From 51e5381de699871e7ed8151921e9bc709c6c1be3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: fraxle Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2026 18:39:59 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] 2.2.2 Updated new box labels Update about and faq --- about.html | 287 +++-------------------------------------------- assets/js/app.js | 19 +++- faq.html | 16 +-- 3 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 283 deletions(-) diff --git a/about.html b/about.html index 8580c55..8f9fba0 100644 --- a/about.html +++ b/about.html @@ -13,14 +13,13 @@ - - + - + @@ -55,150 +54,6 @@ "description": "SunScope is a free outdoor thermal comfort forecast using the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) and the SunSoak index — combining precipitation, environment modifiers, and mean radiant temperature into a single honest felt-temperature number." } - @@ -523,15 +378,16 @@ Photography, and Fishing are part of SunScope Extra.

- Farming — built for anyone working the land: farmers, growers, and market - gardeners. Decision-making in agriculture is driven by conditions at ground level, not just - the air. Shows air temperature, relative humidity and + Farming — built for organic growers first, but just as useful for any + farmer, smallholder, or market gardener working the land. Decision-making on the land is + driven by conditions at ground level, not just the air. Shows air temperature, relative humidity and dew point (critical for frost risk and disease pressure on crops), - wind speed and direction (essential for safe spraying windows), + wind speed and direction (essential for safe windows to apply foliar feeds + and organic-approved sprays without drift onto buffer zones or watercourses), cloud cover and sun elevation for light levels, SunSoak for heat stress on the person working outdoors, precipitation, air quality index and pollen - (relevant for outdoor workers and spray-window planning), and the three soil columns: + (relevant for outdoor workers and foliar-feed timing), and the three soil columns: surface soil temperature, soil temperature at 6 cm (the root zone for most seedlings), and soil moisture — so you know whether the ground is workable or waterlogged before you head out. @@ -758,126 +614,13 @@

Frequently asked questions

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- Why does SunScope sometimes show a much higher temperature than my regular weather app? -

On clear, sunny days direct solar radiation heats your skin significantly — sometimes adding 10 °C or more to what the air temperature alone would suggest. SunScope calculates Mean Radiant Temperature from shortwave radiation data, capturing this effect. Standard weather apps ignore it entirely.

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- Why does SunScope sometimes show a lower temperature than my regular weather app? -

Wind chill and precipitation both reduce felt temperature. If it's raining or blustery, the SunSoak value will be noticeably lower than the thermometer reading — which is exactly what your body experiences.

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- What is UTCI and why is it better than a standard feels-like temperature? -

The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) is a peer-reviewed biometeorological standard developed by Bröde et al. (2012) and used in public health systems worldwide. Unlike simple "feels like" values — which typically only apply a basic wind-chill or heat-index formula — UTCI combines air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and the full solar radiation load using a physiological model of the human body. It accounts for the mean radiant temperature your skin "sees" from all surrounding surfaces, not just the air around you. This makes it a much more accurate predictor of actual thermal comfort and heat stress.

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- How hot does a car get in the sun? -

A sealed car in direct sunlight can reach cabin temperatures 20–30 °C above outside air temperature within 30–45 minutes. On a 25 °C day with strong sun, cabin air can hit 50–55 °C. SunScope models this hour by hour using the actual solar radiation forecast for your location, accounting for body panel conduction and window solar gain. Select the Vehicle profile and choose your vehicle type to see the estimate. Motorhomes and caravans use a separate insulated occupied-space model, so they warm much less aggressively than cars in heat, but can also stay several degrees warmer than outside air on cool sunny days. Values above 35 °C are dangerous for children and pets; above 45 °C can be fatal within minutes.

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- Does opening car windows reduce the temperature inside? -

Yes, significantly. Open windows allow convective airflow to flush hot cabin air out continuously, reducing the heat build-up by roughly 60–80% compared to a sealed vehicle. SunScope's Vehicle column has a Ventilation toggle that switches the physics model to a ventilated state, showing you the estimated cabin temperature with windows open compared to fully sealed.

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- Is it safe to leave a dog in a parked car? -

No — on any warm or sunny day, even with cloud cover, a sealed vehicle heats up rapidly to temperatures that can cause heatstroke and death in animals within minutes. Dogs cannot cool themselves as efficiently as humans and are at risk at cabin temperatures above 32 °C. SunScope's Vehicle interior column gives an hour-by-hour estimate of cabin temperature: if the forecast shows values in amber (above 35 °C) or red (above 45 °C), the vehicle is not safe for a dog, cat, or young child, even for a few minutes.

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- How do I keep my house cool in a heatwave without air conditioning? -

The standard approach is to keep curtains and blinds closed during the day to block direct solar gain through windows, then open windows once the outdoor air temperature drops below the indoor temperature — usually in the evening or early morning. SunScope's Home profile lets you select your building type (brick, modern, Victorian terrace, stone cottage, timber frame, flat, or conservatory) so the model reflects how your building actually heats up. Ticking Managed shows what you could achieve by following this advice, hour by hour — so you can see exactly when to open up for maximum benefit and how much difference it actually makes.

