Meteorology (snow and rain)

[IsmAvatar]

I interviewed a meteorologist recently. He gave me some useful info in the making of RPGs.

These are the percentage of chances on a day to day basis of rain or snow examined per month, estimated for England in 600 BC. (Just around the Arthurian era).
He said that if you use this info, he requires you put him in the credits, which I'll tell you how at the bottom.

Month, chance of snow, chance of rain. (Percentages on a day to day basis)

J, 75, 50
F, 75, 40
M, 50, 33
A, 25, 33
M, -, 33
J, -, 33
J, -, 33
A, -, 33
S, -, 40
O, -, 40
N, 25, 50
D, 50, 50

Once it's started, it normally stops anywhere from 5 to 24 hours later. (5 is normal)

Remember that if it snows, it cannot rain. Take into account temperatures (It doesn't rain when it's 2ºF outside, and it doesn't snow when it's 50ºF)
Feel free to modify these results as you see fit for your own game. They were estimated, like I said, not exact.

Credits:
Mark Breen - Meteorologist

You can find mark Breen and other things related to his field by visiting www.fairbanksmuseum.com

Discuss

[megamushroom]

hmm, good idea Ism, very helpful!

[Marthik]

IsmAvatar said:

Remember that if it snows, it cannot rain.

mmm, intresting point. Since I have seen both snow and rain at the same time....

[Noadi]

Snow and rain at the same time is usually called sleet and is a horrible horrible mess.

And it's obvious that's not for where I live, I've seen snow in July in Maine and snow that actually stayed on the ground a while as late as May.

This is pretty cool stuff. You could probably search the web and find these averages for different areas. Now unless you are going for a really historically accurate game it should be reasonable to use the current averages from areas, For example if you have a tropical setting look up the stats on Hawaii or Jamaica, Desert look up Egypt, Viking look up Norway or Sweden ^_^

[IsmAvatar]

Mark Breen said during the interview that during that time period, England was going through a cold spell, so it might not be very accurate to take current day statistics from the region.

Though, like Noadi said, it's good for if you want to be somewhat historically accurate. It's also good for those of us who have absolutely no idea how much snow/rian to put into our games, it gives us a good general idea.

[Noadi]

Yeah the cold spell wasn't just Europe either, it was a worldwide thing. It's been called the "little ice age" I'm not quite sure what the year range is for it but I know it lasted from the late middle ages into the late 1600s. That's the reason why Jamestown had such horrible winters when it was settled when now 3 inches of snow is a blizzard in Virginia.

But more of what I mean is if your game is set in an area much different than England like the tropics, desert, or far north to use the current averages since historical averages are probably much harder to find online but I'm sure the currents statistics should be possible to find.

[IsmAvatar]

True.

Keep in mind, you're not limited to what's online.
Just go over to your local weather lab, and talk to one of their meteorologists. Tell them you're working on a game and you would like somewhat accurate estimates for weather in X area at Y time period (ask politely).
Don't forget to ask them if they require credit in your game.

Mark Breen when I talked to him was happy to help me. He pulled out a binder he had and got a few other stats from there.

It's easier to find stuff on the internet, but you get more detail IRL, and more of the stuff you're looking for.

[IsmAvatar]

keep your eyes peeled. Soon, I'm gonna make an example of a weather system that prepares the whole year ahead of time (hence preventing Save and Load from screwing up the weather system). I will be using Data Structures (hence also demonstrating the advantage of these over arrays).
I'll start a new topic for it. Expect it within a week's time.