Sunday September 30, 2012

Despite their astounding ability to crunch numbers in nanoseconds, there are still things that computers can’t do, contends Hoke at the National Weather Service. They are especially bad at seeing the big picture when it comes to weather. They are also too literal, unable to recognize the pattern once it’s subjected to even the slightest degree of manipulation. Supercomputers, for instance, aren’t good at forecasting atmospheric details in the center of storms. One particular model, Hoke said, tends to forecast precipitation too far south by around 100 miles under certain weather conditions in the Eastern United States. So whenever forecasters see that situation, they know to forecast the precipitation farther north. — <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/magazine/the-weatherman-is-not-a-moron.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/magazine/the-weatherman-is-not-a-moron.html</a>