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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> War In The Pacific - Struggle Against Japan 1941 - 1945 >> Weather

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Weather - 5/30/2004 1:46:50 AM

Stavka_lite

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Joined: 3/15/2004
From: Tucson
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Beat me with a 18.1 inch naval gun if this has already been discussed but how is weather handled? The Pacific is a big, big area and the weather will not be the same all over.

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RE: Weather - 5/30/2004 2:14:23 AM

dwesolick

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From: Colorado
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Hi Stavka,

I don't have an answer for you, but you raise a great question. I too was wondering about, in particular, typhoons and their effect on TFs, for example. Or are they not in the game?

There was a very good documentary last night on the History Channel which told the story of the great 1944 typhoon that hit Halsey's fleet. More than 700 sailors died and (I think) 4 ships were lost. Numerous others damaged. A few months later Halsey got caught up in another typhoon and the subsequent board of inquiry recommended his relief! (first I'd heard of that) The SecNav (Forrestal, I think) ignored the recommendation though.

< Message edited by dwesolick -- 5/30/2004 12:14:34 AM >

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Post #: 2

RE: Weather (a weather mans perspective) - 5/30/2004 3:13:10 AM

2Stepper

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From: North Burbs of Omaha
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Well speaking from experience as a tropical weather meteorologist for the air force it wouldn't be TOO tough to model I wouldn't think. Least in terms of the tropics... Northern lattitudes would be more troublesome as would the area around the Philippines.

The south china sea and philippine seas are the most prone for typhoon development from March to December with a peak from August to November... Then this moves to the southern hemisphere from January to about May across New Guinea and across the north of Austrailia... I.e... "Thunderstorms" a point from UV would be far more commonly experienced.

Not sure how you'd take care of the northern lattitudes (anything about 20deg North). Lots of changes can be had there from any number of things... cold fronts to recurved typhoons headed east towards the Gulf of Alaska...

I guess I could prattle on all day about the basics of weather in the pacific basin, but the first question we'd have to have answered is how typhoons are going to be shown. If at all... Guess we'll see.

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RE: Weather (a weather mans perspective) - 5/30/2004 4:09:08 AM

Mike Scholl

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From: Kansas City, MO
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Weather seems to be in "zones" from the AAR's, so I doubt we'll see actual Typhoons.
But your input would have been great about a year ago when they were setting up
the basic perameters and someone with first hand knowledge of how Pacific Weather
patterns develope and move could have offered some raalistic modifiers to what seems
to be an adequate, but chance-driven system. Would be nice if "squall lines" were an
on-map event when trying to reproduce something like Nagumo's advance on Midway.

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RE: Weather (a weather mans perspective) - 5/30/2004 4:18:03 AM

GBirkn

Posts: 249
Joined: 5/6/2004
From: the briny deep
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Some of the screenshots at the game site appears to show the weather zones and the forecasts for the various zones.

http://www.warinthepacific.net/screenshots/screenshot16.jpg

http://www.warinthepacific.net/screenshots/screenshot17.jpg

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RE: Weather (a weather mans perspective) - 5/30/2004 4:28:34 AM

Mike Scholl

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From: Kansas City, MO
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I've seen the screen shots, and I've played UV. The weather andforcasts are OK...,
ut rather random and haphazard in their effects. Like the zone has a "fixed" chance
of bad weather, but each base "rolls" seperately giving no actual weather pattern.

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RE: Weather (a weather mans perspective) - 5/30/2004 5:10:40 AM

Xargun

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Joined: 2/14/2004
From: Near Columbus, Ohio
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Should be that if one base developes bad weather, the bases near it have a modifier to develop similar weather... In principle its an easy concept... coding it may be another matter.

Xargun

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RE: Weather (a weather mans perspective) - 5/30/2004 1:49:43 PM

2Stepper

Posts: 948
Joined: 1/19/2003
From: North Burbs of Omaha
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Mike Scholl

Weather seems to be in "zones" from the AAR's, so I doubt we'll see actual Typhoons.
But your input would have been great about a year ago when they were setting up
the basic perameters and someone with first hand knowledge of how Pacific Weather
patterns develope and move could have offered some raalistic modifiers to what seems
to be an adequate, but chance-driven system. Would be nice if "squall lines" were an
on-map event when trying to reproduce something like Nagumo's advance on Midway.

Making me feel bad Mike..

I mainly steered clear because the notion of not being a programmer I didn't think I could contribute... Plus the fact that I was sure while this was a gem in the making it'd be a while till release...

Suffice to say if there comes a desire to add a few tweeks into the game as we move past initial release you can get hold of me... Would welcome the challenge.

cheers!

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Post #: 8

RE: Weather (a weather mans perspective) - 5/30/2004 2:08:20 PM

2Stepper

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From: North Burbs of Omaha
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quote:

ORIGINAL: GBirkn
http://www.warinthepacific.net/screenshots/screenshot17.jpg

This particular shot with it's zones marked off isn't TOO bad of a start on dividing up the areas into "weather zones". Basically you'd need to divide south of the equator into two zones. Tropical from the equator south to 20deg south, and then everything else south of that would be "mid-lattitude". The tropical sector would stand a higher chance of thunderstorms/"typhoon risk" from January to about May. The mid-lats you can leave to chance and still be accurate with the noted exception of the squal lines Mike mentioned.

The north is more complicated. From just east of Guam, up to 20 deg north lattitude all the way to the east coast of India is were a prone area for typhoon development starts in March and runs clear till the end of the year. Greatest chances are from August to November, but they can and do develop throughout this time. This area is loosely refered to as "Typhoon alley" with the worst areas east and west of the philippines.

You could probably divide the north in a similar scale with everything north of 20deg left to chance which isn't far from fact, then south of that down to the equator you're probably looking at 2 areas, perhaps 3 depending on the detail you want.

If you divided into two areas it would be India's east coast to about 130deg EAST longitude and south of 20deg North... That'd be your PRONE area to the worst weather and typhoons... then east of 130deg East would be chance thunderstorm/"bad" weather. (they can get typhoons in the marshalls, but they're rare and usually at the end of the season (Nov/Dec))

If you broke it into three areas for greater detail, your "worst" weather zone would be the south china sea all the way down to south of Singapore eastward to about 130 deg East longitude again. That's more refined. That's "typhoon alley". Then everything east and west of that in the northern hemisphere tropics would be chance weather...

That's the basics with times and locales... Figured it'd be something to "chew" on for later... can go into more details if you like at any time. Hope that helps.

cheers!

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RE: Weather (a weather mans perspective) - 5/31/2004 2:02:53 AM

2Stepper

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From: North Burbs of Omaha
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Just wanted to add to this that there are a bunch of ways to adapt details to this... applying a bit of climatology (part of my field) and the numbers ya'll use to determine chances should make adapting "real weather" to the game fairly easy...

So with that said, I'm at your disposal.

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Post #: 10