Get Prepared And Dial-In Checking Forecasts!!

I get a few questions regarding what forecast provider I use when planning trips, so we will dive into what works for us in this yarn. It is by no means a one size fits all, but it works for us.

Sometimes trips are planned that far in advanced that they go ahead regardless of the weather. But those weekend missions or trips where you a flexible on dates, getting the weather right is key.

As we all know, the weather is forever unpredictable in New Zealand's backcountry, especially as you dive further south. We tend to only take forecasts seriously around 3 days out from heading in, as some long-range forecasts are computer-generated.

Righto, let's have a look at the forecast providers we use. These work best in combination with each other, as in our opinion, each provider has different strengths and weakness in terms of getting the prediction right.

1-Metvuw http://www.metvuw.com/

Strengths

 -Excellent idea of where precipitation and cloud will be. We find this pretty accurate in terms of when systems will come and go at predicted time frames.

Weaknesses

 -Because the forecast is up to interpretation (because it doesn't have a description like Metservice), some knowledge of how to read the Mutvuws system is required. See below for the attached wind symbol key.

Summary

Metvuw works well in line with Metservice. We use Metvuw as the primary forecast and then use Metservice to verify somewhat what we see, e.g. if both providers are saying the same thing, then your pretty safe, but if there is a difference between the 2, use your knowledge of the area to try and pick which you think is most likely, we find for the top of the south Metvuw is better, but they do both have their days.

 2-Metservice https://www.metservice.com/mountains-and-parks/national-parks

Most people are familiar with Metservice, so well, yarn briefly about it.

Strengths

 -Works well to give you a quick rundown of what the weather is doing, with a pretty solid description, including wind direction, strength and temperatures. Working it inline with Metvuw, it works well.

Weaknesses

 -It is not as accurate as other providers for the national parks we have found, but that is just us.

Below are some links for some of the other available providers that work well. I don't personally use them but have a suss and see what works for your legends.

- https://www.yr.no/en

- https://www.windy.com

Righto, well, I hope this has helped you guys somewhat. Again this is only what we do, have a suss of what works for you and happy hunting. Be safe and good luck for the Roar.

Cheers, Jarrod and the BL team!!