Weather Forecasting Tools

Weather Forecasting has become an important activity since weather plays a crucial role in all life processes. Many activities could come to a standstill if prior notices on the weather conditions are not taken into consideration. Farmers need weather information to help them plan for the planting and harvesting of their crops. Airlines need weather information to know about local weather conditions in order to schedule their flights.

In early years, there were numerous natural ways to perform weather forecasting. The ability of our ancestors to use subtle changes in animal behavior and plant growth to predict their local weather must have played an important role during their existence.

Today science has made it much easier for us to predict or forecast weather just by making use of simple weather forecasting tools at home. Today weather forecasting can be carried out using computer models, a considerable knowledge of the ways and patterns and keen observation. Output of such weather forecasting activity has a good accuracy for the next 5 days.

Weather Forecasting is mainly done by the National Weather Services while News Channels have their own labs to gather weather details for their viewers. Detailed weather information requires weather instruments such as complicated computer models but you don’t need one for basic weather predictions. Just by looking at the clouds one can forecast the weather for the next 5 – 8 hours. High and clear clouds signify good weather information whereas grey clouds and an overcast sky indicate the possibility of snow or rain. In fact it’s a natural tendency to plan our dress to wear looking at the temperature outside. If the temperature is below 15 °C we normally prefer to put on our sweater.

Meteorologists use several weather instruments to read weather and climatic changes like the thermometer to measure air temperature, anemometers that gauge wind speeds, psychrometer measures relative humidity and barometers which give information on air pressure. To read weather systems on a much larger scale a more powerful measuring unit is required such as a weather satellite. Weather Satellites can help us view various cloud formations, and adverse weather events such as floods and hurricanes across the globe. High precision output readings can be achieved by making use of these satellites.

Another such weather instrument preferred by meteorologists for weather forecasting is the Doppler radar. This radar forecasts weather by measuring the reflected sound waves. These sound waves may collide with dust particles or ice crystals within a cloud. Depending upon their distance from the radar we can determine the frequency with which they reflect which will help us to get accurate weather readings for that particular time.