Parameter Judgement | Wetterturnier

General Procedure

Points are awarded for all parameters and both days individually. The points for all parameters are rounded to one decimal place (using round half to even). The sum of points yields the achieved overall score which is used to determine the winners.

Awarding of points

The live-scoring which has been implemented early 2018 has been disabled again (Dezember 2018). Points will only become available as soon as the final observations are here. E.g., sunshine duration will be scored after 00 UTC as soon as the daily records of total sunshine duration become available.

Cloud cover (N)

Valid at 12 UTC. Submission in eights.

Tips will be placed in octas 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, or a 9 for fog (equivalent as in the synop reports). Maximum reachable points 6, points can not get negative. The deductions which will be made:

Difference 1: 1 point deduction
Difference 2: 2 points deduction
Difference 3: 4 points deduction
Difference 4 or more: 6 points deduction
Special case: if 0 or 8 octa were observed, but not forecasted correctly, there will be an additional penalty of 1 point
Example: forecasted were 7 octa, observed were 8 octa: 2 points deduction (1 point because the difference between the observed value and the forecast is 1, one extra-penalty point for the observed but not exactly forecasted 8)

Relative sunshine duration (Sd)

Sum over 24h between 00-00 UTC. Submission in Percent. Intermediate Points will be given based on the sum of the hourly observations where available.

Tips will be placed in full percent (0-100%). Please note that Innsbruck cant reach the astronomical 100% due to its mountainous surrounding. This table can be used to see the maximum possible relative sunshine duration for any day of the year for Innsbruck. Maximum reachable points 5, points can not get negative. The following deductions will be made:

0.1 points deduction per 1% difference. A difference of 50% or more will therefore to 0 points
Special case: a wrong decision between “no sun at all” and “at least some sun” (0% and 1%) there will be an extra 1.5 point penalty
Example: the tip placed was 2%, but due to very shitty weather conditions the observed relative sunshine duration was 0%. Deduction: 1.5 points penalty for the wrong decision 0/>0, plus a 0.1 point deduction for the one 1% difference between 1 und 2.

Wind direction (dd)

Valid at 12 UTC. Submission in degrees.

Wind direction valid at 12 UTC (mean wind direction over the last 10 minutes). Tips will be made in full 10-degrees steps 10,20,…,360. Please note that wind from north is 360 degrees and not 0! Special cases: 0 for calm conditions, 990 for variable wind direction. A note: please do not predict 990 in Berlin, Leipzig, and Innsbruck. In Berlin and Leipzig there is only an automated station and 990 will never be reported. In Innsbruck, a nearby automated station will be used for the wind direction as soon as the manned station reports a 990 (which is the case in roughly 50% of all reports). Maximum reachable points 9, points can not get negative. the following deductions will be made:

1 point deduction per 10 degrees difference (*)
During calm conditions: miss-predicted calm true/false results in a point penalty of 7 points
Variable wind conditions: if 990 (variable) was forecasted, but calm conditions observed (0) there will be a 5 point penalty
(*) additional rule: during weak wind situations – if at least one station for a given city is reporting mean wind speeds below 6 knots – the penalty per 10 degrees will only be 0.5 points instead of 1 point
Example: forecasted wind direction 340 degrees, observed 20 degrees. Total difference 40 degrees. During weak wind situations (wind speeds below 6 knots) this will result in a deduction of 2 points (4*0.5), else the deduction will be 4 points (4*1.0)

Wind speed (ff)

Valid at 12 UTC. Submission in knots.

Mean wind speed over the last 10 minutes, valid at 12 UTC. Tips will be made in full knots (not meters per second, e.g. 0,1,2,3,…). Maximum reachable points 6, points can get negative. The following deduction will be made:

1 points deduction per knot difference
Example: tip was 5 knots, but only 3 knots were observed at 12 UTC: 2 knots of difference, leading to 4 points at the end

Maximum wind gusts (fx)

Highest observed gust between 06-06 UTC. Submission in knots. Intermediate points will be given based on the highest observed gust speed observed within the 24h period.

