On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:17:35 GMT, Steve Loft 
wrote:

>I can't work out what those tags mean. How can you apply the Beaufort 
>scale to something that isn't based on an average?
>

I think that's the triumph of 'the customer is always right' over
technical accuracy. In other words, if one of the main drivers of your
software development is to add features without due regard for their
accuracy either that a user requests as a good idea or that they may
have seen - possibly inaccurately implemented - in another package
then that's the consequence. Another similar symptom is the provision
of a (calculated) cloudbase height based purely on surface temperature
and RH. It may look pretty  as an iconic presentation - and of course
that's what sells it - but is likely to be wrong more often than it's
right.

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk

John Dann wrote:

> then that's the consequence. Another similar symptom is the provision
> of a (calculated) cloudbase height based purely on surface temperature
> and RH. It may look pretty  as an iconic presentation - and of course
> that's what sells it - but is likely to be wrong more often than it's
> right.

I have to admit I added that to a recent version of my software, but I 
wasn't completely comfortable with it. And it only appears (optionally) 
on web pages, not on the PC display or anywhere in the recorded data.
-- 
Steve Loft
Sanday, Orkney. 5m ASL.    http://sanday.org.uk/weather
Free weather station software: http://sandaysoft.com/
uk.sci.weather FAQs/glossary/etc: http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/