The Use of Computers for the Display of Meteorological Information

Computer displays are especially useful for nowcasting and very-shortrange forecasting of regional and local weather events. Nowcasting is the extrapolation of current weather to some future time, based on the behavior of existing phenomena as described by intensive observations. Extrapolation is considered to involve no physics, dynamics, or the application of numerical or conceptual models. How long it is successful depends heavily upon the phenomenon itself, the location, and, more than likely, the season. Very-short-range forecasting is the anticipation of events beyond the period during which extrapolation usually works but not beyond 12 h. These definitions, proposed by Zipser (1983), are adopted here. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.