Is Weather Forecasting More Accurate Today, Than In Past Decades?

Discussion in 'Weather & Natural Disasters' started by Boris Boddenov, Feb 1, 2021.

  1. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    If the systems come off the water and have to pass through the mountains (or very close to them) that combination could complicate forecasting. You can figure that out for your location. This definitely exists in Maine, British Columbia, Alaska, and parts of California, Washington, and Oregon.
     
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  2. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    That's never the case here except with hurricanes heading north up the coast and their cyclonic action coming off the water and onto land...but that's not a "system" migrating on a path. All of our weather comes from the northwest, the dead west, the southwest, or the dead south. We never get it from dead north or from any easterly direction, with the aforementioned hurricane exception.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 18, 2021
  3. Boris Boddenov

    Boris Boddenov Very Well-Known Member
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    Your conclusion makes a good point.

    Also, they try to be too specific, at least NWS does. Today for example, wind advisory for my county to begin at 8 am; 30 miles to the north 10 am; 40 miles to the south 11 am.o_O
     
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  4. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Here's an hourly forecast for 10 days out from Weather Underground. Notice all the elements:

    WUnderground forecast.jpg
     
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  5. Boris Boddenov

    Boris Boddenov Very Well-Known Member
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    Hey JB, are you guys in for wind advisory today too?
     
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  6. Boris Boddenov

    Boris Boddenov Very Well-Known Member
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    Yeah, Accuweather does something like that for 30 days and I love it when they say something like "Rain will end in 32 minutes." :D
     
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  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Not for us. But my car has XM weather alerts (with the synopsis that freaks you out but for "safety reasons" you cannot access the entire thing while in motion), and I saw the high wind alerts for Pendleton, Grant and Mineral counties on the northeastern border of West Virginia.

    It's been windy all day. I've been working on my firewood racks but could not mess with cutting down & installing the tarp roof because it's too darned windy. We're supposed to do yard work at church tomorrow AM. It's supposed to calm down by then.

    Regarding Weather Underground: The one thing I REALLY like is the doppler radar that's overlaid onto a street map. I can center the map over my house, zoom in way closer than the NOAA site, and see the violent cells embedded in storms and know if they're gonna pass or if I need to hunker down. W.U. is all about the local market. When we get fiber internet installed, I'm gonna buy a weather station and connect it to their website.
     
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  8. Mary Robi

    Mary Robi Veteran Member
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    The problem with weather forecasting in Florida is that it can be raining on one side of the road and bone dry on the other side. We put our picnics on wheels and move 'em around....LOL.

    I just wish I could have had a job where I was wrong half of the time and still got paid the big bucks for it.
     
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