Weather and environmental add-ons developer REX has released their first add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator with REX Weather Force 2020. Announced only a couple weeks ago, Weather Force 2020 is a METAR based dynamic real-time weather engine designed to work exclusively with Microsoft Flight Simulator. REX claims that the further granular control of their engine creates smoother weather transition. In addition to the engine, REX Weather Force comes with 9 changing weather scenarios that differ from the ones that ship with Microsoft Flight Simulator. These are stored directly on the REX servers, meaning they can evolve over time and get new ones.
Behind the curtains, REX Weather Force 2020 uses the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data which is updated 6 times an hour to recreate weather in an area. The software further refines the weather using METAR and various weather models to depict areas where METAR are not available, such as oceans and deserts. This is done using the Global Forecast System from the National Weather Service of the US, which is downloaded twice a day by Weather Force 2020 – while the real GFS is updated four times a day. This enables Weather Force to give a more precise snapshot of the temperatures and winds aloft.
In addition, Weather Force 2020 includes a weather search engine if you want to fly in particular conditions. The team is already working on improving the product and plan into adding an Historic weather feature, the ability to share presets and a full flight center and mapping system.
REX Weather Force 2020 can be bought on the REX Store for $21.95. Future customers should note that it requires 10 Gb of hard drive space.