This weekends weather

[jmace]

I didnt know that Water, very cool, discussions from point forecasts.

 

You guys are very lucky between UW and NOAA what is publically available for weather.

[Snowman_Jim]

There are several NWS products, I think there may be some confusion here.

 

The discussion is the forecasters narrative that is issued with each update. (Usually somewhere around 3 am/pm and 9am/pm) This is by forecast office, not by zone. Mt Hood will differ from Mt Baker because Hood is covered by the portland office and Baker by a different one - I assume Seattle.

 

The discussion covers their opinion of the models, updates they made from the previous forecast, possible updates the next person might be considering, etc. It usually indicates their confidence in the forecast which I find especially useful. (My favorite read something like "we're unanimous in our outlook, but we could be unanimously incorrect".

 

There are also zone forecasts, which cover smaller areas within a forecast office region. Usually these are delineated by geography, so the mountain zones will specify freezing or snow levels etc. These give the forecast for each specific time period such as today, tonight, tomorrow, etc. How far ahead they go seems to depend on the confidence.

 

The discussions are excellent for an overview of whats going on, the general confidence, etc. The zones are the best source for details such as freezing levels, amount of snowfall, etc. Use both of them.

 

The clickable map is a cool idea but I agree that it is probably just interpolating from the broader forecast. I would take any refinement it offers to the zone forecast with a grain of salt.

[Sherri]

My favorite read something like "we're unanimous in our outlook, but we could be unanimously incorrect".

 

Well, that about covers it.

 

I love those discussions, especially when they randomly insert some unscientific turn of phrase. It's like weather poetry.

[summitchaserCJB]

hahah. classic.