08-20-2006, 01:45 PM
[quote Grateful11]As far forecast I think Accuweather is more accurate than the National Weather Service.
That's due more to marketing and revisionist history than to accuracy. For example, I am looking at a screenshot which shows the forecasted track for Katrina taken on the Friday evening before landfall. AccuWx has the hurricane hitting Apalachicola, FL, whereas the NWS has it hitting the MS Gulf Coast.
AccuWx error: 500 miles
NWS error: 50 miles
The week after Katrina, Joe Bastardi (head-honcho at AccuWx) had this to say:
"Katrina. We were right on top of that Friday Night for you on Fox with Katrina's going right into New Orleans, telling people to get out of there."
That must have been after they updated their forecasts to match the NWS track exactly. Mind you, with Rita, they simply copied the NWS track throughout the whole event.
I've been involved with and read many independent reports comparing the major forecast services, AccuWx always comes out below NWS. These reports take the actual forecasts and observations to determine accuracy.
AccuWx has a handful of people forecasting from a single location for the whole world at any one time. The NWS has hundreds of forecasters working at the same time, each one forecasting for the area they live and work in. What you have to realize with AccuWeather is that the product is not the forecast, but the presentation.
- Shadow
That's due more to marketing and revisionist history than to accuracy. For example, I am looking at a screenshot which shows the forecasted track for Katrina taken on the Friday evening before landfall. AccuWx has the hurricane hitting Apalachicola, FL, whereas the NWS has it hitting the MS Gulf Coast.
AccuWx error: 500 miles
NWS error: 50 miles
The week after Katrina, Joe Bastardi (head-honcho at AccuWx) had this to say:
"Katrina. We were right on top of that Friday Night for you on Fox with Katrina's going right into New Orleans, telling people to get out of there."
That must have been after they updated their forecasts to match the NWS track exactly. Mind you, with Rita, they simply copied the NWS track throughout the whole event.
I've been involved with and read many independent reports comparing the major forecast services, AccuWx always comes out below NWS. These reports take the actual forecasts and observations to determine accuracy.
AccuWx has a handful of people forecasting from a single location for the whole world at any one time. The NWS has hundreds of forecasters working at the same time, each one forecasting for the area they live and work in. What you have to realize with AccuWeather is that the product is not the forecast, but the presentation.
- Shadow