Some individuals have been asked what the "behind the scenes" ideas and secrets were that went into the preparation
of the individual daily weather summaries. This discussion can be used as an example of how you can use current weather information from a variety of sources for your own continuing weather study.

The daily national weather summary appearing on the Online Weather Homepage is intended to help you visualize how weather patterns evolve on a daily basis with a discussion of the various weather phenomena that have occurred across the country within the 24 hours previous to the posting of the summary. By looking at the weather on a daily basis, you should be able to get a better understanding of the topics described in the Online Weather Studies text.
Because of space considerations, a detailed national summary is not always possible. Consequently, on many occasions, only several major current weather events are described, with detailed explanations added to the discussion. These explanations are tailored to fit with and expand the material that you have been studying in the text and the weekly Activities. One should look at weather from a national perspective as systems move, change, and interact to affect your local weather at a later time.

I also view the national weather summary as a vehicle for showing how the weather impacts humans in many areas of the country. I hope this point is not lost. I feel that the current weather and simple weather data sources (such as NOAA Weather Radio, the weather page in the local newspaper or "USA Today" or the "Weather Channel" on cable television) can be used effectively to understand what weather systems are affecting us and how.

In producing the daily summary, I routinely use various sources of information, including the "Weather Channel", and several different weather servers on the Internet to prepare the summary. Since we want to have the summary in place on the Online Weather Homepage early in the morning for your convenience, I must prepare the summary late on the previous evening, well after the late local television news and weather programs. As a result, I cannot always depend upon just one source to get all the information on a timely basis. On occasion, I have found that a particular site may not be operating. Therefore, I have to use some ingenious schemes or modified schedules to access current data.

In producing the daily summary, I routinely use various sources of information, including the "Weather Channel", and several different weather servers on the Internet to prepare the summary. Since we want to have the summary in place on the Online Weather Homepage early in the morning for your convenience, I must prepare the summary late on the previous evening, well after the late local television news and weather programs. As a result, I cannot always depend upon just one source to get all the information on a timely basis. On occasion, I have found that a particular site may not be operating. Therefore, I have to use some ingenious schemes or modified schedules to access current data.

Typically I use the "Weather Channel" to get an overview of the national weather, together with some of the human impact focuses. Armed with this outline, I typically go to a variety of  Internet sources. Besides the various graphical products that appear on the Online Weather Homepage, I may get several charts from one of the servers. More often, I spend most of my preparation time looking at various text products. For example, I will use the evening list of National Temperature and Precipitation for Selected Cities appearing on the Interactive Weather Information Network (of the National Weather Service) to obtain the daily temperature extremes in the coterminous U.S. Every day I will check the listings on the Ohio State Atmospheric Sciences Program for the daily weather records and the public information statements. Either of these sites also gives me access to the National Flood Summary and to the various weather watches and warnings that are currently in effect across the country. The "Additional Links" under the Extras section on the Online Weather Homepage contains the Internet addresses of many of these sources.

In each summary I included a daily Historical Weather Events that I had extracted from the electronic files of the Aviation Weather Center, Kansas City, MO. If you would like to view the set of 12 monthly files, they are available through the Internet at http://www.awc-kc.noaa.gov/wxfact.html . Another source of historical events that uses many of these entries is the monthly almanacs that appear on the Intellicast site. Usually I selected only one for the date; some days may have had as many as 8 entries. My intention was to provide some historical perspective, some human interest, and even some humor at times.

I have enjoyed preparing these daily files and I hope that I have provided you with some ideas as to what types of information you might find and keep track of on a regular basis. Thank you for bearing with me, and keep a "weather eye out".

Sincerely,

Ed Hopkins

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Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 1999, The American Meteorological Society.