Crowd-Sourcing the Weather

WeatherUnderground leverages my data for my forecast

WU radar at 4:38 AM on Sunday 16 Jan 2022. Red Star marks the spot!

Just a quick word to those watching Winter Storm Izzy, which is about an hour away from laying her white self down over SouthWest Virginia for the next bunch of hours.

How can be best know what to prepare for? Will the pipes freeze. Or the cat? Should I cover up stuff on the porches? Which porch will depend on the direction the wind blows. We should lash down the rockers on the west porch if winds will be in excess of 20 mph.

When might we be able to get to town after Izzy has gotten tired of us and started spreading joy into my friend Steve’s life just north of NYC?

The answers to these questions will depend on which WEATHER SOURCE you go to for guidance. Here’s what I look at first thing every morning. And this, by the way, is my personal weather data from the Ambient Weather Unit in my yard.

VAFLOYD39 is data from right outside the door.

I keep finding the Weather Underground most consistently gives me the most up-to-date and accurate predictions. I time cleaning the outdoor furnace for when WU tells me the eternal winds will be briefly calm. It gets it right to the hour with great accuracy. How do they get it right so often when others more often miss the mark?

You have to understand that, among other differences to AccuWeather and the Weather Channel etc, WU uses data from my weather station and 250,000 others as part of their granular look at the vastly complex picture of local weather forecasting. If you’re interested in knowing more, follow the link that compares WU to NWS (National Weather Service):

About Data | Weather Underground

While you’re perusing, I’m going out to throw another coupla sticks on the HeatMaster. And cover up my toolbox in the wood shed. Strong east winds are typically part of our snowstorms, and yep, WU shows it happening until midnight. Roof or no, we’ll get snow in the shed.

Y’all stay warm and off the roads. Looking like drifting snow will plague us early in the week.