FROM TODAY'S PRINT EDITIONS:
Donald Gansauer writes from Canton: “At what time of the day does the National Weather Service update its forecasts?” In the old days – 15 years ago – forecasts were released every six hours, at 10 and 4. Today’s “forecast” is a computer database. It maps every weather factor, from temperature to wave heights, for every point in the forecast area seven days out. As new data arrive from computer models, sensors, observations or emailed reports, they’re entered, and the forecasts adjust for all locations.
(SUN PHOTO: Barbara Haddock Taylor, NWS forecast office, Sterling, Va., 1996)