll down to the bottom of the page to see list of local stations, it is blank. I suspect because there are no stations in the tiny resized area. Is there any way to change this?

[galfert]

Please provide screenshot and link to your WU ID so that we can understand better and investigate.

[davidmc36]

For all the hate that WU gets they have been doing work fixing bugs big and small and adding some improvements.

Although I still dislike the tile format, there actually seems to be some progress. Camera came back, wind-hocley stick thing on map looks correct just in the last few days I noticed.

Wind speed vs gust on graph is still nonsensical.

[PraveenC31]

Feels like temperature is correct in farenheit. But same as actual temperature in celcius.

[sailingby]

Unless I’m missing something there doesn’t seem a way of displaying temps in Celsius and having wind speed in mph. User selectable units would be useful. 

[galfert]

Feels like temperature is correct in farenheit. But same as actual temperature in celcius.

Yep, Good find!

added:
https://trello.com/c/9WUiOz0E