# How much "forecasting" does the weather man really do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-forecasting-does-the-weather-man-really-do/415861 "2007-08-16T22:33:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-forecasting-does-the-weather-man-really-do/415861/1 "2007-08-16T22:33:17Z")
When Mr. Weather Man is going on about what the weather is going to do for the next few days, how much of this information is likely to be his own creation based on raw data? As opposed to say, hitting up several internet weather sites and cobbling together a reasonable approximation of what’s going on out there? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-forecasting-does-the-weather-man-really-do/415861/2 "2007-08-17T01:12:25Z")
It depends on the weatherman. They get predictions and all kinds of info from the national weather service. Some of them just spit out what the weather service provides. Others with more experience may recognize patterns based on years of looking at weather maps and knowing their particular area very well. They may choose to alter the prediction from the national weather service. They get the raw data from the national weather service and perhaps additional data from local radar stations and airports. They don’t need to go internet surfing. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-forecasting-does-the-weather-man-really-do/415861/3 "2007-08-17T01:36:56Z")
It’s not just the national weather service. There are a number of private forecasting firms that do the heavy lifting of crunching the national numbers and providing local feeds to various stations. And in most markets today, the on-air people have actual degrees in meteorology and can interpret their local quadruple doppler ultra-wide-width narrow-casted point-based data, or whatever. It’s a fairly sophisticated service these days. Probably more professional than local news, if you want to be cynical. ---
**Author:** ![TupeloHoney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@TupeloHoney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TupeloHoney)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-forecasting-does-the-weather-man-really-do/415861/4 "2007-08-17T01:49:58Z")
I interned at a local news station while in college and the weatherman there actually did a lot of his own predicting. He had a degree in meteorology and I always found it so fascinating learning how he made is predictions. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-forecasting-does-the-weather-man-really-do/415861/5 "2007-08-17T06:31:04Z")
Many of the weather people on the BBC are actually employees of the (government) Meteorological Office and are on a sort of secondment to the broadcaster. They are all fully qualified meteorologists who use the data from the Met Office to produce their forecasts. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-forecasting-does-the-weather-man-really-do/415861/6 "2007-08-17T10:46:07Z")
Yep, the BBC ones certainly aren’t just presenters-with-a-map. A few choice chunks from the BBC’s site: [Dan Corbett](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/forecasters/dancorbett.shtml) > [@](#): > > At Universal Weather Dan provided aviation forecasts for corporate pilots flying around the world. He was also a marine and industrial meteorologist providing a myriad of different forecasts such as hurricane forecasts for Gulf Coast oil-rigs, temperature projections for gas companies and snow outlooks for ski areas. [Rob McElwee](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/forecasters/robmcelwee_faq.shtml) > [@](#): > > Rob joined the Meteorological Office in March 1982 and spent most of the next eight years enjoying the Salisbury Plain, observing the weather on the Army Air Corps base of Netheravon. After realisation that life ought to change, he trained as a forecaster and went to airbases in East Anglia. And the best is [Peter Gibbs](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/forecasters/petergibbs_faq.shtml) > [@](#): > > On graduating from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1979 with an Honours degree in Physics and Geography, he joined the British Antarctic Survey based in Cambridge. After training as a weather observer, Peter sailed to the Antarctic in October 1979 and travelled via the Falkland Islands and South Georgia to reach the British Halley base on the Brunt Ice Shelf. This became his home for the next two years. From here he made routine weather observations and balloon soundings and helped with the routine maintenance of the base, in temperatures as low as minus 40C