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Salem Clock Shop - 1085 Broadway Street NE, Salem, OR 97301 - (503) 581-3803 Fax: (503) 581-3331 |
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Watch television forecasts in order to learn more about the weather. |
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Watching TV Weather Forecasts |
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Watching good, detailed TV weather forecasts is an excellent way to learn more about the weather once you have started to understand the factors that are involved in its formation.
Good weather forecasting is often accompanied by an explanation of the reason for things as they stand at the moment, and is frequently as educational as it is informative.
Watching the local weather forecast after you have made your own predictions is a good way to double check your results against the experts.
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We have been pleasantly surprised at times by the accuracy of our own computations, even when they seemed to be at odds with common sense. Once, a low pressure area passed over us moving toward the east as usual, and a ridge of high pressure off the Pacific coast had replaced it bringing us fair weather.
Nevertheless, our glass-jar barometer started to fall rapidly and the only thing that we could think was that the low pressure area was starting to backtrack and was, somehow or other, approaching again from the east. When we watched KGW-TV from Portland the following day, this turned out to be exactly the case.
It’s not really cheating to watch the pros from time to time when you’re stumped or when you would really like a general update on things as seen by radar, satellites, and hosts of electronic sensors.
After you have gained enough experience, and are achieving high accuracy with your forecasts, you may know as well (or even better) what the weather in your particular section of micro-climate may do.
One thing that is extremely useful is knowing where low pressure areas are located relative to you. It is often possible to deduce their locations with home measurements (i.e. wind from the south, low is approaching...wind from the north, low has passed and so forth) but a session with the TV weathermen will clear up any doubts.
One advantage that you have over the professionals is that you’re not under any pressure to cover all the bases. I have watched TV weather people predict a possibility of late-afternoon thunderstorms for days in a row without having a single one materialize. We ourselves didn’t see much likelihood of any such thing beyond the slightest chance, and predicted that there would, in fact, be none. We was right! |