About Forecast Page/Warning Map...
When you click on the warning map from the our front welcome page, you will get a forecast page for that particular location. This page explains some of the features that you see on that forecast page.
There is no better source for current or forecast weather information on the web
than your forecasts from NOAA's National Weather
Service. It provides you with:
- A quick overview of expected weather for the next 7 days,
- Links to the latest weather hazards in your area,
- Current weather conditions near your location with links to recent
weather conditions from around the area,
- An icon (click to enlarge) to your local Doppler weather radar image,
- An icon (click to enlarge) of a local satellite image,
- Options to read your forecast in Spanish,
- A link to the local National Weather Forecast office, as well as links to other information
provided by that office.
Forecast Page Features
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Point forecasting
In this age of digitalized forecasts, you now can get a weather forecast from the National Weather Service generally within 2 miles (3.5 km) of your desired location. Since 2003, the National Weather Service has been producing forecast points on a grid with gridpoint located every 3 miles (5 km). What does this mean for you? Your forecast are now relevant to your location and no longer necessarily at the local airport or across regions that could exceed 2500 square miles.
Want to see the digitalized gridded graphics? Visit the National Weather Service's Digital Database at:
http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/sectors/
Want to read more about Point Forecasts ?
Frequently Asked Questions...
Where is the Freezing/Snow Level Data?
The snow level will not be available, as this page is a point forecast page. In this case, it uses the elevation from your grid point, and determines whether snow or rain forecast, and lists that as the forecast. So, if you want snow level, you will need to access the edited zone forecast. This ZONE FORECAST link can be found at the lower right of each forecast page (when clicking from the map), or, use Zone Forecast link found on the Forecast/Discussion page.
Why is my elevation incorrect? When you click on a city or type in your zip code or city name, our computers search for the latitude and longitude of your query and relate the location to a grid square.
Since the resolution of the grid square cannot account for every possible elevation
within that grid, it only displays the elevation of the center point of the grid.
Therefore, some elevations may be different than what they actually are.
Does this affect the forecast that is shown? Yes and no.
The icons or images at the top of our forecast page (Forecast at a Glance)
are based on the elevation of the center point of a 2 mile square grid, while the text
forecast comes from our Point Forecast database. Note, the text forecast, or zone forecast, (Detailed
7-day Forecast) is the forecast for a larger, but meteorologically similar area.
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 Forecast-at-a-Glance
One of the first things you will notice will be icons and a short one to three word forecast for your location of interest. This is intended to provide you a quick glance at the forecast. The time the forecast was issued is listed on the right side above the icons. The one or two word forecast is usually for the most hazardous weather anticipated during that forecast period. Should you see hazardous weather mentioned then check the detailed forecast for complete information.
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Hazardous Weather and the Detailed Forecast
The detailed forecast section serves two purposes. First, links are provided for all hazardous weather watches, warnings, advisories, and/or outlooks for your location. This section also provides the full text of the weather forecast for the next seven days.
Frequently Asked Questions...
Where is the Freezing/Snow Level Data?
The snow level will not be available, as this page is a point forecast page. In this case, it uses the elevation from your grid point, and determines whether snow or rain forecast, and lists that as the forecast. Again, if you want snow level, you will need to access the edited zone forecast. This ZONE FORECAST link can be found at the lower right of each forecast page (when clicking from the map), alternatively use the Zone Forecast link found under Forecasts --> Discussion/Text page.
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Current Weather Conditions
The latest weather conditions near your location are displayed along with the time
of observation.
The current conditions are displayed using the closest observation to the center points
of each grid cell shown below. When the air temperature is less than 60°F, the
wind chill value will be provided. For temperatures 60°F or greater,
the heat index displayed.
Two Day History is list of the weather for the past 48 hours at
that location. From this summary you can also view the maximum and minimum temperatures
as well as see the hourly, three-hourly, and six-hourly rainfall totals.
More Local Wx is a link to up to an additional 10 weather
observation sites in the region. Clicking on any observation name will also provide
a "Two Day History" for that site.
Frequently Asked Questions...
Why is my weather not available? Missing weather station
observations can occur when an instrument breaks or is removed by the owner.
Occasionally, a station will break or is removed and there will be “Observation
not available or Not Current” text highlighting the outage. Most of the time
they are quickly fixed and back in operation within a few days. However, sometimes
they are not fixed and currently there is not an easy way to tell which ones are
working properly and which ones are not. So, if a station fails to report for a
couple weeks, let us know, and we will try to remove it.
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Doppler Radar and Satellite Images
These thumbnail images give you
a quick glance at any weather on your local doppler radar and an overview of the infrared
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) covering your region. Clicking
either thumbnail will show the full image.
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Additional Information
These are links to provide additional relevant information. The number of
links and information provided vary with each weather forecast office and are
adapted to the needs of the local area. At a minimum, there will be two links;
Area Forecast Discussion (the reasoning behind the forecast)
and Local Climatology (past weather information for the area).
One additional link is located in the upper left area above the Forecast-at-a-Glance
icons. This is the link to the local weather forecast office that issued the forecast. |
The forecast material found on the Forecast at a Glance web page is from
the National Digital Forecast Database, or NDFD. For more
information about the NDFD including how it is produced and how you can use it
for a wide variety of uses such as XML and web site links, visit the NDFD web
site at:
http://www.weather.gov/ndfd/technical.htm
You can access the actual gridded graphics at:
http://www.weather.gov/forecasts/graphical/sectors/
In additions, you can access even more detailed site-specific forecast information such
as hourly forecast information and meteograms for those important outdoor activities,
visit the your local National Weather Service Forecast Office's website.
For information about wireless access to National Weather Service
forecast and current weather conditions including the latest local Doppler
weather radar information (really cool when you are on the road, at the
construction site or at the ball field), visit this web site:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/cte.htm
Can I tell you what I think about the map?
You are welcome to provide us feedback about the Watch/Warning maps here http://www.nws.noaa.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=conus_wwa_map.
Can I tell you what I think about the forecast?
You are welcome to provide us feedback about the Forecasts and formats also. Just reply via the webmaster link, often found on the left side menu, or at the bottom of this or the forecast page. |
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