MIssing upper cloud layer with RWC

[qdavweb]

Hi Sundog.

I have an example using SMP3.3.2 and RWC (set to automatic) and x-plane real weather at airport KPIA where the metar.rwx is showing an overcast layer at 16000 feet. This was brought to my attention because I noticed rain and lightning coming from this height but the coulds weren't being drawn (only the lower layer coulds were being drawn). Curious, I switched to sparse particles but still no clouds, and same with dense particles. Getting curiouser, I switched RWC to 'never - only read weather datarefs', and bingo a 16000 foot cumulus overcast layer appears - looking brilliant I may add, and now my rain and lightning have a cloud source - nice ! So, switch RWC back to automatic, and the layer disappears again. Also disappears when set to 'Always'.

Anyway I have included the metar.rwx and a couple of screenshots here in case you are interested in looking at this. The screenshots are taken from height in between the lower cloud layers and the upper cloud layer in question.

 

 

METAR.rwx

[sundog]

The METAR file you attached actually doesn't show OVC at 16,000 feet. Here's what it says for KPIA:

KPIA 060849Z 02006KT 3SM R13/5500VP6000FT TSRA BR FEW005 BKN023 OVC075 18/18 A3004 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT ALQDS RAB04 TSB12 P0054

According to that, OVC should be at 7500 feet, FEW at 500, and BKN at 2300. Which is totally different from the weather display you're showing.

But it would seem that X-Plane's internal weather system believes there is an overcast layer at 16,000 feet - but based on what's in your METAR.rwx, I can't see where that would be coming from.

In this case, I think we're right and X-Plane is wrong. This results in precipitation being inconsistent with the clouds you see, but we're working on that problem separately.