What is SpotWx?

So what's this site all about? It's designed as a spot weather forecasting tool. There's no shortage of sites out there, both government and private, which display weather maps from various models. However getting the actual numbers and visualizations required for a quick spot forecast can be a frustrating task. SpotWx was created to fill that void.

Since SpotWx was developed other web sites have also started offering similar forecast graphs, however the data source is often proprietary and not transparent, or they offer a limited selection of weather models, or only offer the basic surface weather elements.

There are so many forecast products out there that most people never get to see, hidden behind a veil of complexity and strange binary encoding. SpotWx is about lifting the veil. The forecasts actually aren't that bad (in fact they're often amazingly accurate), it's just that most people are only exposed to a 'condensed version' which is never as exciting as the real thing.

Enjoy!

Why SpotWx?

Spot = a point or specific location.
Wx = short for weather.

SpotWx.com = a website for spot weather forecasting (and more).

Why was this site developed? As the saying goes "Necessity is the mother of invention". I needed better products to assist me in my job so SpotWx was born in my spare time.

Who is SpotWx?

SpotWx is a guy (LinkedIn) with a young family and a day job, doing this for "fun" (nerd fun, yes).

What's my background as it relates to SpotWx? I've worked for Manitoba's Wildfire Service since 2002 as a Fire Weather Meteorologist, Geographic Information Systems analyst, IT dude, weather station technician, held some other GIS/Remote Sensing contract jobs with government and academia, studied some meteorology while doing a Geography degree, and once worked at an airport weather station as a Surface and Upper Air Weather Observer. I also have two post-graduate Advanced Diplomas in Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing, and an expired Commercial Pilot's Licence collecting dust next to the computer.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me:

When is SpotWx?

When was the site established? It started around 2008 as a proof of concept with only SCRIBE/UMOS data, then started serving the numerical model data around 2010.

Where is SpotWx?

SpotWx is hosted at a professional data center, OVH, in Canada.

How is SpotWx?

Just fine, thanks. I hope you are doing well.
 

Thank you for visiting SpotWx.