The truth behind a weather forecast

Weather is the number one topic of conversation across the country and one that seems to strike a nerve among most Canadians.

Whether celebrating the beautiful conditions together or commiserating when the weather spells trouble, all eyes are on the forecast daily.

But what goes into creating that forecast and how are certain changes reflected?

Computer models are the main tools that meteorologists use.

"There are several computer models that we look at to come up with the forecast," says Gina Ressler, a meteorologist at The Weather Network. "Two Canadian models (run by the Canadian Meteorological Centre), two American models (run by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction), and two European models (run by the UK Met Office and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts)."

When new model data comes in, the meteorologists will compare the model fields against actual observations like radar, satellite and surface observations. That helps to decide which models are doing the best and identify any possible errors as well.

 

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=The_truth_behind_a_weather_forecast_07_09_2012