By: Charles Bowen Predicting Weather Fifteen Days In Advance
Fifteen-day weather forecasts? No wonder some traditional
meteorologists, who trust their prognostication skills no further
than five days in the future, still cringe at the mention of
AccuWeather Inc.
But that's just the latest in the kind of cutting-edge weather
technology that has made AccuWeather a media darling for nearly
40 years. Beginning as a one-man operation in 1962, the
brainchild of Penn State graduate student Joel Myers, the firm
now has a staff of nearly 400 -- a fourth of them professional
meteorologists -- and more than 10,000 clients, including
governments, business and industries and news organizations.
And the Web is the latest world to be conquered by AccuWeather.
The service provides two dozen varieties of weather content to
some 700 Internet sites, including CNN.com, MSNBC, Microsoft
Network, NYTimes.com and washingtonpost.com.
Moreover, the Web has become The Big Stage on which AccuWeather
is showing off its latest developments, such as:
15-day forecasts for more than 50,000 cities worldwide.
Some 18 different weather factors that can be viewed
individually for specific location, including hour-by-hour
forecasts, current conditions, and current radar.
AccuWeather's RealFeel Temperature, an index that takes into
account temperature, wind speed, precipitation, barometric
pressure and other atmospheric data to provide an indication of
the "feel of the weather."
The UV index, a measure of how strong the sun's ultraviolet
rays are on a particular day.
To sample AccuWeather's predictions, visit the site at
http://www.accuweather.com,
where you are greeted by a page that is topped with the day's
weather headlines and the latest AccuWeather radar map for the
nation as a whole. Options to the right of the map offer
opportunities to enlarge the image and to animate the map so you
can watch the progression of a storm front.
In the upper left corner, use the data entry box to enter a ZIP
code or a city or state name and reach the latest data for a
specific region. The resulting page will display daily forecasts
as well as various links to related information, such as the
times for sunrise and sunset, pollen levels, predicted UV levels,
local radar, average and record temperatures.
Along the left column of most AccuWeather screens is a collection
of related links that change, depending on where you currently
are in the site. For example, on the main screen, the links on
the left include those to maps, satellite images, storm
forecasts, world weather, and features. When you are looking at a
local weather report, the left-column links include those for
current conditions, regional data from the previous 24 hours and
for the past year, hourly forecasts, astronomy facts and
statewide conditions.
AccuWeather also provides tabs along the top of each screen for
quick access to various departments. Click any to reach weather
related to travel, skiing, health, marine travel, sports,
aviation, agriculture and related topics.
Newer features and those with seasonal significance often are
highlighted with icons at the bottom of the main screen. For
example, at this writing, the site displayed icons for direct
access to the site's Garden Area, Golf Area, and Severe Weather
Center.
Other considerations for using AccuWeather in your writing and
editing:
o The site also provides streaming audio/video of breaking
weather news, regional, national and international reports and
meteorological discussions by experts such as Ken Reeves and Joe
Bastardi. Use the Video tab at the top of the main screen to
reach the visual data.
o Click the "What's New" link on the left column of the main
screen to check out recent additions to this ever-growing site.
o Looking for historical weather facts and statistics? Scroll
the main screen to see the "Our Services" section of the left
column. Under it is a "Weather Database" that can be visited for
your research.
---
Bowen writes columns, articles and books from West Virginia, and is host of the daily Internet News syndicated radio show (http://www.netnewstoday.com).
charlesbowen@compuserve.com
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher
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