Highest wind gusts observed over 24 hours, valid for the time period between 6 UTC and 6 UTC of the next day. A forecast for “Saturday” will therefore include the observations from Saturday 6 UTC, to Sunday 6 UTC. Gust tips will still be placed in full knots, not meters per second. Only gusts equal or above 25 knots will be used. Valid tips: 0=gusts will not reach the threshold of 25 knots, 25,26,27,…. The tournament will automatically set all values >0,<25 to 0. Maximum reachable points 4, points can get negative. The following deductions will be made:

Differences between 0-15 knots: 0.25 punkte deduction per knot
Differences >15 knots: 0.5 punkte deduction per knot
Special case: if the palced tip was 0, but gusts >=25 knots will be registered (or the other way around), this will lead to a penalty of 3 points.
Example: forecast was 0 knots, highest observed gust speed 35 Knoten. 3 points penalty for the wrong decision 0/>=25, plus a deduction of 10*0.25 points as the difference 35-25=10. Total deduction will be 5.5, leading to -1.5 points at the end.

Weather state (Wv/Wn)

Valid between 06-12 UTC (Wv) and 12-18 UTC (Wn).

Weather states forenoon (Wv), and afternoon (Wn) as included in synop reports. Wv over-spans the time period of 6 UTC to 12 UTC, while Wn is valid for the time period between 12 UTC and 18 UTC. Observations from past weather type 1 (w1) and the “after an event” present weather (ww, if ww in 20-29) are used for the time periods 07-12 UTC and 13-18 UTC respectively. In addition the present weather (ww, if ww in 0-19 or 30-99) is considered for the time period 06-12 UTC and 12-18 UTC respectively. If there is a present weather report ww=73 at 12 UTC this report is valid for both, Wv and Wn (yields Wv=7, Wn=7 if no higher values are reported). Tips will be placed in “codes”, the following values are possible: 0=no significant weather, 4=fog or ice fog, 5=Drizzle, 6=Rain, 7=Snow, 8=Shower, 9=Thunderstorm. Maximum reachable points 10, points can not get negative. The following deductions will be made:

The table below shows the deduction (not points you’ll get)
Example: the tip was 8 (shower), but only rain 6 was observed. Consulting the table below, this will result in a deduction of 3, resulting in 7 points. The other way around (6 forecasted, 8 observed) is leading to a deduction of 2, and therefore 8 points. Note that the table below has no symmetrical behavior.

points_WvWn_english

Please note: due to the fact that a lot of human observers will be replaced by fully automated stations, it is possible that there will be some major changes regarding this parameter in the near future.

Barometric pressure (PPP)

Valid at 12 UTC. Submission in hectopascal.

Station pressure reduced to mean sea level, valid for 12 UTC. Tips will be made in 1/10 hectopascal (e.g., 1015.4). Maximum reachable points 10, points can also get negative. The following deductions will be made:

0.1 points deduction for each 1/10th hPa difference
Example: placed bet was 1021.8hPa, observed were 1019.8. The difference of 20/10 hPa therefore gives a deduction of 2, leading to 8 points in total

Maximum/minimum temperature (TTm/TTn)

Valid between 18-06 UTC (prev. day; TTn) or 06-18 UTC (TTm) respectively. Submission in degrees Celsius. Intermediate points will be given based on the hourly dry air temperature observations.

