Validation in PredictWind

[EricR]

I've gotten a subscription to PredictWind to be able to compare the various forecasts to NOAA buoys and see how useful these things actually are. I'm in Southern California. LA/Long Beach has very moderate winds and a forecast is hardly necessary. Everyday the wind is ~5knots out of the SW until 1pm then it comes up to 10knots out of the NW until sundown. That's the forecast 9 times out of 10. And whatever variation is very manageable. I am looking to explore the Channel Islands in the Spring where the weather is much more variable and the winds can often push into the 20+ territory. Here a good forecast is useful.



So I pay my money and fire up the PredictWind and put my mark next to a buoy and then look at the validation. Even though my mark is at the buoy it would validate against some land monitoring station. What the heck! I messaged PredictWind and while they report observations from many weather stations only some of them are "trusted" and used in the validation. That wasn't at all clear but ok. I asked them to add the NOAA buoys into their "trust" list.


They added a buoy between the channel islands and Santa Barbara labeled
EAST SANTA BARBARA - 12NM Southwest of Santa Barbara, CA. They also added 9410665 - Los Angeles Pier J, CA which is at the tip of Long Beach. If you are in the area, now you know.



I'm not sure if they will add more NOAA buoys, but if you have any favorites you can ask and maybe get others.