DMV Weather :vaflag: :mdflag: on Nostr: A quick word about weather apps on smartphones: they all pull their data from just ...

A quick word about weather apps on smartphones: they all pull their data from just the GFS model, rather than determining the consensus of all the global models. Which for calm weather or your average garden variety cold front with showers, it's no big deal. But some models like the GFS do have certain biases, so for big events like winter storms and hurricanes, you really want to rely much more heavily on forecast sources where a human is involved, making constant adjustments and understanding how each model handles these types of events. This is why you might hear a TV meteorologist forecast an amount that's much higher or lower than what your weather app says. In which case, defer to the meteorologist. Historically, the GFS model in particular has struggled with accurately forecasting winter storms on the east coast.