12-hourly maximum and minimum temperature. The minimum-temperature over-spans the time period of 18 UTC of the day before to 6 UTC, while the maximum temperature over-spans the time period between 6 UTC to 18 UTC. The minimum tip for Saturday is therefore valid for the time between Friday 18 UTC and Saturday 6 UTC, the maximum temperature tip for Saturday 6 UTC to Saturday 18 UTC. The tips will be placed in 1/10 degrees Celsius (e.g., 8.7). Maximum reachable points 10, points can also get negative. The following deductions will be made:

Up to 1 degree difference: 0.1 points deduction per 1/10th of degree difference
Above 1 degree: 0.3 points deduction per 1/10th of degree difference
Example: the placed bet was 10.5, but 12.5 degrees Celsius were observed. The difference is 2 degrees. The first 10/10th of a degree will be judged with 0.1 points (10*0.1=1), the following 10/10th of a degree will be judged with 0.3 points (10*0.3=2). The total deduction will be 4, leading to 6 points in total

Dew-point temperature (TTd)

Valid at 12 UTC. Submission in degrees Celsius.

Dew-point temperature at 12 UTC. Tips will be placed in 1/10 degrees Celsius (e.g., 2.3). Maximum reachable points 10, can get negative. The following deductions will be made:

Up to 1 degree difference: 0.1 points deduction per 1/10th of degree difference
Above 1 degree: 0.2 points deduction per 1/10th of degree difference
Example: the placed bet was 1.2, but -0.8 degrees Celsius were observed. The difference is 2 degrees. The first 10/10th of a degree will be judged with 0.1 points (10*0.1=1), the following 10/10th of a degree will be judged with 0.2 points (10*0.2=2). The total deduction will be 3, leading to 7 points in total.

Amount of precipitation (RR)

Sum between 06-06 UTC. Submission in mm/24 hours.

Amount of precipitation over 24 hours, between 6 UTC and 6 UTC of the following day. The “Saturday” tip over-spans the time period from Saturday 6 UTC to Sunday 6 UTC. Tips will be placed in 1/10th millimeters. The following tips are allowed: -3.0=no precipitation at all (fully dry), 0.0=precipitation occured, but less than the observable 0.1 millimeters, >0.0=in millimeters (like, e.g. 0.1,0.2,0.3,…). If there are precipitation-type reports in “w1/ww” for 06-06 UTC (or 07-06 UTC for ww=20-29) precipitation will be set to 0.0 or higher. Maximum reachable points 10, points can get negative. The following deductions will be made:

If tip is -3.0 but observation reports a 0.0 – or the other way around – leading to a deduction of 3 points
A difference between 0.0mm und 0.1mm will be judged with a deduction of 1 point
Differences in the range of 0.1mm and 5.0mm will be judged with 0.1 points per 0.1mm difference (*)
Differences above 5.0mm will be judged with 0.05 points per 0.1mm difference (*)
(*) Additional rule: if the forecasted value lies above the observations: all deductions for differences above 0.1mm will be counted only half
Example 1: tip was -3.0, observed value was 0.0: leading to a total deduction of 3 points
Example 2: tip -3.0, observed 0.2: deduction of 3 points for the wrong decision -3.0/0.0, deduction of 1 point for the difference between 0.0-0.1mm, deduction of 0.1 points for the difference between 0.1-0.2mm: total deduction will be 4.1 points
Example 3: tip -3.0, observed 6.0: deduction of 3 points for the wrong decision -3.0/0.0, deduction of 1 point for the difference between 0.0-0.1mm, deduction of 4.9 (49*0.1) points for the difference between 0.1-5.0mm, and deduction of 0.5 (10*0.05) points for the difference between 5.0-6.0mm: total deduction 9.4 points
Example 4: analog to example number 3, but in this case the tip was tip was 6.0mm, while observed was nothing (-3.0). Leading to the following deductions: deduction of 3 points for the wrong decision -3.0/0.0, deduction of 1 point for the difference between 0.0-0.1mm, deduction of 2.45 (49*0.1/2) points for the difference between 0.1-5.0mm, and deduction of 0.25 (10*0.05/2) points for the difference between 5.0-6.0mm: total deduction 6.7 points. Please note: the differences above 0.1mm are only count half as strong as bevfore (due to the additional rule)