I’d like to see new weather patterns in the game. Pre-set cloud formations. i.e overcast, clouds look noticeably darker in colour. Overcast with distant thunder strikes. Sleet snow, noticeably louder droplets on the windshield.
The weather systems do appear to be getting some subtle updates but I totally agree that additional weather patterns are needed. The fog needs to stop happening all year round, in the middle of the day. It's particularly weird to see it in the summer in the UK when the sun is too strong to allow fog or mist to develop. And you're right about thunderstorms. Depending on geological features and light pollution, lightning can be seen from up to 200 miles away (usually as flashes in distant Cumulonimbus cloud tops) whereas a general rule of thumb is that thunder can be heard between 5 and 20 miles away depending on the level of background noise. It would be great to see realistic distant lightning which changes to cloud-to-cloud and cloud to ground flashes with distant rumbles of thunder before it's on top of you. The frequency of storms has to be adjusted. They're rare and rarely long-lasting outside of British Summer Time. Thundersnow is even rarer. If I'm being a real geek about it, I'd like to see single and supercell storms too.
The weather is a bit too simplistic and dynamic weather isn’t the best. I also think the game looks bad in a lot of very cloudy or wet conditions so I unashamedly stick to a nice 50% or less cloud coverage on custom weather but it is the same old cloud type at the same height above the player. Quite a lot of the times I do pick bad weather to play in I end up quitting back to the menu and starting again with clearer skies and no rain just because of how it looks. Not exactly weather but I do like nighttime runs with a clear sky and snow on the ground so I can see the scenery as the snow covered parts show up in the darkness. For a very advanced feature, I’d actually quite like a fixed cloud layer for mountain routes so you start off below the cloud and then instead of the cloud layer rising as you climb and remaining the same height above you as it does now, you drive into the cloud layer and could even eventually pop out above it, but that is a dream I don’t think we would ever see. I think about it every time I drive on the Bernina Line. Maybe a bit too advanced for a train sim.
That would be amazing. A wintry, thin layer of stratus clouds at about 1,000 ft in the sky, above it bright blue skies. These are common in Winter due to temperature inversions; denser cold, moist air trapped below a warmer layer of air above. In mountainous regions you have a chance to break through that layer of cloud. It would be a fantastic addition. I don't have any of the Swiss/Austrian mountain routes personally, they're pretty but slow, so I don't know whether TSW generates a snow level. For example, below 250ft rain then a layer of sleet/wet snow before reaching 0oC wet bulb temperature at 500ft (for example, it's not a fixed level) when snow stops melting and settles. I'd also love to see squall fronts, these often occur in association with cold fronts in low pressure systems when a line of torrential rain and hail, gales and sometimes thunder and lighting moves SE (in the Northern Hemisphere). They usually only last 10-15 minutes at most but in the US they can be really violent. Search You Tube for "Derecho" and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Hi all…long time lurker, first post here! I agree it would be cool to see some weather improvements. For example, sometimes it rains or snows with not much cloud around. It would be great to see large cumulonimbus shower clouds moving with the wind, with the precip occurring as you get under the shower, and then back to sunshine again. I see some interesting suggestions above from Wivenswold … I detect a fellow weather nerd! I’m a meteorologist by profession, so have a deep interest in seeing the weather behave as close to the real world as possible!
Weather improvements would be very welcome. Softer and louder droplets, yes please! Dark and gloomy clouds would be a great addition as well. Just the idea that you could actually see the weather change dynamically in the distance instead of just "switching it to X and Y in the bubble around you" would be a great immersion buff. The feeling of diving under a bleak rainy cloudfront is still missing from TSW weather. Yeah, I try to avoid plain cloudy because the world with its lifeless, washed out and depressing look is not very pleasing to view. However there can be times when things around you can actually look - dare I say it, real good, like almost photorealistic. It depends on the time of year, weather rng and lighting naturally. I still remember one late evening service from Kassel to Würzburg. It was late fall, cloudy all the way, but then it started snowing a bit after I departed from Fulda. It is when I got to Würzburg that little snowing had stopped and the skies cleared up above, but clouds were still visible in the distance. I stepped out of the train, walked around the station and nearby parking lot. All the cars, benches and whatnot props were covered in a touch of light freezing sparkly snow and I was basking under a full moon. The atmosphere was crisp, it felt natural to a point I almost didn't want to close the game. Some journeys just hit different... But in all seriousness, snowy weather and ballast textures in general need a lot of work. Also I'm very tired of hearing loud thunder noises in my snowstorm setting and lightning that flashes up the snowflakes on my windshield at night is just pure evil...
Here’s a couple of pictures I took today. It’s suppose to rain where I live at some point today. You don’t see clouds having this much contrast in the game, they always look too white, overexposed. It would make dynamic weather look better too. If the string of sequence was light clouds, to overcast, to light or heavy rain.
Yeah, it was forecast to be showery today. The problem with showery conditions is that some places will miss them, others will get several. We had a couple of showers out here in Essex but it was lovely when the sun was out. Nice shot of a rainbow halo around the sun (aka "Sun Dog") too. But yes, totally agree that a sky full of decaying Cumulus makes for a wonderful sight that isn't captured very well in TSW.
