Topic: Where do you get your forecast?

[ocala]

I have always used WU but I just don't like the new design. I tried Intellicast but they have ads. Never did like Weatherbug or Accuweather. The NWS pages are an option but I was wondering what everyone else uses on a regular basis.

[Dr Obbins]

NWS - because I can always trust the USA government agencies to provide honest, factual, and up to date info. 

[WeatherHost]

On the web, NWS only.

I flick the TV on a few mornings during the week and scan one of the less annoying TV stations for a few minutes to see what their Met is saying.

[Harryca]

NWS primarily.  I also use Accuweather forecast which is included in the widget that I use on my site and has been fairly accurate.

[dj1111s]

Generally WU.  But when there's nothing exciting in the forecast I'll have to admit I really don't pay much attention.  I then tend to look at what is going on in the areas we usually get our weather from.  When I do pay attention I always try to follow it up with some studying and forecasting of my own.  It's been a personal competition for me since I was very young to try to come up with my own forecast and compare it to what the Meteo's say.  I win a lot. 

[George Richardson]

Wxsim

[SlowModem]

I have PWS Weather on my site.

[ValentineWeather]

Straight off my web site courtesy NWS local office.

[cospringswx]

Straight off my web site courtesy NWS local office.

Me too.

[williamebrantley]

From different internet sources such as the N.W.S. , Weather Channel`s Site, Accu Weather, and other sites and I compare all of them and come up with my own idea or forecast and I make a blog of it at http://southjacksonweather.wordpress.com : Weather Underground & Weather Bug reposts the N.W.S.`s Forecast.

[Old Tele man]

NWS - because I can always trust the USA government agencies to provide honest, factual, and up to date info. 

That posting would've made an EXCELLENT "April Fool's Joke" statement (wink,wink)...nevertheless, it's NWS for me too.

[BigOkie]

NWS - because I can always trust the USA government agencies to provide honest, factual, and up to date info. 

That posting would've made an EXCELLENT "April Fool's Joke" statement (wink,wink)...nevertheless, it's NWS for me too.

While I realize making jokes about government workers is the thing to do these days, I happen to know the NWS lead meteo at TSA and he is a super nice guy as well as a leader in the community.

Remember, during the furlough these guys worked for nothing.

[SlowModem]

While I realize making jokes about government workers is the thing to do these days, I happen to know the NWS lead meteo at TSA and he is a super nice guy as well as a leader in the community.

Remember, during the furlough these guys worked for nothing.

Also, some of the members here work for Uncle Sam.   

[Dr Obbins]

The joke was about the government in general (that initiated the furlough for example), not individual workers that might have been hurt by it. I understand that the furlough workers received retro pay when it was all said and done? Many getting paid who did not work. As with any large group of people there are the good, bad and ugly, and the bad and ugly get all the press. The statement was a commentary on the general state of affairs and unfortunately, super nice guys can get caught up in it as well. Sorry if I offended anyone and sorry for derailing this thread.

[BigOkie]

The joke was about the government in general (that initiated the furlough for example), not individual workers that might have been hurt by it. I understand that the furlough workers received retro pay when it was all said and done? Many getting paid who did not work. As with any large group of people there are the good, bad and ugly, and the bad and ugly get all the press. The statement was a commentary on the general state of affairs and unfortunately, super nice guys can get caught up in it as well. Sorry if I offended anyone and sorry for derailing this thread.

Sure, they got retro pay.  But thanks to our goobers on the Hill, they didn't know when or if they would be going back to work (remember there was talk of scaling back the NWS during the shutdown).

That being said, to keep the topic on thread I obviously use the NWS exclusively.  Sure, I watch some of the local weather heads, but theirs doesn't deviate much from what they put out at TSA.

[WeatherHost]

Brings up a question though; where do THEY get their forecasts?  Aren't the models government run?  Isn't the radar system government run?  Some larger TV stations in major markets have their own radar, but it's only for their local area.  There are a couple of weather product providers like Barrons and Meteorlogix, but I'm not sure they do much as far as gathering weather information and creating forecasts.

Does the evil coalition (TWC/WU/Intellicast) do any original data gathering, or do they all use NOAA/NWS and NASA for the raw data/satellite imagery and put their own polish on it?

[ocala]

Brings up a question though; where do THEY get their forecasts?  Aren't the models government run?  Isn't the radar system government run?  Some larger TV stations in major markets have their own radar, but it's only for their local area.  There are a couple of weather product providers like Barrons and Meteorlogix, but I'm not sure they do much as far as gathering weather information and creating forecasts.

Does the evil coalition (TWC/WU/Intellicast) do any original data gathering, or do they all use NOAA/NWS and NASA for the raw data/satellite imagery and put their own polish on it?

I doubt they do any original gathering. I mean with the radars, sats, and government models already there all that needs to done is decipher the the data.
It is possible some of these companies may have some in house models they developed. Heck for all we know they run Wxsim to get their forecasts.
Another plus for the NWS is local knowledge. Some met sitting in the TWC Atlanta office has no idea what it's like in Rutland Vermont therefore couldn't give the best forecast.

[SLOweather]

Brings up a question though; where do THEY get their forecasts?  Aren't the models government run? 

Interesting that you should ask. Just yesterday there was an article in the local paper,

U.S. contract to buy supercomputer from China puts us 3rd place for weather forecasting

By my friend John Lindsey, in which he points out:

Awkwardly, in the weather arena, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model has outperformed the NOAA’s Global Forecasting System (GFS) weather model over the last few years.

NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center monitors various atmospheric model performances throughout the world. Their website’s verification graphs reveal that our GFS model is in third place behind the European and United Kingdom Met Office models and just ahead of the Canadian model for accuracy.

So, forecasting is also in choosing which model(s) to believe at any given time, and using your own intuition and local knowledge to interpolate accordingly.

[SLOweather]

Wxsim

WxSIM for my own use, NWS for my web pages. And therein hangs a tale.

After I ran WxSIM for a while, I noticed that it was more accurate then the NWS for temperature, and more realistic on POPs. The NWS always seems to predict higher POPS than what happens.

So, I put it on SLOweather in place of the NWS forecast.

After a while I started getting complaints.... That MY forecast didn't match the NWS forecast. I asked every whiner if they had instead compared both forecasts to what really happened. To a person, the answer was, "No". I pointed out that WxSIM was more accurate. "Huh?"

After the last complaint, I put the NWS back on the home page and a link to WxSIM under my Forecasts menu where I can check it.

End of complaints.

[BigOkie]

Wxsim

WxSIM for my own use, NWS for my web pages. And therein hangs a tale.

After I ran WxSIM for a while, I noticed that it was more accurate then the NWS for temperature, and more realistic on POPs. The NWS always seems to predict higher POPS than what happens.

So, I put it on SLOweather in place of the NWS forecast.

After a while I started getting complaints.... That MY forecast didn't match the NWS forecast. I asked every whiner if they had instead compared both forecasts to what really happened. To a person, the answer was, "No". I pointed out that WxSIM was more accurate. "Huh?"

After the last complaint, I put the NWS back on the home page and a link to WxSIM under my Forecasts menu where I can check it.

End of complaints.

Which is exactly why I don't post my website for the public to see.

[Farmtalk]

I get mine from the NWS right from my website 

However, I like to forecast my own stuff too, and when I do that, I check out Weatherbell, the SPC SREF page, and the NWS Graphical Forecast page.