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- Why is my house hotter in the evening than during the day? -

Building materials absorb heat slowly throughout the day and release it gradually over several hours — a property called thermal mass. How pronounced the effect is depends heavily on construction: a solid stone cottage or Victorian terrace has very high thermal mass and can stay warm well into the night, while a timber frame new build or conservatory responds almost immediately to outdoor temperature changes. SunScope's building type dropdown lets you match the model to your actual home, so the indoor temperature lag it shows reflects your building rather than an average.

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- How hot does pavement or concrete get in summer? -

Exposed concrete and tarmac can be 15–25 °C hotter than the surrounding air on a sunny day. Unlike grass, they have no evaporative cooling mechanism and their dark colour means they absorb a large fraction of incoming solar radiation. This is a real hazard for dogs walking on pavements, barefoot children, and cyclists — and it also radiates heat back upward, making urban areas feel significantly warmer than open countryside. SunScope's Concrete surface column estimates this temperature using an energy-balance model driven by the real solar radiation forecast.

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- What is UV-A and UV-B and what is the difference? -

UV-A has a longer wavelength and penetrates deeper into the skin. It is present throughout all daylight hours, passes through glass, and is the primary cause of long-term skin ageing and contributes to some skin cancers. UV-B has a shorter wavelength, causes sunburn directly, and drives vitamin D production. UV-B intensity is much more angle-dependent: it is strongest when the sun is high and falls sharply in the early morning and late afternoon due to the longer atmospheric path the radiation has to travel. SunScope shows both indices separately so you can make informed decisions about both immediate burn risk and long-term UV exposure.

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- How long can I spend in the sun before I get sunburned? -

It depends on your skin type and the current UV index. SunScope's Burn time column estimates the minutes to one Minimal Erythemal Dose (MED) — the clinical threshold for the onset of sunburn — based on the UV forecast and your Fitzpatrick skin type, selectable from the column bar. Fair skin (type I–II) may burn in under 10 minutes at UV index 8+; darker skin (type V–VI) can tolerate significantly longer exposure. These figures assume no sunscreen and direct, unshaded exposure.

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- When is it safe to spray crops or apply pesticides? -

Safe spraying requires low wind speeds (typically below 3 m/s), low temperatures to minimise evaporation and drift, and ideally no rain forecast within several hours. SunScope's Farming profile shows wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, dew point (to assess inversion risk and overnight settling conditions), and precipitation — giving you all the variables you need in one view without switching between apps.

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- What soil temperature do seeds need to germinate? -

Most vegetable seeds need soil temperatures above 7–10 °C to germinate reliably, with warm-season crops like courgettes, beans, and sweetcorn requiring 12–15 °C or more. SunScope shows both surface soil temperature and 6 cm depth temperature — the root zone where germination actually happens. The 6 cm figure lags behind the surface by several hours and gives a more realistic picture of what seeds in the ground are actually experiencing.

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- How can I tell if the ground is too wet for a motorhome or caravan? -

SunScope's soil moisture column shows the water saturation of the top centimetre of soil as a percentage. A reading above 40% indicates saturated ground where a heavy vehicle is likely to sink or churn the surface. Below 20% is dry and firm. The Vehicle profile includes soil moisture by default precisely for motorhome and caravan users who need to assess pitch suitability before arriving on site.

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- Does SunScope show air quality or pollen forecasts? -

Yes. Three air environment columns sit together after Cloud cover in the table: Visibility (horizontal visibility in km — useful for fog, haze, and driving conditions), AQI (the European Air Quality Index combining PM2.5, PM10, ozone, NO₂, and SO₂ in a 0–100+ scale), and Pollen (concentration in grains per cubic metre with a type picker — grass, birch, alder, mugwort, olive, ragweed, or total). All three are sourced from the Copernicus CAMS forecast. Toggle them on or off using the column buttons above the table.

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- What does the weather icon and temperature on each day tab mean? -

Each day tab in the date strip shows a small weather icon representing the dominant daytime sky conditions — a sun disc for clear days, cloud variants (wispy cirrus, scattered cumulus, overcast) for cloudy days, or a precipitation icon for rainy or snowy days. Below the icon are the day's high and low SunSoak felt temperatures in warm and cool colours. The icon is derived from actual daytime solar elevation and cloud data, so it reflects the real character of the day rather than a generic symbol.

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- What are the weather event banners above the forecast table? -

When notable weather conditions are forecast — such as a ground frost, strong wind warning, fog, or a heat event — a banner with a brief alert appears above the table. Tapping or clicking the event icon opens a description popup with more detail about what the condition means and what to watch out for. Multiple events can appear at once if conditions warrant.

