When Weather Underground first started up years ago I swapped many
emails with their top staff on formatting issues. They were extremely
responsive to my comments, which I also documented on the USMA mail list.
A couple of days ago I sent off a detailed email to NWS Nashville
commenting on some formatting issues on their SI version of the
point-forecast pages they produce. I got a nice reply saying that my
comments were being forwarded to their Science and Operations Officer
and their Warning Coordination Officer for input, direction, and advice.
I agree with John regarding the general quality of Weather Underground
as compared to NWS but for one thing. The NWS site does provide "point"
forecasting, centered on a specified latitude and longitude with
elevation as a factor. Here on the escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau
that makes a large difference in the forecast values, reflecting the
difference in actual weather conditions as compared to the "valley"
below or the plateau above. The "point" is still an average of an area
but it is a small area, probably one grid square on their model. If the
graphic is to be believed, I would estimate it as 2 km by 2 km in
extent. I've tweaked this and it has my elevation within 10 m and my
location as near as I can get it to the actual lat/long of the wireless
Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station near my house. The forecast high and
low temperatures for the next 24 h are almost always within 1 °C. Those
who live in the "flatlands" with fewer effects due to orothography would
not need such sensitivity to local microenvironment.
Jim Frysinger
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
On 2013-03-13 12:15, c...@traditio.com wrote:
Reference was made on this list by John Steele to the www.National
Weather Service's forecast page (www.weather.gov). I would like to
point out that the NWS site is quite an inferior source for such
information.
I would recommend instead Weather Underground
(www.weatherunderground.com) as by far the best resource available,
better even than Accuweather. Its metric usage is perfection, having
been worked on by our own USMA meteorologist, Dr. Don Hillger.
EVERYTHING is in SI units, if you set it that way under Settings (Metric
instead of English units, as they are called there). Moreover, the
amount of information far surpasses that of the NWS site, as thousands
of local digital weather stations in backyards are included, with more
data, lists, and graphs than you can imagine.
Martin Morrison
Metric Training & Education Columnist, USMA's "Metric Today"
