over the hill Weather

A day lasts about 73 minutes of real time. One real second is a third of a game minute, so a game hour is about 3 real minutes. Each sky stays up for a random 1 to 4 game hours, about 3 to 12 real minutes. The average stay is 2.5 game hours. A day passes about 10 skies, and the sky changes about every 7.6 real minutes.

The next sky comes from that row's short list. The percent after each name is the rounded chance of that follower.

Single player stores the clock and the sky of the area you are in when you finish a point of interest, use a portal, leave the Mechanic, or quit. Loading that area from the menu restores both. A portal still gives the area you arrive in a new random clock and sky. A multiplayer session rolls the clock and the sky when it starts, and it does not use the saved ones.

Night starts at 20:00. Each Canada area then rolls a 15% chance of an aurora for that night. No sky cancels an aurora. Algeria does not roll one. Morning Drive is a sunrise, Golden Hour is a sunset, and Night Walker is 20 km driven at night. The camp tool, below, is the way to skip the clock.

Printed shares are rounded, so the whole-percent rows add to 98% in Canada plus Imminent Storm under 1%, and 98% in Algeria.

Spawn rules follow the Animals cell. All means every species can spawn. Some means only the wet-weather species. None means a storm, and nothing spawns.

Canada, from the printed shares: All 64% plus Imminent Storm under 1%, Some 25%, None 9%. Algeria: All 88%, Some 4%, None 6%.

Some, Canada: Light Precipitation 12%, Heavy Precipitation 5%, Dense Fog 5%, Receding Storm 3%. Some, Algeria: Receding Storm 3%, Light Precipitation 1%.

None, Canada: Snow Storm 6%, Thunder Storm 2%, Hail Storm 1%. None, Algeria: Dust Storm 6%. Sand Storm is 1% in Algeria and still All, so animals keep spawning under it.

The wildlife list marks Beaver, Elk, Mule Deer, Gray Wolf, Moose as also showing in wet weather.

The Cloud Clearing Bell sets the sky to Clear for everyone in the session. Clear then lasts 1 to 4 game hours, and the next sky is drawn from Canada Clear or Algeria Clear. If the sky is already Clear, the bell is not used up.

The camp tool skips 12 game hours in about 44 seconds. The sky keeps changing during that skip, which is how you wait out a storm. Everyone in the party has to be within 15 m.

Weather changes two things about driving: how a wet truck grips, and which animals spawn. Storms deal no damage. Wind only changes the sound.

Those rain skies soak the truck over 2 minutes. It dries 40 seconds after the rain stops. Spinning the wheels in water, or going fully under, soaks the truck in 15 seconds. It dries in 40 seconds. A snow storm covers the ground over 2 minutes. Once the snow has settled, the truck picks it up in 30 seconds, and snow on the truck counts as wet. Ground snow melts over 12 minutes, or over 5 minutes in rain.

Whichever of rain, water and snow is highest sets how wet the truck is. Each wheel then changes grip for the ground under it, by the fully wet amount below. The dry grip shown with each ground is for stock tires. Deep snow, shallow snow, snow and water stay the same wet or dry. A dash means drag does not change.

Tires Stage 2 adds 0.08 grip on every surface. That covers the 0.04 loss on rock, dirt, gravel, grass, overgrown ground and loose rock, and it matches the 0.08 loss on ice. It does not cover the 0.10 loss on wood planks, bricks, metal, logs and quicksand. Tires Stage 3 adds 0.16, which covers that 0.10. Wet sand gains 0.04 grip and 0.08 drag.

Sand Surfer is 20 km on sand. Get Out of My Swamp is 20 km through mud. Wet Socks is 5 km through water. Sand, mud and water are the ground under the truck. Sand Storm is the Algeria sky, separate from the sand surface.