Paragliding weather apps compared: what each app can do

What does Wingcast do differently?

Wingcast rates every Swiss launch site with a warning light that combines eight factors, such as ground wind, gusts, foehn, thunderstorms and rain. The weakest factor pulls the light down. It also gives a flight quality from 1 to 5, an assessment from sink-only to cross-country day. Every morning a briefing explains the situation in words. Warning light and flight quality are automatic assessments based on forecast data, not a flight clearance. Whether and where you fly is your decision on site. A red warning appears when a factor such as a thunderstorm or strong foehn is present, even if the rest looks good. The flight quality shows separately how suitable the day is for flying.

Most apps show wind, thermals and hazards in separate views, which you combine yourself.

None of the five other services documents an assessment per launch site that combines several factors. Burnair shows wind arrows per launch site, coloured by wind strength, with the strongest gusts of the surroundings beside them, and the thermals per region [2][3]. XC Therm rates regions, not launch sites, and SoaringMeteo shows a thermal quality per map point [10][11]. Paraglidable estimates a flight probability, and individual hazards such as foehn or thunderstorms are not documented there [17]. None of them offers a daily e-mail with the situation. Burnair sends alerts when a measured value crosses a threshold [7]. The combination of an assessment across all factors and a daily summary does not appear in the documentation of the other apps. They provide raw data and tools you can build on.

For everything that comes after the pre-analysis, the other apps are the right tools.

What can each app do?

Burnair

A Swiss service around launch sites, thermals, routes and live data. Burnair provides weather data for more than 5,000 take-off and landing sites in Europe, five days ahead, and shows wind arrows per site [1][2]. For more than 650 thermal regions it gives climb rates and base [3]. There is also a flight distance per region, a cross-country planner, an emagram, live wind, webcams, airspace and live tracking [4][5][6].

• Good for: launch sites, thermals, routes, live data, foehn and airspace.
• Less suited for: an overall rating per launch site and a daily summary. Burnair works with colours, numbers and alerts [7].

XC Therm

A tool for cross-country pilots. XC Therm calculates thermals for 1,354 regions in Europe, five days ahead [9][10]. For each region it estimates a possible flight distance. It also offers wind maps at 14 levels, notes on thunderstorms and rain, a wave forecast since December 2025 and an archive since 2012 [9][10][21].

• Good for: route planning, climb and clouds per region, wind maps at many levels, wave flying.
• Less suited for: single launch sites and wind or foehn warnings, which XC Therm by its own account does not issue. Foehn, valley wind and rain are not included in the distance [10].

SoaringMeteo

A non-profit project from Switzerland with its own WRF runs at 2 km for the Alps [11][12]. For each map point it gives a meteogram, a sounding and a thermal quality from 0 to 100 %. There is also learning material, including for the Swiss theory exam [11].

• Good for: thermals and soundings for any point, learning.
• Less suited for: launch sites, foehn and live data, which are not documented there.

Meteo-Parapente

A European service with its own model at 2.5 km, up to five days ahead [13][14]. Its strength is the altitude view: thermals, instability and wind in 250 m steps up to 10,000 m, a windgram and a sounding for each place [15]. The launch sites come from ParaglidingEarth, and thermal maps show the lift areas [14][15].

• Good for: the altitude profile over a place, a second independent model, thermal maps for distance flying.
• Less suited for: an automatic rating of days and route planning, which are not documented there.

Paraglidable

An open project that estimates, from weather models and reported flights, how likely flying is [17][18]. The map covers ten days and all of Europe, for map cells and named launch sites.

• Good for: a quick overview over many days and all of Europe.
• Less suited for: detailed thermal or wind values, which are not documented there. The interface is in English.

Wingcast

Wingcast offers the pre-analysis: all Swiss launch sites are rated for today, tomorrow and the day after. The warning light reflects eight factors, and the weakest one pulls it down. The number from 1 to 5 describes the flight quality. The basis is the models of MeteoSwiss [19] and others. Every morning at 6 a.m. an e-mail gives the situation for the regions you chose. Whether and where you fly is your decision.

• Good for: a first overview each morning, warnings and flight quality per launch site, foehn in Swiss valleys.
• Less suited for: the detailed planning afterwards: abroad, routes, live data and soundings.

Where Wingcast falls short

• Only Switzerland. For flights abroad, Burnair, XC Therm, Meteo-Parapente or Paraglidable are the choice.
• Three days. Burnair, XC Therm and Meteo-Parapente forecast five days, Paraglidable ten.
• No route planning. Burnair and XC Therm are built for that.
• No soundings and no thermal maps. Burnair, SoaringMeteo, Meteo-Parapente and XC Therm offer them.
• Nothing for the flying day itself. Live wind, webcams, live tracking and airspace are offered by Burnair, not by Wingcast.
• German and English only. French and Italian are not yet in the app.
• Beta. Some launch sites are still missing, and there are bugs.

Frequently asked questions

Which app is the best for paragliding pilots in Switzerland?
None on its own. Each app has its focus, as the chart above shows. Which forecast is closer to reality on a given day depends on the weather situation. It is worth reading two sources side by side.

Do I need Wingcast if I already use Burnair or XC Therm?
Wingcast does not replace them. It does the pre-analysis: in the morning you see which launch sites are worth a closer look. You do the detailed planning with your usual tools.

Which paragliding apps use the MeteoSwiss models?
According to their own information: Burnair (switchable in the weather forecasts), XC Therm for the wind maps, and Wingcast [8][10]. MeteoSwiss runs the ICON-CH1 and ICON-CH2 models itself [19].

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Status: 31 October 2026, checked on 26 and 31 October. All statements about other services come from their official sources. Features change, so we review this page several times a year.

Sources

• [1] Burnair, 4D start site forecasts for all launch sites and launch site forecasts in Europe
• [2] Burnair, Extended 4D launch site forecast
• [3] Burnair help, Daily and half-hourly rating of the thermal forecast and 4D thermal forecasts
• [4] Burnair help, Figures in the thermal forecast (flight distance) and 4D route forecast
• [5] Burnair help, Launch site finger and Previtemp finger and Models of the wind and cloud forecasts
• [6] Burnair, Pressure differences live and subscription overview
• [7] Burnair, Wind alert and Wind alert for south foehn
• [8] Burnair help, Model choice ICON-D2/EU and ICON-CH1/CH2
• [9] XC Therm, Home page
• [10] XC Therm, FAQ
• [11] SoaringMeteo, Home page
• [12] SoaringMeteo, Source code
• [13] Meteo-Parapente, The model
• [14] Meteo-Parapente, Data sources
• [15] Meteo-Parapente, User manual
• [16] Meteo-Parapente, App Store and Google Play
• [17] Paraglidable, Home page
• [18] Paraglidable, Source code
• [19] MeteoSwiss, ICON forecasting systems
• [20] Burnair, burnair Map: features
• [21] XC Therm, Wave forecast

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