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The forecast is made from the analysis of data captured around the world by an international network. Until the end of World War II, meteorological information was used for military purposes. With the creation of the United Nations, countries began to work together and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) emerged in 1950. It establishes the initial global state, which shows the weather conditions across the planet from data obtained by member countries at the same time.
Even with so much data and powerful computers, much of the forecast comes from meteorologists reading this information – which is why forecasts for the same location on the same day can vary. Another problem is that there are areas of the globe about which there is less information, which makes the forecast less accurate. :>)
RAIN OR SUNSHINE
Measuring data on land, in the sky and at sea supplies the world’s meteorological center
UNDER MEASURE
Information gathering begins on land at the weather station. Around the world, there are 11,000 of them, with equipment that measures data close to the surface, from ground level to about 10 meters in height. In general, these instruments are powered by solar energy panels.
CHECK IN
Weather stations do not cover the entire globe. For this reason, they have the help of mini-stations scattered around places like airports, which measure wind, atmospheric pressure, rain and air humidity, for example. In addition to using the data to ensure flight safety, airports also send it to WMO
AERIAL VIEW
About 3,000 commercial planes associated with the WMO fly in an area that the stations do not cover: high altitudes. The planes travel at an altitude of around 11,000 meters, where weather conditions are very different from those on the surface. Therefore, this data is valuable. But as aircraft do not cross the entire globe, there is a large area for which there is no data.
COLD BUOY
Weather stations cover the land part of the globe, but the largest area on the planet is missing: the oceanic regions. The capture of surface data there is on account of meteorological buoys and merchant, military and passenger ships. The 7,000 ships transmit data such as rain and wind, as do the approximately 900 buoys
MAGIC BALLOON
Above the planes, there are weather balloons that reach an altitude of 30,000 meters. Inflated with helium gas, they carry radiosondes, a set of instruments that measure atmospheric pressure, temperature and relative humidity. By monitoring the position of the balloon, it is also possible to check the wind
BY SATELLITE
Satellite images show what no device measures: the movement of clouds, which helps to understand the dynamics of rainfall and temperatures. The photographs are taken by six geostationary and five polar orbiting satellites. In addition to temperature, the images show water vapor and humidity
INFORMATION BOX
With so much information coming from so many different sources, someone has to clean up the mess. Who does this is OMM, which processes data from 182 countries and 6 territories. There are three main centers – in Melbourne (Australia), Washington (USA) and Moscow (Russia) – and another 15 that process the information sent by all members at least every three hours and distribute the data so that each country can make your predictions
ON THE TV SCREEN
Some weather companies make weather reports for the media. There are TV channels specializing in the subject and stations that have their own meteorologists. But most channels prefer to put a beautiful weather girl to talk about whether it will rain or not
INSTANT TRANSLATOR
The WMO makes data available in the form of graphs, tables and maps that are incomprehensible to laypeople. That’s where meteorologists come in: they throw the current day’s numbers and previous days into software that calculates what the future weather will be like and add their personal analysis to read non-numerical data, such as satellite photos.
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