Falconjet

Hi, I'm new to this forum but having witnessed these cloud images I felt compelled to say something. I'm a research meteorologist based at the UKMO. I've been using xplane on and off for a while but have never been impressed with the default clouds (or indeed that of P3D's). They're simply not realistic. However, having witnessed these cloud images, I am literally blown away by the realism! They look incredible and very realistic. I'm particularly impressed by the modelling of Raleigh Benard convective cells at the tops of cloud layers typically stratocu and altocu exposed to cloudless or cirro- type sky above. It's a result of radiative cloud top cooling and consequential convective turnover. No other xplane or indeed P3D weather engine has managed to simulate these cells with any degree of realism. However, these look amazing! My other gripe of xplane atmosphere is unrealistic infinite visibility. I hope xenviro will provide a means for the user to control the visibility of the atmosphere? Another area of weakness of all the weather engines is the ability to produce multilayered clouds associated with fronts. I've been very lucky to fly on the metoffices BAe 146 during research flights. Many types of fronts are associated with a degree of multilayered clouds. This is more pronounced through warm or occluded fronts although frequently occurs in cold fronts too. The cloud layers are frequently capped by a dense layer of altocumulus in the mid-levels. Layers of cirrus type clouds which include generating cells composed of ice particles may be located some distance above....with fall streaks of snow seeding layers below. There is a belief that cirro-type clouds are thin. This is definitely not always the case. Indeed, weather engines can not simulate cirrostratus cloud decks. These cloud decks are commonly seen capping frontal systems and can be more than a mile in thickness seeding layers below with ice particles or snow. In heavily precipitating fronts...no discernible layering of clouds may occur. You might find a very thick layer occuring just above the low-level fracto stratus all the way up to 35,000 feet or higher if the tropopause allows. However, the heavy snow and rain tends to hide any potential layers. Anyway....quite remarkable cloud modelling in my opinion