Page Table of Contents
Links to National Weather Service Forecast webpages:
National Weather Service Forecast Maps
National Weather Service Graphical Forecasts
Climate Prediction Center Long Range Forecasts
NOAA CONUS Graphical Forecasts
Precipitation Amounts - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3
Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts - Days 4-5 and 6-7
WPC 6-Hour Probabilistic Precipitation Guidance for Days 1-3
Weather and climate forecasting is not a science
(Statistics is a science; that does not make the subject it is applied to a science).
Any weather forecast is a statistically-based guess. Anything beyond about three days: a month, three months, a year, in 2030, or in 2100 is a shot in the dark. Call it weather or climate, the math is all the same.
Consider:
1. It is not even possible to explain, in an area where it is currently raining, why rain is occurring in one specific locale, while it is not raining in another specific locale nearby.
2. Nor is it possible, knowing the current locales of where it is raining and not raining, to predict the movement of those patches, nor the specific reasons why those patches occur or dissipate.
3. Nor is there any means of detecting where those raining and not-raining patches are, except by physically being present at the particular occasions.
4. Wind conditions are similarly unpredictable. A forecast of "gusts to 20mph" does not explain why, when, and where the gusts will specifically occur, nor the specific wind speed.
The longer-term the forecast, the increasingly less accurate it will be. "The long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible." - p.771, Third Assessment Report, published in 2001 by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Prove it yourself: On any seven-day forecast, save the forecast for seven days out. Compare it to the actual weather when that day comes.
Note these weather and climate forecasting issues:
(1) The parameters used in any computer modeling can be set up to predict any outcome desired (i.e., due to personal bias or that of the organization funding the forecast).
(2) Seemingly-insignificant changes to any model's parameters can result in a radically-different forecast. Computer forecast models of the weather have no validity; they are only accurate to the degree that the future is just like the past, which is never true.
See these various issues affecting the accuracy of weather forecasting.
During update periods (00Z-01Z and 12Z-13Z) charts may appear out of order. Be careful to note chart date and time.
During update periods (00Z-01Z and 12Z-13Z) charts may appear out of order. Be careful to note chart date and time.
Weather and climate forecasting is not a science
(Statistics is a science; that does not make the subject it is applied to a science).
Any weather forecast is a statistically-based guess. Anything beyond about three days: a month, three months, a year, in 2030, or in 2100 is a shot in the dark. Call it weather or climate, the math is all the same.
Consider:
1. It is not even possible to explain, in an area where it is currently raining, why rain is occurring in one specific locale, while it is not raining in another specific locale nearby.
2. Nor is it possible, knowing the current locales of where it is raining and not raining, to predict the movement of those patches, nor the specific reasons why those patches occur or dissipate.
3. Nor is there any means of detecting where those raining and not-raining patches are, except by physically being present at the particular occasions.
4. Wind conditions are similarly unpredictable. A forecast of "gusts to 20mph" does not explain why, when, and where the gusts will specifically occur, nor the specific wind speed.
The longer-term the forecast, the increasingly less accurate it will be. "The long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible." - p.771, Third Assessment Report, published in 2001 by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Prove it yourself: On any seven-day forecast, save the forecast for seven days out. Compare it to the actual weather when that day comes.
Note these weather and climate forecasting issues:
(1) The parameters used in any computer modeling can be set up to predict any outcome desired (i.e., due to personal bias or that of the organization funding the forecast).
(2) Seemingly-insignificant changes to any model's parameters can result in a radically-different forecast. Computer forecast models of the weather have no validity; they are only accurate to the degree that the future is just like the past, which is never true.
See these various issues affecting the accuracy of weather forecasting.