Weather info comes from many sources

A couple of weeks ago, a reader e-mailed me asking why the forecasts from different media sources are sometimes so different.

A person can literally get three different forecasts for Coeur d’Alene depending on whether they watch The Weather Channel, KREM-2 News or read The Spokesman-Review. The assumption was that all of the various media outlets get their information from the same source. That is not always the case.

The official forecast for Coeur d’Alene, at least the one funded by your tax dollars, comes from the government agency called the National Weather Service in Spokane. The NWS is staffed 24/7 by a team of meteorologists who have at least a bachelor’s degree in the field. Part of their mission statement says that the agency provides data and products “… that can be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community.”

In other words, you as part of the general public, can get their forecasts and other products directly through weather radio, the Internet (http://newweb .wrh.noaa.gov/otx/), or by phone at (509) 244-5992.

Radio stations, as part of the private sector, often use the NWS forecasts in their broadcasts. Likewise, newspapers and TV stations can and often do get their information from the NWS, and repackage it to provide forecast information to their readers/viewers.

There are other sources, however, for local weather information. One of the largest private weather companies, AccuWeather in Pennsylvania, provides customized weather information for paying customers in media, businesses, government and institutions. Company meteorologists provide everything from local to international forecasts and other weather information. Currently, The Spokesman-Review uses the firm for information on the weather page in each day’s paper.

The Weather Channel used to use the NWS forecasts for its “local on the 8s,” but at some point in the last decade felt that it could provide a better product using its own computer models and meteorologists. These forecasters live in Atlanta, while forecasting for cities nationally and across the globe.

In the local television business, some stations hire meteorologists to do the weather, while others have weather anchors who look and sound good, but have no meteorological credentials or knowledge. Those who don’t have any knowledge of meteorology or forecasting, can easily take information from whatever source they choose (the most logical source being from their local National Weather Service), repackage it with flashy graphics, and report it to you on the news.

Much of the raw weather data that Weather Service meteorologists use to formulate their forecasts is available free of charge on the Internet for those who know how to interpret it. As a meteorologist, I used to pride myself on doing all of my own forecasting when working on TV. If my forecast was wrong, I had no problem taking full accountability for it.

These days, with the many nonweather related demands of television – hair, makeup and producing all those fancy graphics – it leaves me little time to devote to the actual forecasting part. So when I’m working, the majority of the time I defer to the NWS, and use their numbers.

I cannot speak for any other of the weather anchors in this market, but I know some of them take the forecast straight from the NWS, some take the NWS forecast and tweak it as they feel necessary, and others occasionally go for the gold with their very own forecast.

Now you know where some of the different forecasts are coming from. I will leave it to you to decide who does the job the best.