What a different day today was.  We have seen such beautiful weather for so many days it almost seemed wrong to see the clouds and the rain.  I can handle a change in the pace but I think after a few days of the rain I will be very happy for the sunshine to return.  I brought in one of my weather books a couple nights ago and it really sparked a thought in my head.  When I was in college we had to take a class called “Reading the Clouds”.  Some days we would go outside and just look at the clouds and from that we would decipher what the weather would be like in 12, 24 or 36 hours.  We would hen verify our forecasts with modern day forecasting tools and see how right we were. 

It is amazing how such a simple thing can help meteorologist forecasts.  In fact there was a whole book with different cloud types that we studied and used as a guideline to forecast. ( The Weather Wizard’s Cloud Book)  This reminds how much weather forecasting has changed in the past 20 to 30 years.  This book was written in 1989 and although 20 years old it is still as pertinent to today as it was then because clouds don’t really change.  We as forecasters surely have.  We not only use the clouds to forecast but many different tools including graphical and numerical models, and satellites.  As technologyimproves I believe forecasting improves, especially long term forecasting, but like all electrical gadgets sometimes things stop working or break, maybe then we should go back to the basics and read the clouds.  The one thing about forecasting with the clouds is that it can be done for short term forecasting for example 24 hrs but once you need to forecast for 3 days plus it wouldn’t almost be impossible.

I really like one chapter in the book that talks about old folklore’s and then gives a picture describe the clouds that the tale is talking about.  For example ” Rainbow in the morning, travelers take warning. Rainbow at night, travelers’ delight.”  In the book they list about 10 different sayings and pictures of clouds to relate. 

Bet you never knew forecasting could be so easy? Just kidding.

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Storms, Weather History