Zezo forum: Looks like weather updates offline for next 18h

Looks like weather updates offline for next 18h

Post by BooBill | 2021-01-21 | 19:20:38

From NOAA

"We are no longer able to maintain the NOMADS website and it will be going off-line as previously advertised ( https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf2/scn20-118nomads_outageaaac.pdf) . We will work to have it up and running again once the maintenance is completed. We are expecting ~22/07Z but will notify if the outage window is extended."

Cvetan, can you confirm that will affect both the game and Zezo getting updates?

25 Comments

Post by yetanotherone | 2021-01-22 | 13:19:42

On 22 13:00 UTC, looks like the NOMADS servers planned maintenance is still going on � The grib filter is still off-line �

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 13:24:28

Yes, NOMADS is still down.

wget https://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov
--2021-01-22 15:10:09-- https://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/
Resolving nomads.ncep.noaa.gov (nomads.ncep.noaa.gov)... 140.172.138.18
Connecting to nomads.ncep.noaa.gov (nomads.ncep.noaa.gov)|140.172.138.18|:443... failed: Connection timed out.

ftp.ncep is online, but it seems that VR uses nomads because the the game is still on 2021-01-21@12

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 14:25:24

At 13:45 UTC:

The maintenance window needed to be extended which has prolonged the outage of the NOMADS website. Engineers are currently bringing our servers back online and we hope to have NOMADS back on line in the next few hours. Thank you for your patience while we perform this work. Data is still accessible from:
https://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/
ftp://ftp.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 16:25:28

"Unforeseen complications are extending the outage of the nomads website. Engineers continue to work the issue and restoration of nomads is their top priority."

Post by kalle | 2021-01-22 | 16:36:05

Any time horisont Cvetan??

kallemans

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 17:09:50

They are doing something major, and it did not go according to plan.

This is the original announcement a week ago:
https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf2/scn20-118nomads_outageaaac.pdf

"On January 21, 2021, the General Services Administration (GSA)
will perform emergency maintenance to the power infrastructure
at the David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder, CO. This will
impact the Boulder IDP data center causing a total outage of the
NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS)
website for at least nineteen (19) hours from 1200Z to 0700z the
following day, January 22."

Post by Retsam | 2021-01-22 | 17:44:39

ETA of Nomad restart is unknown. Data are available from other sources, mentioned by zezo. So right questions would be :

1. Is VR updating their wind maps? Yes
2. Would zezo by kind enough to update wind map from alternative sources? May be.

However, like people driving with GPS are losing their sens of direction, I suggest zezo make a break for few days. This would be a useful calamity and punishment for late comers like me. ;-)

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 17:48:21

It's very easy for me to update. Just replace
nomads.ncep.noaa.gov with ftp.ncep.noaa.gov in one script.

But VR is still stuck at 2021_01_21_12z

Post by Retsam | 2021-01-22 | 18:52:53

Well, wind speed in VR is 13.76 kt, it is 15.1 in zezo at my boat. Angles are off by 2-4 deg. They may be tweaking something... But 'shape' in general is similar... This is strange.

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 18:54:54

I updated part of the data to 18z yesterday, hoping that the outage will be shorter and the data will get in sync today. But it did not.

Post by Retsam | 2021-01-22 | 18:58:43

No problem, I will be happy enough with that final challenge. Thank you for checking!

Post by PML | 2021-01-22 | 21:37:05

Is this disruption an issue for the real life VG skippers ?

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 21:41:36

No. The GFS data is still available on another server. What's down is only a mirror/web site (but it provides some additional functionality)

And GFS is not the only weather model. But if it goes completely down a lot of services will fail. Things like weather forecast sites etc.

Post by BooBill | 2021-01-22 | 21:48:27

Cvetan, I notice that the time stamp on the forecast used in the router has changed from 18Z to 12Z. Is that 12Z today, or yesterday? Did you dial it back one update to be consistent with the game, or make it the current forecast?

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 21:51:20

Yesterday. Some things here are designed to work on 24-hour cycle and have no idea about the day.

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 21:54:54

The big problem is that there will be abrupt change in current conditions once NOAA gets up and running. And there is no "Right" solution.

Maybe we are at the point where it's better to get the actual forecast so the boats can be steered in the direction there will be wind pressure.

Post by zezo | 2021-01-22 | 22:15:14

Turning the update ON now. NOMADS is still down, but I prefer having proper strategical overview.

Post by BooBill | 2021-01-22 | 22:18:28

I was going to suggest a selector for game forecast vs current. Since this has happened a couple of times now, that would be a cool feature. But, understand that's probably not easy to do on the fly.

What I've done is plot my route .kml (based on the forecast 12Z forecast) in Windy, then I can compare it to the latest ECMWF. That's something I do normally, but in this case it should warn of any unpleasant surprises when they finally switch to current GFS. So far so good.

Post by Chi-2207 | 2021-01-23 | 01:30:17

So dipping in front of this slow moving low in the Southern Indian ocean on the JV course is probably a bad idea then? When the update comes are we probably going to be swallowed up?

Edit: Earlier forecast had me gybing north at Heard Is. in about 5 hours because we weren't going to make it south in that forecast.

Post by Kwasi | 2021-01-23 | 06:20:59

How can one see, what the current VR model is?

Post by zezo | 2021-01-23 | 09:34:37

By observing the URLs of the .wnd files in dev tools.

They look like this:

https://static.virtualregatta.com/winds/live/20210123/00/009.wnd

Meaning that the data in use is 0Z today, as expected.

They were stuck at /winds/live/20210121/12/... for a while

Post by Kwasi | 2021-01-23 | 18:14:50

Thank you!
So I have to type
https://static.virtualregatta.com/winds/live/20210123/12/009.wnd

and check if that 12z update is online?

Post by Hardtack | 2021-01-23 | 19:25:07

This might work but it's a bit indirect. Start the debugger (by pressing F12) on the VR Offshore page, then select a race.
Go to the debugger 'Network' tab and check the details of the nnn.wnd requests.