I don't get weather.com

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johnjohn320

johnjohn320

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2001
7,572
2
76
I'll look out my window, it's pouring rain and lightning. I look up my zip code, and of course, the map shows a huge red cell over my town, stretching on for miles. At the top is an "alert" for a flash flood warning.

But then under "current conditions" it'll say "partly cloudy, 10% chance of rain"...under the 6 hour forecast it mentions nothing about rain, just decreasing cloudiness and lowering temperatures. It's like there are two totally different interpretations of what's going on.

For that matter, why does such an officially connected website have all these stupid dancing-woman-for-mortgage-rates ads covering it? You'd think they'd have more reputable advertisers...

edit-to be clear, I'm not complaining if a forecast were to be wrong. I'm just noting two totally different forecasts, and for that matter, two totally different "current conditions" being simultaneously listed...
 
shortylickens

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
Yeah, they're pretty much full of shit all the time and NO good for planning your day.

Just check the farmers almanac. The average of the past 100 years is actually a very good way to know whats happening tomorrow, DESPITE global warming and such.
 
mmntech

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
Fingolfin269 said:
It's all about where the weather readings are actually taken and not where you live.
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This. Local conditions are not collected by Weather.com. That information is provided to them by NOAA. So what appears on the website is raw information from the source, the on ground weather station. Weather stations are usually installed at major regional and international airports. So say you live in Ann Arbor, Mi, the nearest weather station will be at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Since that's 25 miles away, it may very well be storming in one spot and sunny in the other. Forecasts for these spots are done through NOAA super computers. The TV station just interprets that data and packages it for air.
 
Fingolfin269

Fingolfin269

Lifer
Feb 28, 2003
17,948
34
91
You should be using the national weather service anyway. Seems like they're more interested in reporting the weather as opposed to driving page hits. It's funny how the weather channel forecast will say '110 degrees, doom!' but the nws page will show 104... still doom but definitely less doom.
 
johnjohn320

johnjohn320

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2001
7,572
2
76
mmntech said:
This. Local conditions are not collected by Weather.com. That information is provided to them by NOAA. So what appears on the website is raw information from the source, the on ground weather station. Weather stations are usually installed at major regional and international airports. So say you live in Ann Arbor, Mi, the nearest weather station will be at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Since that's 25 miles away, it may very well be storming in one spot and sunny in the other. Forecasts for these spots are done through NOAA super computers. The TV station just interprets that data and packages it for air.
Click to expand...

You guys aren't understanding me. My point is that their "source," wherever it is, literally lists two different weather conditions simultaneously. I'm not comparing what they say to what I see out my window. I'm literally comparing what they say to what they say.
 
Fingolfin269

Fingolfin269

Lifer
Feb 28, 2003
17,948
34
91
johnjohn320 said:
You guys aren't understanding me. My point is that their "source," wherever it is, literally lists two different weather conditions simultaneously. I'm not comparing what they say to what I see out my window. I'm literally comparing what they say to what they say.
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I'm sure there is a time variance between what is going on outside and what is actually on the web site. If you're saying the radar is showing one type of weather (from a radar source) and the "Currently" (from another source) are not in sync then that is because the currently section feed is probably coming from either a) a spot that is not inside of the section you're seeing on the radar or b) the cell is probably a 'flash' cell and the current section has not been refreshed.
 
M

marvdmartian

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2002
5,444
27
91
johnjohn320 said:
For that matter, why does such an officially connected website have all these stupid dancing-woman-for-mortgage-rates ads covering it? You'd think they'd have more reputable advertisers...
Click to expand...

Weather.com is the Weather Channel website. A company out to make a profit, in other words. They might get some information from the publicly available radar sources, etc, but they're out to make a buck.

If you want weather without flashy (stupid) ads, go to the US Weather Service's website, NOAA.gov.
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
Weather channel just gets some charismatic people to be "weathermen" (or women) and simply parrot the publicly available info on NOAA. There are no requirements, certifications, etc. to be a meteorologist.

Get the same info at NOAA.gov
 
Doppel

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
13,306
3
0
My main problem is not what OP says, I think the site at least for me is accurate--my issue is that it's chock full of garbage, it's like an internet portal from 2001. I want the weather THAT'S IT. Also I can never find UV on that site, something I think is an essential part of the weather.
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,151
10,613
126
I seldom go to the site. I get my weather through browser addons, and widgets.
 
I

imagoon

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,199
0
0
10% chance of rain = Rain in about 10% of the area, and it is raining outside your house. I don't follow what the problem is. The advertising thing = well yeah, for profit company
 
Capt Caveman

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
imagoon said:
10% chance of rain = Rain in about 10% of the area, and it is raining outside your house. I don't follow what the problem is. The advertising thing = well yeah, for profit company
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Yeah, I don't get the OP's rant. The forecast says there's a chance of rain and it's raining. Also, with the hot weather we're getting, small/quick thunderstorms can develop very quickly and out of nowhere.
 
rh71

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
Capt Caveman said:
Yeah, I don't get the OP's rant. The forecast says there's a chance of rain and it's raining. Also, with the hot weather we're getting, small/quick thunderstorms can develop very quickly and out of nowhere.
Click to expand...

no he's saying 2 pages of the website are contradicting each other.
 
mmntech

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
DrPizza said:
Weather channel just gets some charismatic people to be "weathermen" (or women) and simply parrot the publicly available info on NOAA. There are no requirements, certifications, etc. to be a meteorologist.

Get the same info at NOAA.gov
Click to expand...

Partly true. I out of the same building as the Weather Channel's Canadian counterpart. They're a separate department but we interact with them a lot since weather affects traffic. They have a large number of meteorologists on site. Most of the OCPs (on camera personalities) are CMOS members, meteorologists. They make their own forecasts based on information Environment Canada is sending them. They also have their own private weather stations. Environment Canada does a lot of the local level stuff because they have the super computers to do it. When storms hit, the station does all it's own tracking. That's because EC only says there's something there, not how bad it is or how long it will last.

It's the same on the traffic end. I get a lot of my info from government sources. Police will tell me there's a crash somewhere but usually not what lane it's in, who's on scene, how bad the backup is, how people can get around it, or when it clears. That I have to figure out myself. You may think they're just regurgitating information but there's a lot more to it than that.
 
BarkingGhostar

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,410
1,617
136
Fingolfin269 said:
It's all about where the weather readings are actually taken and not where you live.
Click to expand...
For some things, yes, but not for the Doppler radar. If it is showing movement in the form of rain falling then its covering a much broader area than the single point of the weather station location.
 
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