"9. The weather model is crummy. I know the North Atlantic was a crappy place in the winter, but come on. Three straight weeks of hurricane force winds and rain doesn't seem quite realistic to me."
The strongest winds we get are 15 m/s this is roughly 30 knts. Average wind speeds in hurricanes are 100 Knts, so we are far from that...
Having spent many winters in the west of France, I can tell you winter storms are often a lot more than 30 knts IRL...
As for the rain, in my hometown we predict weather in winter by looking at a cape (cape Frehel) and it goes : " if you see the cape, rain is coming. If you don't see it, it's already raining."
The problem with weather change is that when you save the game, the counter is reset. I find SH3 Weather being helpful even if not perfect.