Technical Forum

I notice that there are quite a few questions in the travel forum, asking "How will the weather in XXX be in nnn months times?" Maybe VT should come to some sort of arrangement with a weather organisation, for them to become the "preferred weather supplier", and stick buttons on the pages. My choice would be www.wunderground.com

we already have a deal with weather underground whereby they drive traffic to virtualtourist. we are talking with another weather provider for more integration.

The question is always where do you put everything isn't it ;)

weather underground is where I found VT,clicked on the link and thats how I became a member,

Cool! ;)

Despite the links to weather sites, questions will always be asked in the travel forum about the weather.

Like you John, I use www.wunderground.com. It is more comprehensive than any other site I have found. I then translate this information into something they can read and give them the information they ask for without them looking for it themselves.
Some people won’t/can’t or are unable to look for this information for themselves.

I now have a decent data base of average weather conditions for most of the popular areas and this data is growing on a daily basis.
I have even put them on my travel map as general tips.

I don’t think it is an issue that will ever be resolved; people will still ask weather related questions in the travel forum.

>>>I don’t think it is an issue that will ever be resolved; people will still ask weather related questions in the travel forum.

I think Ricky is right.

I think most people believe that "locals" have more insight than any weather source.

No matter which weather source one researches, or the information given, we all know that the "average temp" in the month doesn't give a clue what one should really expect nor a clue to what they should pack for their trip.

Anyway, most weather people get it wrong too much of the time to really trust them on any given day.

Especially in the UK.

I wonder how many times I have written 'the UK weather really is upredictable' and 'clothes you can layer and a waterproof outer jacket/coat' so far?

But it doen't matter how many buttons/links you display, I agree that people will still ask. There's no compulsion to answer, of course.

Do people seriously believe in weather statistics? At least for Central Europe they are completely useless because every year is different.
Besides, any weather forecast for more than 10 days in advance has the value of a prediction made by Sybil Trelawney.

I also believe that some of the weather questions made by newbie’s are breaking the ice questions.
They want to have a dabble on the forums and is probably their first question.

I don't know what there is to believe or disbelieve about weather data and statistics. You can ignore it, yes, but it still remains a fact of history. And I think even in Central Europe they would typically describe January as "cold".

Forecasting remains an imprecise science - it just needs that bad-tempered butterfly in South America stamping its foot, and then there's a hurricane in Hampshire, and all the forecasts get blown out of the window.

Judging by some of the newbie questions, I wonder if they stick around, or come back, for an answer, or do they think they're tapping into some sort of Ask Jeeves?

Local information is invaluable. Case in point - an English friend coming to Australia in August - I told her to bring warm clothes, August is winter and chilly. She checked the weather, temps of 17-18, summer time temps for her (she lives in Lincs)so she left the woolies at home, arrived here and was cold. 17-18 in the weather station doesn't allow for chilly winds blowing in from the south when you're walking along the beach. Stats don't tell the whole story.