Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.
I have been fascinated by the weather since I was very young. Despite being
sidetracked by other pursuits over the years, I have always been
interested in watching and learning about the atmosphere.
The advent of the Internet enabled the public to obtain quality weather
data without relying on television reports. These data are available for the
entire U.S. and much of the world. Many sites offer complete sets of data for
a given location, presented in a style reminiscent of TV broadcasts. For those
who have knowledge of the weather beyond that held by a layperson, or for
those who are wanting to learn more about the weather, the more advanced data
available from certain sites is a valuable resource. I have learned much about
analysis and forecasting by browsing this data. As a participant in the
National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest, I became familiar with many
different sources of data, and developed preferences for some sources based on
their reliability and appearance.
Here, I've selected basic data from a wide range of sources. Many of these
products are based on the same source data (most of it disseminated by the
U.S. Government), but all of them are mentioned here to illustrate the
diversity of Internet weather information. Upon browsing the information
you'll probably quickly see that there are many different ways of displaying
the same data.
You are encouraged to view the data on this page using a tabbed browser
(e.g., Firefox). The links below open in
the current window unless you choose otherwise (middle-click can be set to
open a new tab in Firefox/Netscape, making surfing a breeze)
NOAA FSL Mesonets. The absolute bottom line. Pretty much every kind of surface observation available to the public over the internet can be viewed here. Java interface similar to that in the previous link.
Texas A&M Weather Interface. For retreival of METAR, MOS, and raw model interpolations (my personal favorite). NWS forecasts, watches, and warnings are also available.
Global Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly. From the US Navy. A useful tool for diagnosing El Niño events and regions of abnormally warm water during hurricane season.
MODIS Today. Insanely photorealistic satellite images of the U.S., taken daily. Beautiful.
CIMSS Satellite Blog.
Related to the MODIS project; scientists from the University of Wisconsin's CIMSS department pick shots of newsworthy events.
NOAA FSL Sounding Data. A database of both current and archived upper-air data. The site allows you to either display a sounding on a Skew-T or download the raw data in one of various formats.
All model data must be taken with a grain of salt. For NAM/GFS/NGM/RUC, check out the NCEP Model Diagnostic Discussion. Also, there is a standard disclaimer that non-meteorologists should read before viewing unedited model forecasts.
Synoptic charts
NCEP. Straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. NCEP is the primary agency running models for the United States. Usually their charts are the most reliable and timely, since they are generated by the same systems producing the actual forecast data.
Penn State. The e-Wall shows charts, charts, and more charts! Nifty JavaScript 'rollover' feature hastens comparison of runs/timesteps.
College of DuPage. RUC, Eta, GFS, NGM, Euro, UKMET available. They provide many more different output products than most other sites do. Also check out their winter-weather tools.
UCAR RAP products for various models: RUC | Eta | GFS | MM5
Earl's Model Page. If the above links don't satisfy you, something here should. This site arguably has more types of model products than any other.
Point data
Bufkit. An incredible software package for displaying and manipulating model data at specific points. Free for all to download. See here for data files.
MOS Products. Here provided by the NOAA Meteorological Development Lab. MOS is a statistically "corrected" forecast, generated for a surface observation site, that integrates the effects of many phenomena which would cause the raw model forecast to differ from the actual outcome. Much of the Weather Channel's local forecast products is derived from MOS.
FOUS Bulletins. Here provided by Ohio State University. Not quite MOS; not corrected, but more detailed.
Rutgers FOUS/MOS Archive. It may seem odd that there is a site hosting old forecasts, but they are tremendously useful in performance verification.
Teleconnection analyses and forecasts
Some are probably familiar with the "Butterfly Effect," the
concept that very small perturbations in one part of the world (e.g., the
turbulence caused by the flapping of a butterfly's wings in China) can create
incredible effects far away (e.g., thunderstorms in the U.S.). This is not
completely unfounded, although it's not necessarily as dramatic.
Teleconnections involve atmospheric phenomena that respond to changes in
atmospheric phenomena in other parts of the world, and perhaps at other points
in time. A common example is the El Niño, which is very important, but
blown out of proportion by the media. In many cases it is possible to use
teleconnections to make general assumptions about the future state of the
atmosphere on a continental scale. Some teleconnections are more useful by
observing their current state ("phase"), while others are more useful
by using predictions of their phase in the future.
It's Haby Time! A weather-education site from Jeff Haby, MSU professor. A wonderful reference for "weather weenies" of all ages and education levels.
AMS Online Journals. The American Meteorological Society charges out the wazoolie for current and recent articles in their journals, but any articles more than 5 years old are posted here, free to all.
