Unit 7 Notes
Unit 7 Overview
Slide 1: The Sea Level Press./Precip. Plot
Unit 7 Overview
Have you ever watched a television weathercast from a local station or perhaps from the Weather Channel where the on-camera meteorologist refers to the "latest computer model run"?
Forecast models form the basis for many weather forecasts, and in this unit we will look at some of the basics of these computer-generated forecast products. Essentially, data from surface and upper air observations are entered into numerical models, which in turn try to define occurences in the atmosphere based on those observations.
Computer models are not perfect, and the saying "weather happens in the atmosphere, not in models" can sometimes become very apparent. These models depend on weather data that is collected at many sites throughout the world, but there is also A LOT of real estate between these data points. In this case, models can only pump out forecasts as good as the data which they use, which may or may not represent true conditions accurately.