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- How far ahead does the forecast go? -

The free tier shows 3 days of hourly data. SunScope Extra unlocks all 14 days. The forecast auto-refreshes every 5 minutes while the page is open, so the current hour always reflects the latest available data from Open-Meteo.

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- How accurate is SunScope? -

SunScope uses Open-Meteo forecast data sourced from ECMWF and national meteorological services — the same underlying models used by professional forecasters. The UTCI calculation follows the peer-reviewed Bröde 2012 polynomial exactly. The derived columns (vehicle temperature, indoor temperature, concrete surface, UV) are physics-based estimates rather than measured values, and should be treated as informed approximations. Real-world values will vary based on local factors like building construction, shading, surface colour, and vegetation.

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- Is SunScope free? -

The core forecast — Basic, Home, Vehicle, Farming, and the Places (Urban, Beach, Events) variants — is free for any location worldwide. SunScope Extra (£2/month) unlocks 14-day forecasts, the specialist Places variants (Festival, Winter Sports, Naturist, Sailing), the Temps comparison profile, and Custom column control.

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- What data sources does SunScope use? -

Forecast data comes from Open-Meteo, which aggregates ECMWF, GFS, and national meteorological service models. The UTCI calculation follows the Bröde et al. 2012 polynomial. Air quality, visibility, and pollen data are sourced from the Open-Meteo Air Quality API, which draws on the Copernicus CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) forecast. Geolocation search uses the Open-Meteo geocoding API.

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- Does SunScope work outside the UK? -

Yes — SunScope works for any location worldwide. Search for any city, town, or village using the search bar. The indoor temperature model offers seven building types — brick, modern insulated, Victorian terrace, stone cottage, timber frame, top-floor flat, and conservatory — so you can pick the one that best matches your building wherever you are. All other columns (UTCI, vehicle, UV, soil, concrete) are fully location-agnostic.

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- What is the difference between UTCI and heat index? -

Heat index is a simple table-based formula that adjusts air temperature for humidity only — it was designed for shade conditions and ignores wind and solar radiation entirely. UTCI is a full physiological model that accounts for all four factors simultaneously: air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and the mean radiant temperature from solar radiation and surrounding surfaces. In sunny, windy, or mixed conditions, the two values can differ by 10–20 °C. UTCI is the standard used in European heat-health warning systems and urban heat research.

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- Why does the sky display show the wrong time of day? -

The sky scope always shows current conditions — it reflects the actual time right now, not the hour you are browsing in the table. The sun position, sky colour, and glow intensity are all calculated from the real solar elevation and radiation data for the current moment. If you are looking at a future or past hour in the forecast table, the sky display will not follow — it stays locked to now.

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+ Got a specific question — about UTCI, the SunSoak index, UV and sunburn times, how hot a + parked car or pavement really gets, keeping your home cool without air conditioning, air + quality, pollen, or soil and farming data? Our dedicated + FAQ page answers the most common questions in plain language, grouped + by topic. +

Get in touch

diff --git a/assets/js/app.js b/assets/js/app.js index 5c9a416..dd379e9 100644 --- a/assets/js/app.js +++ b/assets/js/app.js @@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ export function UTCIForecast() { // columns are skipped entirely. Hour always gets a blank lead cell. const groupLabelRow = () => { const groups = Object.keys(GROUP_ORDER); - const cells = [html``]; + const cells = [html`${glanceDate}`]; for (const g of groups) { const span = GROUP_ORDER[g].filter(isColVisible).length; if (span === 0) continue; @@ -177,7 +177,20 @@ export function UTCIForecast() { skinType, ); - // Day's events surfaced in the "Today at a glance" box. Reuses the same + // Human-readable date for the "Day at a glance" heading, e.g. "Mon 2nd June 2026". + const glanceDate = (() => { + const key = days[selectedDay]?.key; + if (!key) return ''; + const d = new Date(key + 'T00:00Z'); + const wd = d.toLocaleDateString('en-GB', { weekday: 'short', timeZone: 'UTC' }); + const day = d.getUTCDate(); + const mon = d.toLocaleDateString('en-GB', { month: 'long', timeZone: 'UTC' }); + const yr = d.getUTCFullYear(); + const ord = (n => { const s = ['th', 'st', 'nd', 'rd'], v = n % 100; return s[(v - 20) % 10] || s[v] || s[0]; })(day); + return `${wd} ${day}${ord} ${mon} ${yr}`; + })(); + + // Day's events surfaced in the "Day at a glance" box. Reuses the same // row shape as glanceSummary items: { icon, label, value, alert }. const hhmm = (iso) => (iso ? iso.slice(11, 16) : ''); const eventGlanceItems = (selectedDayEvents ?? []) @@ -921,7 +934,7 @@ export function UTCIForecast() { ${forecast && ((glanceSummary && glanceSummary.length > 0) || eventGlanceItems.length > 0) && html`