[SM-PLUGINS] TWC Weather: weather data frequently wrong for Toronto and foreign cities

[Alan in T. <Ala...@pu...>]

This is not strictly an SM issue, but as it relates to an SM plugin I
thought other users might be interested.

I've been using TWC Weather plugin for a while now. I am going to stop
using it, because even if the plugin were to work error free, the weather
data it displays is frequently wrong. The data comes from Weather.com.

Perhaps their data are accurate for American cities, but for Toronto and
some European cities that I track, the data are often wildly inaccurate.
Before you say "oh, well weather forecasts aren't perfect", it's even the
current conditions that are often wrong.

For instance, this evening (Thurs. April 29, 2004) Weather.com's data
showed, at 9:00 PM EDT that the temperature in Toronto, Canada was 52° F.
That was way off. The Canadian service, TheWeatherNetwork.com, showed
correctly that the temperature was 70° F. As I am in Toronto, I confirmed
that by going outside.

About five weeks ago my TWC Weather feed, from Weather.com, said that
there was a snowstorm and cold temperatures here in Toronto. I walked
outside to find sunshine, warmth and no snow, conditions confirmed by
Canadian Internet weather sites.

This is not an isolated error. I find that Weather.com's weather
conditions and forecasts are often off by a huge amount for Toronto, and
for various European cities. I don't know if Weather.com has errors in its
processing, or if perhaps it is getting data fed from the wrong stations
(e.g. perhaps their data feed for Toronto is erroneously coming from a
station that is not in Toronto). I do know that the data are often
nonsense.

If you're comparing the various weather data plugins for SM, and if you're
looking for data for cities outside the U.S., I suggest you try a
different plugin.