Predicting the Weather
This video is a part of Animated Atmosphere, a suite of short videos produced by the UCAR Center for Science Education with FableVision Studios.
Meet a supercomputer and learn how these groups of computers work together to make models that predict the weather.
Transcript
Ever wonder how meteorologists predict the weather?
It involves data,
lots of computers and models -
no, not that kind of model.
This model is a computer program that helps predict a weather by simulating
how sunlight, land, oceans, and other parts of the Earth change the atmosphere.
This process requires hundreds of computers working together -
called a supercomputer - to run trillions of calculations every second.
Weather data are collected from all around the globe and added to the model,
which is run to
see how the current weather is likely to change in the next hour, day or week.
And then it's run
several more times to
see all of the different kinds of weather that could possibly happen.
Scientists keep improving weather models to predict severe weather sooner
and help people stay safe.