Weather Forecasting Contest for Omaha, NE (KOMA)

Tomorrow

Forecast at a Glance from the National Weather Service

Overnight

Partly Cloudy
Partly
Cloudy
Lo 57 °F
Tuesday

Breezy
Breezy

Hi 83 °F
Tuesday
Night

Breezy
Breezy

Lo 61 °F
Wednesday

Breezy
Breezy

Hi 86 °F
Wednesday
Night

Slight Chance Thunderstorms Chance for Measurable Precipitation 20%
Slight Chc
Tstms
Lo 64 °F
Thursday

Slight Chance Thunderstorms Chance for Measurable Precipitation 20%
Slight Chc
Tstms
Hi 80 °F
Thursday
Night

Chance Thunderstorms Chance for Measurable Precipitation 40%
Chance
Tstms
Lo 61 °F
Friday

Mostly Sunny
Mostly
Sunny
Hi 80 °F
Friday
Night

Chance Thunderstorms
Chance
Tstms
Lo 64 °F

Go to National Weather Service page
Detailed site information

Weather Forecasts for Wednesday 23 May 2012

Forecaster Tmin(F) Tmax(F) Precip(in) Comment
NWS-MOS-NAM-00-DAY1 61 88 0
NWS-MOS-GFS-18-DAY2 64 85 0.05
NWS-MOS-NAM-12-DAY2 62 89 0
NWS-MOS-GFS-00-DAY1 61 85 0.17
NWS-MOS-GFS-12-DAY2 61 85 0
NWS-MOS-GFS-06-DAY2 62 85 0
CLIMATOLOGY 53 76 0.15 From 1971-2000 U.S. Climate Normals

A Sample Forecasting Procedure


Weather forecasters look at many types of data to help them build a forecast, and each forecaster will have their own approach. Here is a simple procedure to get you started.
  1. First look at current weather conditions:

    Surface Analysis

    Visible
    Satellite

    Infrared
    Satellite

    Radar

    A good stating point for formulating your forecast will be determining what is happening around the country today. Where are the major weather systems? Where has it been hot? Where has it been raining? Is any of this weather moving towards my forecasting site over the next forecasting period?
  2. Look at the National Weather Service hourly weather forecast graph and the forecast of fronts and precipitation:

    Graph

    Fronts/Precip
    Remember that the forecast day goes from about midnight to midnight local time. We forecast for a daily High and Low. The Low is typically recorded in the early morning hours of the day, while the high is generally reached in the afternoon. But check the hourly graph for the possibility that the Low and High might come at different times. For example, if a strong cold front comes through early in the day, the High might be in the early morning hours and the temperature might fall for the rest of the day, and the Low would be at the very end of the day.
  3. Look at National Weather Service precipitation forecasts:

    Precip
    The times for these plots are in UTC (or GMT); a contest day goes from 0600 UTC (about midnight in most of the U.S.) to 0600 UTC the next day. Click on the plots corresponding to those hours. Your precip forecast is for the whole day, so you would add the amounts from each 6- or 12-hr plot to calculate what the NWS is predicting for the entire contest day. Remember that you need to predict the amount in inches, and most locations receive amounts over one inch only a few times each year. On most days the precip forecast should be zero, and for many others it will be a few hundredths of an inch (e.g. 0.15 inches).
  4. Check and submit your forecast:
    Once you have determined your high, low, and precipitation amount, check it with the computer model forecasts shown in the table above. Are you close? Generally it’s a good idea to be fairly close to these computer forecasts, because they're typically quite good. Once you've entered your forecast in the form above, click the Submit button.

Legend

This Month's Division Leaders
 M month division wins in last year
 W week division wins in last month
 D day division wins in last week
Elementary School Divisions
Middle School Divisions
High School Divisions
College Divisions
Teacher Division
Open Division
Computer Division
Consensus Division
Reference Division

Today


Click for Omaha, NE (KOMA) Forecast

Weather Forecasts for Tomorrow, Tuesday 22 May 2012

ForecasterTminTmaxPrecipComment
OBSERVED6464 Observed data through: 02:52 CDT.
Computer
NWS-MOS-NAM-12-DAY153810
NWS-MOS-GFS-18-DAY153810
NWS-MOS-GFS-12-DAY152800
NWS-MOS-NAM-00-DAY153820
NWS-MOS-GFS-18-DAY255810
NWS-MOS-NAM-12-DAY252830
NWS-MOS-GFS-06-DAY152800
NWS-MOS-GFS-00-DAY153810
NWS-MOS-GFS-12-DAY253820
NWS-MOS-GFS-06-DAY253820
Reference
CLIMATOLOGY53760.15From 1971-2000 U.S. Climate Normals

Legend

This Month's Division Leaders
 M month division wins in last year
 W week division wins in last month
 D day division wins in last week
Elementary School Divisions
Middle School Divisions
High School Divisions
College Divisions
Teacher Division
Open Division
Computer Division
Consensus Division
Reference Division

Yesterday

Weather Forecasts for Monday 21 May 2012

ForecasterTminTmaxPrecipComment
OBSERVEDTMINTMAXPRECIP24COMMENT
Consensus
MEDIAN47770
CONSENSUS-146.877.10
Computer
NWS-MOS-GFS-00-DAY051780
NWS-MOS-NAM-00-DAY050790
NWS-MOS-NAM-12-DAY143770
NWS-MOS-GFS-18-DAY148770
NWS-MOS-GFS-12-DAY147760
NWS-MOS-NAM-00-DAY142780
NWS-MOS-GFS-18-DAY246760
NWS-MOS-NAM-12-DAY246760
NWS-MOS-GFS-06-DAY147760
NWS-MOS-GFS-00-DAY146780
NWS-MOS-GFS-12-DAY248770
NWS-MOS-GFS-06-DAY248760
Reference
CLIMATOLOGY52750.15From 1971-2000 U.S. Climate Normals
PERSISTENCE51710

Daily Weather Map page

Results for Previous Days

Sunday 20 May 2012
Saturday 19 May 2012
Friday 18 May 2012
Thursday 17 May 2012

Legend

This Month's Division Leaders
 M month division wins in last year
 W week division wins in last month
 D day division wins in last week
Elementary School Divisions
Middle School Divisions
High School Divisions
College Divisions
Teacher Division
Open Division
Computer Division
Consensus Division
Reference Division

Standings

Leading Weather Forecasters for Week of Sun 13 May 2012 - Sat 19 May 2012

Rank Forecaster # Forecasts Tmin
Score
Tmax
Score
Precip
Score
Week
Score
Division
Points

Leading Weather Forecasters for May 2012

Rank Forecaster # Forecasts Tmin
Score
Tmax
Score
Precip
Score
Month
Score
Division
Points

Legend

This Month's Division Leaders
 M month division wins in last year
 W week division wins in last month
 D day division wins in last week
Elementary School Divisions
Middle School Divisions
High School Divisions
College Divisions
Teacher Division
Open Division
Computer Division
Consensus Division
Reference Division

Top Forecasters

Highest-Rated Weather Forecasters, All Divisions

Higher numbers are better, minimum of 5 forecasts
Rank Forecaster # Forecasts Forecaster Rating
1 CLIMATOLOGY 25 -3.8
2 PERSISTENCE 25 -18.9

Legend

This Month's Division Leaders
 M month division wins in last year
 W week division wins in last month
 D day division wins in last week
Elementary School Divisions
Middle School Divisions
High School Divisions
College Divisions
Teacher Division
Open Division
Computer Division
Consensus Division
Reference Division

Weather for Omaha, Nebraska (KOMA)

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