Best/Most accurate weather forecasts for the DR

[Cdn_Gringo]

I am curious to know where the long-timers go for their weather forecasts for the DR. A lot of the foreign weather sites, bing, accuweather etc seem to like the partly cloudy with occasional showers icon a bit too much. Their POP numbers are wildly inaccurate and updates throughout the day are few and far between.

Onamet I don't find to be much better with large gaps in their long range forecasts and their ability to predict rain seems rather hit or miss - mostly miss.

Suggestions?

 

[Abuela]

You don't need a forecast. Have deep gratitude for whatever the weather brings and know the surprise each day will never be snow to shovel!

 

[william webster]

try Wunderground.......

nothing is too accurate.... the locals get it from the TV as I understand it

Go to the idiot with the parrot on the PR weather station...

 

[bob saunders]

I watch local TV station- canal 5 weather and look out the window.

 

[Meemselle]

I've had decent success with yahoo weather sosua. But what do you really need to know? It's warm and sunny and sometimes it rains. Nuf ced, McGreevey!

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

The only reason I really care is because I have a new yard full of sod and am trying to figure out if I need to buy hose and a sprinkler today.

 

[HUG]

It's a micro climate and so accurate forcast is almost impossible.
The best and most accurate forcasts you can find are found by a variety of means.
Most with boats have good access to and fully understand the satellite images and can give a far better idea of what is going on than any half arsed local TV station. Get a friend who can update you, see what is coming, what side of the island it is going to hit, and then use tools like this gorum to see if it has and how strong. There are a couple of good weather men on this site who are good enough to have kept me up to pace when I've needed to know.
But like I said, a micro climate, anything slightly inland from the coast is impossible to predict.

 

[william webster]

this is Mike Fisher's hurricane watch radar......

NWS radar image loop of Long Range Reflectivity from Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands

Don't worry about the grass.... it'll grow naturally
just pull up a chair and watch it

 

[Olly]

Cpt-Gringo ,
You might want to try this Wunderground Weather Station Puerto Plata Internationa, Dominican Republic Forecast | Weather Underground . It used to be better graphics on the Satelite mode with more detailed cloud cover/precipitation graphics but itwas changed recently and now it is not much good. You used to be able to track a storm /rain within about half and hour .

Olly and the Team

 

[wrecksum]

Not easy.

I use Intellicast, wunderground,Onamet, ADDS,Allmetsat, and hurricane watch..


None of them particularly accurate and my home-made cloud watch predictions are not too good either.
Basically what's in the East is coming here and what's gone by to Haiti is no longer a factor but December is unpredictable.

I now go on what's out of the window on the morning of the day concerned.........

(Even that can change in a half-hour)

 

[william webster]

Buster,
as you look out to the Atlantic -
if the weather is coming from the right (east) it is usually better than if from the west (left)

West is almost always bad news from what I have learned.... east is better

can you not erect some sort of platform on your roof - like an Indian lookout station - to monitor the weather ??
between you and Bailey, you could send messages to the rest of us

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

I'm a pretty good amateur weather dude. If I can access recent time lapsed radar images coupled with my barometers and a few weather sites with consistent info, I can generally figure out what the day has in store. At the moment, I am trying to figure out what tomorrow and the next 4 or 5 days will be like. All I really wanted to know was when will it rain.

I couldn't find an oscillating sprinkler here in Sosua so picked up an impact sprinkler until I can get an Amazon order in the new year. So I guess it doesn't matter now when it rains next.

Thx everyone for the info.

 

[Dolores1]

Problem is that 80% of the time the forecast for the DR is either sunny or partly clouded with occasional afternoon showers.
When we noted that years back here at dr1 -- that the international forecasters were being safe and forecasting thunderstorms all the time -- we started doing actually day by day weather reports -- looking out the window. But it got boring. Primarily now reports are only if there is rare extreme weather situations. Here at dr1 is one of the best places to go for extreme weather forecasting, if not the best… given our experienced international forecasters.

Weather reports are useful if you are planning to go camping or hiking up to Pico Duarte -- where the trails can get muddy and you want to avoid rains…

The most accurate weather reports are probably those provided by the Punta Cana weather radar people… at least for the East of the country.

I would check in with Onamet, they usually point out anything out of the ordinary…

Weather forecast for Christmas is sunny skies and the seasonal chill. Love it!

 

[donP]

Satellite Photos Are Reliable

All I really wanted to know was when will it rain.

In that case the satellite photos are useful:
Puerto Rico Imagery (GOES-EAST) - Satellite Products and Services Division - Office of Satellite and Product Operations

donP

 

[wrecksum]

There is a sure fire way of getting rain:

Plan an important cricket match....

Never fails in England..

 

[Gringo Starr]

For Santo Domingo, Boca Chica and Juan Dolio the forecast is very simple: you have 50% chance that there will be no rain tomorrow, and 50% chance of rain. Anyway, the rain will not last longer than 15 minutes, probably you will not notice it at all.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

There is a sure fire way of getting rain:

Plan an important cricket match....

...that's because the matches can go on for days increasing the likelihood of rain at sometime during game play.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

You sun worshipers drive me nuts. Don'tcha know the sun causes cancer? Much better for you to sit in the shade afforded by a bar...

I want it to rain lightly every night between 3am and 7am for the next two weeks. Who do I call to arrange this? Do you think I could find a quality large area oscillating sprinkler here without having to drive to the other side of the island? Of course not. Now with Christmas upon us and my late Santa request via Amazon it'll be the New Year before I get my present, thus my desire to rain on everyone's parade.

It doesn't look like I'll get that present either.

 

[HUG]

In about 10 years, unless there is the annual panic mob where everyone with a solid house secretly wills a big hurricaine to hit. Then I can never remember seeing a F/C that is not cloudy with sunshine and 30-50% chance of rain.

According to my memorydar, it is always hot, usually a few clouds in the sky but not those the sun hides behind, and so.............. On average it rains every 4 days for about an hour unless special occasions once every two weeks where we get a dump of 4 hours or so.

This is my observation which is made up from not really paying much attention to the weather.

 

[Dolores1]

Also see

Weather - Dominican Republic