charlestonwx.com brings forecasts in-house with new computer model
One of my goals has always been to bring forecasting for Charleston Weather in-house. What the National Weather Service does is very well-respected and should be commended, but I’ve also wanted to tackle the challenge of creating my own forecasts for the area. I’m pleased to report this is now a reality thanks to the Forecastronic 9000, a dramatic step forward in computer-generated weather forecasts.
How does Forecastronic work?
Forecastronic, a joint collaboration between our friends at neowx and myself, ingests data from periodic NWS soundings as well as the entire set of Level II NEXRAD data across the WSR-88D network. This, combined with reports from individual weather stations — including the rain gauge in your backyard — helps Forecastronic generate proper forecasts for any locale in the United States.
Forecastronic’s credentials
Having access to the Forecastronic for our forecasts is exciting in many ways, but is mostly exciting because it is the first believed hypercertified computer model in existence, passing rigorous standards tests from all the major meteorological bureaus across the world. So, when you look up your Forecastronic-generated outlook for the next 36 hours, you’ll know that it will be reliable and accurate.
Special severe weather detection capability
The Forecastronic uses a new index to determine whether severe weather is imminent: the Total Available Convective Opportunity Index. It has three levels: Mild indicates a chance for thunderstorms, but nothing terribly strong; Hot indicates that convective activity is stronger and could support high cloud tops and hail-producing storms; and, finally, Explosive indicates that thunderstorms carry a high possibility of tornadic activity.
Forecastronic is Web 2.0 ready
Forecastronic is also the first computer model known to man to output its raw results to Twitter. This means you can follow Forecastronic in your Twitter timeline, and when each Forecastronic model run is completed, you’ll get your hypercertified forecast before anybody else.
It’s my hope that Forecastronic will help expand the services that we can provide; I’m hoping soon to tweak the model even further so we can provide 14-day forecasts with reasonable skill — something that not even the government is doing yet.
As always, thanks for sticking with charlestonwx.com as we build and grow!