How to use Windy for cycling: a step-by-step guide to the Windy app

What do you need to use Windy for cycling?

You need a web browser or the free Windy app, your route as a GPX file, and an honest average speed. This Windy app cycling guide covers Windy.com, made by Windyty, not Windy.app, a separate product that shows up in the same searches. For other tools, see our guide to the best weather apps for cycling.

Everything below works without paying. If your route lives in Strava, export it as a GPX file first.

How do you set up Windy for a bike ride?

Four settings turn Windy from a sailor's map into a rider's one.

Step 1: switch to cycling units

Windy may show wind in knots. Open Menu, then Settings, and set wind to km/h or mph, along with your temperature, rain and distance units. Clicking the colour scale at the bottom right also cycles the wind units.

Step 2: choose the layers that matter

Use four layers from the right-hand menu: Wind, Wind gusts, Rain, thunder and Temperature. Gusts matter most for handling, so check them before riding exposed roads, bridges or fast descents.

Step 3: pick a forecast model

The model list sits at the bottom right. ECMWF, GFS and ICON cover the world, and finer local models appear where they exist: UKV and AROME-HD over London when we checked, HRRR over Denver, Colorado. Start with ECMWF.

Step 4: check your start point

Right-click your start point and choose Forecast for this location. The table shows temperature, rain, wind, gusts and direction, with a predictability score for each day. Switch models and watch how the numbers change. When they disagree, plan for the windier one.

Want this for your own route? Windline shows the wind for every stretch, timed to your pace. Free. Make a free ride page →

How do you check the weather along your whole route?

Either step the map through each hour you'll ride, or let the route planner do the timing at one speed.

Step 5: ride the route through time

Drag the timeline at the bottom of the map to your start time, find where you'll be, then move forward hour by hour along your route. Free forecasts come in 3-hour steps; Premium adds 1-hour steps.

Step 6: load your GPX into the route planner

Open Menu, then Route planner, and select your .gpx file or drop it on the panel. Choose Car/hike mode. In the mobile app, a Windy moderator explains, you plot any route first, then use the three-dot More menu to import the GPX.

Step 7: set your speed and read the table

Switch on Speed and enter your average speed. Without Premium, the planner reaches about five days ahead. Windy then shows a start and finish time, plus temperature, rain, wind, gusts and wind direction at the time you'd reach each point. Without Speed switched on, every point shows the weather at your start time.

For each stretch, compare the wind arrow with your direction of travel. A 20 km/h (12 mph) wind at 45° to the road gives you about 14 km/h (9 mph) of headwind and the same again as crosswind. Our guide to how windy is too windy to cycle helps you judge the gusts.

How do you know you've read it right?

Check Windy's timing against how you really ride. Take an 80 km (50 miles) loop at 25 km/h (16 mph) from 08:00, with a 10 km (6 miles) climb ridden at 12 km/h (7.5 mph) and a 30-minute café stop.

Constant speed puts you at the finish 56 minutes early. Entering 19.4 km/h (12 mph), your average including the stop, fixes the finish but puts you at the foot of the climb 21 minutes late. One speed can't be right everywhere.

Where does a map fall short on a long ride?

A map shows one moment across a region; a ride is a line through several hours. Windy's route planner narrows the gap, but four jobs stay with you:

• Timing: one speed for the whole route, with no allowance for climbs or stops.
• Wind against the road: you get arrows, so you work out head, cross or tail for every bend.
• One model: the route planner uses ECMWF only, so you compare models point by point.
• Height: Windy's surface wind is for 10 m (33 ft) above the ground. Hedges and buildings usually slow it where you ride, while ridges, bridges and coasts feel stronger.

One privacy note: Windy's separate GPX uploader shows a public list of recent uploads, so don't use it for a route that starts at your front door.

What should you do next?

Use both. Windy shows you the weather pattern, and how far the models disagree, for free. A route-timed forecast does the timing and the angle maths for every stretch. Check the night before and again that morning, as our guide to reading a cycling weather forecast explains, and let official weather warnings override everything.