- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
How many days in the future do extended forecasts become useless?
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:08 pm
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:08 pm
Trying to plan an upcoming trip that starts in 11 days and how the weather is will govern a few plans.
They have those 15 day extended forecasts but can you really take any prediction past a week or so out with any confidence?
They have those 15 day extended forecasts but can you really take any prediction past a week or so out with any confidence?
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:09 pm to bpfergu
quote:
They have those 15 day extended forecasts but can you really take any prediction past a week or so out with any confidence?
Anything past a day or two is unreliable
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:10 pm to bpfergu
really its about 2-5, the extended are good at judging what might happen, but during the winter can change rapidly
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:11 pm to Adam4848
quote:
Anything past 15 min
anything past what i see outside
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:14 pm to bpfergu
Within reason, it's useful. Look at the pattern, not the forecast for a specific day.
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:33 pm to bpfergu
After 2-3 days, they give a general idea of what may happen in the 48-72 hr period surrounding a day, but little in planning a morning or afternoon event.
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:47 pm to bpfergu
The last couple of weeks have taught me that anything beyond a day or two is to be taken with a grain of salt.
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:50 pm to The Last Coco
Depends on where. Some places are easier to forecast and models agree more frequently and further ahead than they do for other places.
In general though, beyond 2-3 days is a good general rule to consider a forecast not very reliable. For up here in the mountains, beyond 2 days isn't worth planning around. For Houston, 3 days out is usually somewhat reliable in a general sense. No matter where though, if timing and amount of precipitation is what you need, the day before is best of course.
ETA: NWS re-runs models and updates their forecasts multiple times a day, I think every 6 or 8 hrs if I remember right.
In general though, beyond 2-3 days is a good general rule to consider a forecast not very reliable. For up here in the mountains, beyond 2 days isn't worth planning around. For Houston, 3 days out is usually somewhat reliable in a general sense. No matter where though, if timing and amount of precipitation is what you need, the day before is best of course.
ETA: NWS re-runs models and updates their forecasts multiple times a day, I think every 6 or 8 hrs if I remember right.
This post was edited on 2/3/14 at 4:53 pm
Posted on 2/3/14 at 4:58 pm to ColoradoAg03
Yeah this was a trip up to the Rockies so it looks like I'm going to have to wait at least another week to start planning for specifics.
Posted on 2/3/14 at 5:39 pm to bpfergu
1-2 for any accuracy, 3-4 for general ideas (likely to rain/not to rain/relative temp ranges).
You can assess lows and fronts a few days out, but for what they'll actually bring, beyond 48 is unreliable.
5+ day forecasts are largely worthless, I think. I'm pretty sure that in the 10-15 day they're either guessing or just using historical averages.
You can assess lows and fronts a few days out, but for what they'll actually bring, beyond 48 is unreliable.
5+ day forecasts are largely worthless, I think. I'm pretty sure that in the 10-15 day they're either guessing or just using historical averages.
Posted on 2/3/14 at 6:05 pm to Pettifogger
Opensnow.com is a good supplement to NWS for CO snow forecasts a few days out. I use it to see if a system might be coming through 4-5 days out and check it once a day until it's 24 hrs before when I want to know specifics. Then I'll use NWS within 24 hrs for specifics.
This post was edited on 2/3/14 at 6:09 pm
Posted on 2/3/14 at 6:10 pm to bpfergu
What do you want to know? Temperature? If so then 11 days out the forecast may be slightly better than a random guess. For precipitation it's not worthless.
For temperature it starts getting decent at about a week out. For precip. maybe around 4 days.
For temperature it starts getting decent at about a week out. For precip. maybe around 4 days.
Posted on 2/3/14 at 7:43 pm to Tigris
Temperature and more importantly snowfall.
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News