The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week that it has finally completed a nine-year, $180 million project aimed at installing new supercomputers to aid in more accurately predicting weather. The primary IBM supercomputer is now called Stratus. Its backup is dubbed Cirrus.
The new supercomputers, based on IBM Power 575 Systems, are capable of making 69.7 trillion calculations per second. According to NOAA, the faster the calculation speeds, the greater the chances that meteorologists can rapidly update severe weather forecasts as dangerous weather affects local communities. Billions of bytes are entered into the supercomputers each day to help predict the weather more accurately.
Just how important NOAA's new supercomputers are to our understanding and prediction of weather is easily understated.
Right now, Stratus contains about 20 weather models that predict worldwide weather accurately for about five days. A few decades ago, weather models could forecast weather accurately up to only about two days.
Those 20 weather models rarely change. They analyze conditions such as temperature, humidity, and precipitation to give organizations ranging from the National Weather Service to local meteorologists data on which they can base forecasts.
According to Ben Kyger, director of central operations for the National Center of Environmental Prediction, a division of NOAA, "We analyze weather conditions on grids we lay over maps of the world. In order for meteorologists to accurately predict a hurricane's path, for example, NOAA needs to pinpoint weather conditions in 1-kilometer grids of distance." Right now, those spans "are not even close to that."
How does it work?
In order to improve forecasting, a lot of work needs to be done. Right now, scientists from around the world are analyzing Stratus' weather models to find ways to improve them. When they think that they've come up with an improvement, NOAA analyzes the new models.
If it likes what it sees, NOAA takes it open source. It installs the new model on the Cirrus supercomputer to run in parallel with the approved model on Stratus. Scientists, weather experts, and even you and I can view the new model and inspect it for errors. Errors found are removed or tweaked. If no errors can be found, and the new data enhances weather forecasting, it will be put into operation and replace the existing model that it improved upon.
... Read moreThe weather over the past few days has been awful across the U.S. Just as I was thinking that spring had finally sprung, another six inches of snow fell and, once again, I was forced to head outside and start shoveling.
Only this time, I didn't even know the storm was coming. I hadn't visited my typical weather destinations on the Web and I hadn't checked out my mobile apps. It was, for the lack of a better term, a perfect storm. So when I woke up yesterday morning and saw just how much snow had fallen, you can imagine why I thought writing this column, detailing the best destinations across the Web for finding weather information quickly, was such a good idea.
Weather on the Web
AccuWeather
Where AccuWeather really shines is in its local page. Once you input your ZIP code, you'll be immediately brought to a page that takes a look at your local weather over the next 15 days (which is 5 more than you get at most sites). It also features hourly weather data, precipitation probabilities throughout the day, and radar images zoomed in on your location. On a calm day like today, there isn't much to see. But when bad weather is about to hit, I've found that AccuWeather's data is spot on.
For example, back in January, we were hit hard with almost a foot of snow in my area. Other sites like The Weather Channel expected the snow to start at about 8 a.m. and dump 8 inches before it moved on. When it was all said and done, AccuWeather had it right: the snow started at noon and we had over a foot to shovel out. It's not an isolated event. Time and again, AccuWeather has proved itself as the most reliable source I use for weather information.
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel's homepage is designed well and it provides good information about the biggest weather stories in the U.S. While that's a welcome addition, when something major is happening in a specific area of the country, I've found that the homepage doesn't offer much more than that, making it generally useless for quickly checking out local weather reports.
While local pages on The Weather Channel do offer basic information like current temperature and forecasts up to 10 days, I've found that there isn't as much data as I would like. In fact, the site features far less information than what you can find on a site like AccuWeather. Sure, it has the radar maps and you can put those in motion, but by and large, I was generally unimpressed by how deep it goes. And as mentioned earlier, I've found that it's not as accurate as AccuWeather, which makes it a less than ideal destination.
That said, the Weather Channel redeems itself with its ubiquity. You can easily search the site from your Firefox browser, since it's one of your choices in the search bar and if you query Google with "weather," you can search the company's site directly in the search engine. Even better, if you sign up for Weather.com, it can send weather alerts to your mobile phone or e-mail address. It's a simple addition and sometimes it can be annoying when it sends weather advisories for areas far away from where you live, but it comes in handy when a storm is on the way.
WeatherUnderground
The first thing that struck me about WeatherUnderground was how well it's designed. Unlike the sites mentioned already, WeatherUnderground's front page features a map placed prominently in the middle of the page, as well as a general forecast for the entire nation if you want to get a quick view of what's going on. The site also makes it easy to switch maps from "Fronts," showing where the weather currently is, to temperature, humidity, radar, and others. It has it all.
