Weather forecasts

I've got one of those desktop gadgets on my PC screen that shows the latest weather forecast for five days. It's almost funny watching it change nearly every hour. Even the forecast for TODAY will change to make corrections when the OBSERVATION contradicted the FORECAST.

Looking at a 10 day forecast is completely useless. Forecasting the weather 10 days from now is no better than throwing a dart at forecasts written on sticky notes on a wall.

Seriously, is the weather becoming that much more unpredictable lately, or is it just getting harder to find good help in meteorology? It seems like things are actually getting worse rather than better.

:crazy03:

I'm not sure what the deal is with meteorologists but I'll bet almost anything that if you look at their resume, somewhere on it they worked at McDonalds flipping burgers.:banghead:

Actually that does make sense. I guess they got cocky with their abilities after a few years of being able to predict when the french fry buzzer was going to go off. :hehehe:

They can't even get it right 3 days out. This is just another and warm and dry winter.

I use Accuweather 30 forecast which is wrong 93.7 % of the time after 7 days.

Well today's weather certainly turned out better than I had expected. Looks like more of the same for the next couple of days then plummets to a low of 29 degrees Tuesday night. Assuming the forecast is accurate, of course.

I didn't even want to be in the garage and instead Connie and I spent time outside clearing underbrush to create a perimeter around the house. The grape vines will absolutely take over unless you keep at them. So we're going to keep at it till the mosquitoes come back to chase us out of the woods.

Still seems awesome to see butterflies in January. Also found a box turtle along one of our paths munching on a mushroom.

We have had almost no cold weather this last fall or this winter so far. At least last year we had 3 shots of cold weather that lasted a day.

Regardless of cause the climate is changing.:nonod:

You have to wonder why people will get all upset about climate change when all they are comparing to is maybe a few hundred years of recorded history. Heck, often not even that. Maybe just what they know of their memory within their own lifetimes. We just passed a milestone of a 26,000 year cycle on December 21. What was the global climate like on this planet the last time that happened? What external influences can be acted against this planet that we don't have a clue about? I don't believe anyone can make a convincing argument that the earth HAS to stay the same as we remember it within our lifetimes, much less over millennia and certainly changes have been happening LONG before mankind could have possibly had a hand in influencing those changes.

It's much like the limited lifespans of ants in an ant mound in a desert wash expecting their place in the world to remain exactly the same sunny weather, day to day, until the first big thunderstorm comes along and washes their mound away. An event that might not happen at all within the lifetimes of those ants, but last happened several of their generations ago.

We are no different in the big scheme of things in this universe. And just like those ants, there are things that we can do absolutely nothing about, even if we knew it was coming.

So, in the last 24 hours, the forecast for tonight's low changed from 29 to 35 degrees. The last forecast change was made just about an hour ago.

You can bet on record fires if we go without rain the next few months. Been so dry the last 3 months.

We've been getting some rain up here in north Florida. Matter of fact the forecast is calling for rain every day this week. At least as of today, of course. Subject to change without notice.

Rich Z said:

We've been getting some rain up here in north Florida. Matter of fact the forecast is calling for rain every day this week. At least as of today, of course. Subject to change without notice.

Click to expand...

You guys always get more in the winter. Most all of the upper level energy stays well to our north. We have rain out in the gulf but once it gets within 20 miles of the beach it dies off.

Yeah, May seems to be the driest month up here most years. That's when we tend to get the fires. We have had some VERY wet Springs, though, and when that happens, flooding is everywhere. We've had the road through our property get the bridge washed out a couple of times over the years. Jump Creek runs through the north end of our property and gets pretty wet and wild during those periods of heavy rains. Fortunately the house stays high and dry, though.

The bamboo groves tend to do better with those wet Springs, and certainly we don't have to be constantly watering the fruit trees.

Of course, during the wet weather, the Corvettes don't get to go out much....

Thanks to Accurweather I was able to plan Orlando to Maine for this past weekend .:banghead:I waited in Frederick VA for I 95 to open in Connecticut and then waited another 6 hours for additional clearing .Yep when I got to CT only one lane was open and I was the lead vehicle :banghead: There we're no road crews working at all which I could understand if I we're in the south .

When I replaced my old tire I went with Michelin all season RF and I'm glad of that .We we're sideways a few times but traction control did help and I made it home with the dirtiest Corvette in the nation .No damage ,just dirty .

Thank you Accuweather for great forcasting and thank you for absolutely nothing DOT Connecticut :thumbsdown:.

Dammit............

Watched the forecast for tonight change almost hourly until the forecast stopped because midnight rolled around. They were predicting a low of 37 overnight. Well, it's 32.5 on my front porch right now. So they cannot even get a forecast only 6 to 8 hours in the future correct. :banghead:

Hope some of the plants we should have covered up don't get damaged.

Saturday and Sunday night they are predicting a low of 28 and 27 degrees, respectively. But I guess that is subject to change without any notice as well.

Ouch! They are calling for a low of 25 degrees here tonight. Guess we'll be using up all the tarps we have to cover up as many fruit trees as we can. So we'll have to start early before it gets too dark.

The peach trees and apple trees are putting out blooms. One of the pear trees is fully leafed out right now. Some of the tangerines are putting out new growth too.

Well, I HOPE they are wrong and the temp doesn't really get that low.

Well, at 8pm they changed the forecast to be a low of only 29 degrees. So I'm not sure what we will really get. It's 30.4 degrees on the front porch right at the moment. Sunday night they are now calling for a low of 27 degrees. Subject to change without notice, of course.

Well, the low last night on the front porch got down to 25 degrees. They are still predicting 27 for tonight.

Well, the forecast for tonight is like a yo-yo. First it went up to 28 degrees, and then just recently it dropped down to 26. :shrug01: Ah well, the plants are all covered right now, at least the ones we covered last night till we ran out of tarps. Getting ready to go out and drip the irrigation pipes a bit.