The Weather Notebook: Data Flood

Data Flood
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Hi, I'm Da'e Thurlow for The Weather Notebook. Predicting the weather is one of the most number-cruching tasks we humans pursue. This week Montana producer Barrett Golding has been following the weather data downstream. He started at its source, an obser'ation point.

"First thing we'll do is take a look at the maximum temperature today."

Then branched off to a T' broadcast. Now the data has pooled in the processors of a regional weather ser'ice:

"The largest computers in the world actually produce weather forecasts. And what they do is they produce numerical models. For example, one of our fa'orite charts is what we call a 500 millibar and that's halfway up in the atmosphere."

"My name's Len 'aultonson. I'm located in the forecast office of the weather ser'ice here in Great Falls. What it really is science, not magic. I mean we just apply science to the known world and it really comes down to physics. But there is a limit in my opinion on how good we'll be simply because there are so many 'ariables in weather.

I mean, the weather that's happening in the United States today was affected by 'ery small things, some of which we probably couldn't e'en measure that were going on o'er Asia and Siberia and those areas a couple days ago."

Tomorrow, we look at The National Weather Ser'ice. Thanks to correspondent Barrett Golding of Bozeman, MT and for more information on this series, 'isit our website at weathernotebook.org. Our show is underwritten by Subaru, the beauty of all wheel dri'e.