However, once I made my way to the local page on WeatherUnderground I wasn't so impressed. It didn't forecast days nearly as far out as AccuWeather, and the information provided seemed far more basic than what I could find on competing sites. That said, it boasts an outstanding feature, dubbed "Weather Stations," that provides you with all the necessary information like temperature, current conditions, wind, and much more from every weather station in the area. When I searched for my location, I found more than 30 weather stations. It was an ideal tool to find out how the weather was around town.
WeatherUnderground isn't the best destination on the Web if you want accurate weather data; AccuWeather once again provided the best forecasts. But with a great-looking homepage and some useful features found on its local pages, WeatherUnderground isn't a bad stop on your way to finding local reports and extended forecasts.
Mobile apps and alerts
You can also find some nice tools on your mobile phone, including mobile apps and alert services that make it quick and easy to get weather data no matter where you are. (Note: Each of the sites above offer free weather apps that I won't review here. But I will say that they're all worth using.)
WeatherBug
WeatherBug isn't the best forecast destination and it won't stand up to more robust online sites like AccuWeather, but when you're in a rush and you want information quickly, it's an ideal app because it's free and feature packed.
When I started using WeatherBug on my iPhone, I was shocked at how much the developers packed into the lightweight app. Along with forecasts and radar, the app boasts hour-by-hour data, precipitation expectations, and much more. But my favorite feature has little to do with weather at all: each location you search for in WeatherBug features a camera page, which lets you see a real-time snapshot of the area. It's depressing when I look outside and see snow and then look up Key West, Fla., in WeatherBug and see a beach and sunny skies. But it's still a neat feature.
WeatherBug also provides alerts and advisories from the National Weather Service. In a matter of moments after a weather advisory is issued, WeatherBug pings the app and updates its alerts section with the advisory. It's a useful feature when the weather gets really bad.
The National Weather Service Mobile
Along with your local forecast and current conditions, the National Weather Service mobile page features a satellite image of the U.S. that you can loop, and local radar to see where the bad weather is and where it's going. It's simply the best way to get radar data on a mobile phone.
Weather Alerts
Weather Alerts will send you a text message or e-mail each time there's a weather advisory issued by the National Weather Service. The information includes all the weather information included in the advisory, and more will filter in as conditions change. The alerts can be annoying at times, and you probably won't care to receive them once the weather advisory expires, but it's a good way to receive updates when your power is out and you need information quickly, for example.
Weather Alerts are free and the information they provide couldn't be more up-to-date or useful. And although there are times when I wish I didn't subscribe to the service, it's my handy companion when the power is out and there's a bad storm raging overhead. If nothing else, it's a great service to have as a backup when you can't access other sites.
Got any of your own favorites? Leave them in the Talkback.
(Credit:
CNET)
Just in time for Groundhog Day, I pulled together a small collection of desktop weather applications for checking everything from current weather conditions to 15-day forecasts and detailed readings on wind and clouds. For those with modest forecast needs, Yahoo and Google both offer a small, attractive widget that shows the temperature at a glance. The only problem is, you have to have already installed a much larger desktop application in order to get the tiny widget.
On Friday, AccuWeather released an even simpler solution--a small weather-checker for Windows, Mac, and Linux that runs on the free Adobe AIR platform (Windows|Mac). AccuWeather's widget is about as basic as they come, with just enough information for the daily or five-day forecaster. There are daytime and nighttime readings, icons that communicate clear, cloudy, or rainy conditions at a glance, and the ability to change locations. Click a button and a five-day forecast pops out. Click another to switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius, between light and dark text, and to get a read on one of your saved locations. If you click a temperature itself, AccuWeather takes you to its Web site, where more information abounds.
The new AIR application isn't quite as polished looking as Yahoo and Google's widgets, but it makes for a convenient download that supplies desktop meteorologists the weather-watching essentials.
Google Maps has worked hard to place just about every capability you'd want when you stare at a map into its Web app. That includes the ability for third-party developers to ornament Google's maps with their own KML, or keyhole markup language, mapplets.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
AccuWeather.com announced today its Forecast Snapshot for Google Maps. The add-on slips into the MyMaps tab of a user account and offers multiple ways to fetch the weather forecast while fixating on a particular locale.
Click the map, or enter the ZIP code or city into the AccuWeather.com search bar to grab meteorological data in Celsius or Fahrenheit. AccuWeather.com displays a three-day forecast in the sidebar and on the map face, but the widgetlike qualities stop there. Clicking for compressed or extended forecasts, animated radar, or anything else opens new tabs on AccuWeather.com.... Read more
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