Exam 13: Weather Forecasting

Surface weather information is provided by more than 10,000 land-based stations and hundreds of ships and buoys providing surface weather information at least ____ times a day.

A weather ____________________ indicates that atmospheric conditions favor hazardous weather occurring over a particular region during a specified time period. A weather ____________________, on the other hand, indicates that hazardous weather is either imminent or actually occurring within the specified forecast area. Advisories are issued to inform the public of less hazardous conditions caused by wind, dust, fog, snow, sleet, or freezing rain.

A persistence forecast could be quite accurate when ____.

A weather forecast for up to a few hours (usually not more than 6 hours)is called a(n)____________________ forecast, or ____________________.

Another aid in weather forecasting is the use of ____________________, a two-dimensional vertical profile of temperature, dew point, and winds.

Which of the following can cause errors in forecasts made by numerical weather prediction models?

State the methods used in forecasting the movement of surface pressure systems and fronts.

In 300 B.C., Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle compiled all sorts of weather indicators in his book called ____________________.

A prog is ____.

Because of the atmosphere's chaotic nature, meteorologists are turning to a technique called ____________________, an approach based on running several forecast models, to improve short- and medium-range forecasts.

Even with better observing techniques and high-quality computer models, there are countless small, unpredictable atmospheric fluctuations, referred to as ____, that limit model accuracy.

Conditions such as high wind speeds, cold air moving southward, warm air moving northward, and a shortwave moving into a longwave trough will typically manifest themselves as a(n)____ of a longwave trough.

Describe the difference between persistence and steady-state forecasts.

An analysis is a ____.

The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction runs several large-scale forecast models in ____________________ mode, meaning that they have been thoroughly tested and are reliable enough for everyday use. Other models are run in ____________________ mode; these models show promise and may be consulted by forecasters, but they may not yet be robust enough for operational use.

The final forecast chart representing the atmosphere at a specified future time is called a(n)____________________, or, simply, a(n)____________________.

The ____ forecasting method assumes that weather systems will move in the same direction and at the same speed as they have been moving.

Describe the data and tools that a meteorologist assembles prior to making a weather forecast.

A comma cloud is ____.

A weather forecast for the immediate future that employs the trend method is called ____.