FAQs
What is weather?
- Weather is the set of atmospheric conditions we experience moment to moment.
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Weather brings sunshine, clouds, rain or snow according to the seasons.
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As a complicated mix of gases having uneven temperatures, pressures and moistures, our atmosphere can be (more or less) unpredictable.
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An unpredictable atmosphere means unpredictable weather.
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Why do we forecast weather?
- We forecast weather to make our lives simpler...no one likes getting caught in the rain.
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Construction, telecommunications, agricultural planning, transportation, travel, recreation...all these are affected by local weather events.
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21 st -Century planning is not possible without accurate weather forecasting .
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How do we forecast weather?
- Modern weather forecasting relies on predictive atmospheric models.
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U.S. climatology is dominated by the westerlies, the major surface winds that drive weather out of the west and into the east.
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Sebastian Junger said it best...in concept, U.S. weather prediction can be as simple as " calling a friend in a city to your west and asking him to stick his head out the window ;" your friend's weather should show up soon in your city.
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Precise and accurate forecasting, of course, is a far more complicated matter...the National Weather Service within the Department of Commerce spends millions of dollars every year on experts using a wide assortment of instruments carried by sea-going ships, off-shore buoys, weather balloons, airplanes and satellites in orbit.
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The data collected by these instruments are fed into linked arrays of powerful computers running sophisticated software packages.
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Human forecasters analyze the output and look for patterns and clues.
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Human forecasters add experience and intuition to the output, all in hope of seeing what tomorrow's weather might bring.
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What is AWS WeatherNet? - AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc ., owns and operates the largest private network of weather stations in the world.
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AWS WeatherNet is an award-winning web-based education technology head-quartered in Gaithersburg, MD.
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WeatherNet resources are used in elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools throughout the U.S.
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Weathernet Classroom version 1.8 offers educational technology and weather, geography, math, and science lesson plans.
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