is Accuweather rite??

[Warp Daddy]

didn't thet just change their brand to INaccuweather ?

 

[faceplant]

'coldest snowiest winter' comin up?

http://www.accuweather.com/news-weather-features.asp?#extremes

'is Accuweather rite??"

yes faceplant, they sure were 'right'...way back in July

 

[ski_resort_observer]

They did accurately predict all the cold and snow in the Mid-Atlantic states but most of the other regions they guessed wrong so I give them maybe a 20% accuracy rate. They do get a dumbass award for trying to predict the entire season. Anyone that posted in this thread supported that award. The award ceremony TBA. :wink:

The upcoming below freezing nights this week is helping resorts in nothern NE have another week of skiing, assume they predicted that. :lol:

 

[billski]

I wonder if Accuweather does better with summer forecasts? I don't follow the forecasts at all in the summer, since it almost never affects my outdoor plans. I would hypothesize "yes" because they give it more attention: warm weather has a much greater audience than some snow-fanatical-readers I know (me). Maybe warm weather forecasting in the east is easier because there are fewer "storms" which threaten life and property. Anyone know?

 

[bobbutts]

I wonder if Accuweather does better with summer forecasts? I don't follow the forecasts at all in the summer, since it almost never affects my outdoor plans. I would hypothesize "yes" because they give it more attention: warm weather has a much greater audience than some snow-fanatical-readers I know (me). Maybe warm weather forecasting in the east is easier because there are fewer "storms" which threaten life and property. Anyone know?

If you're referring to the 15 day forecast "they" is the GFS weather model:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Forecast_System

 

[jamesdeluxe]

We've been talking about this over on Harvey Road too:
http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/04/long-range-report-card-0910.html

I've always laughed at some of the alarmist maps (death! destruction! electric outages!), but it seems to me that the July long-range call was on target and they especially nailed the late February Catskills dump.

 

[catskills]

Yes Accuweather got it right. It doesn't get any better than this.

Original map from July 2009.

 

[skiadikt]

over the course of the winter think they were generally inaccurate. they got the above normal snowfall part correct for the mid-atlantic states but overall hdd (heating degree days) were below normal for the season.

and the further north you went the worse their forecast got. below normal snowfall for all of the northern areas except for maybe the catskills which essentially got a fluke once in a century snowstorm. those northern areas were bailed out by that same storm or else their snowfall totals would have been abysmal. as it was k was off by 50" or 20% for the season. burlington vt was almost 900 hdd below normal. the only saving grace for the northern ski areas was a very clean winter (once it finally started) in that temps stayed very consistent with very few of the major rain/thaw/freeze cycles we normally get. the plug on the ski season was prematurely pulled by record warmth of +7.3 and +5.8 degrees for march & april.