Weather forecasting: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 12, 2026

News •

Parts of the Pittsburgh area could see snow this weekend, but most will see a wintry mix or rain • Nov. 10, 2026, 7:59 AM ET (CBS)

Drones could help weather forecasters more accurately predict winter storms • Oct. 28, 2026, 4:40 PM ET (Phys.org)

Photos and Videos

A weather comparison for June 3, 2014, showing St. Louis as mostly cloudy with 84 degreesF and 60% humidity, and Chicago as sunny with 75 degreesF and 40% humidity, alongside a U.S. map of climate zones.

Evangelista Torricelli stands in a study, holding a glass tube upright in a dish while inventing the mercury barometer; books and scientific equipment are visible around him.

A five-panel diagram shows the evolution of a frontal wave cyclone, with blue indicating cold air and red indicating warm air. Arrows illustrate airflow as the system progresses from the initial stage, to wave development, cyclonic circulation, occluded front, and finally dissipation.

Hurricane Hyacinth

A three-dimensional Lorenz attractor graph with swirling blue lines forming a butterfly-shaped pattern, representing chaotic motion in a mathematical weather model, with labeled x, y, and z axes.

Satellite image of Hurricane Katrina as a large, well-defined spiral with a clear eye over the Gulf of Mexico, approaching the southern United States coastline.

A large window looking at a forested exterior, four hand-drawn blue raindrops, and a hand holding a phone displaying a pie chart showing a 60% chance of partly cloudy skies, and a 40% chance of rain.

Know about the development of a thunderstorm prediction model that can run on a laptop

A cartoon tornado in a field populated by a farmhouse and other small buildings.

Understand meteorologist Edward Lorenz's chaos theory

Why the word tornado was banned from American weather forecasts

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Topics

Doppler weather radar meteorological measurement Rossby equations terminal Doppler weather radar persistence NEXRAD medium-range weather forecasting short-range weather forecasting numerical weather prediction weather station weather modification 16 Questions About Earth’s Atmosphere and Weather Answered Fog Humidity Cloud Weather Frost Temperature inversion Dew Precipitation

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Key People

Forecasting D-Day

James Martin Stagg

British meteorologist

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Vilhelm Bjerknes

Norwegian meteorologist

Alexander Buchan

Alexander Buchan

British meteorologist

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Jacob Bjerknes

Norwegian-American meteorologist

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Tor Harold Percival Bergeron

Scandinavian meteorologist

Iceland, Glacier lagoon (Jokulsarlon)

Winter Weather Words Quiz

rain. Child in the rain, wearing a rain coat, under a yellow umbrella. April Showers weather climate rain storm water drops

April Showers to March’s Lions and Lambs

Archaea at Midway Geyser Basin in the Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Largest hot spring in Yellowstone, third largest in the world. Temp. 147-188F Dim. 250x380 ft. Archaeon, archeon, Yellowstone Geysers, algae

How the Earth Works: A Quiz