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Heather’s Weather Whys: long-range temperature forecasts

When the 7-day forecast is unpleasant, sometimes we reach for longer-range outlooks to bring some better news. But there are some key caveats with such forecasts.
Credit: WGRZ

Forecasting specific elements for the weather during the next seven days can be tricky, especially when the week ahead doesn’t give a whole lot to look forward to.

When patterns of miserable weather drag on, forecasters reach for long-range outlooks to hopefully bring some better news.

One map that gets shown fairly often by our team is the 6-10 day temperature outlook. An example (from last week) is below. This map is produced by a branch of the National Weather Service known as the Climate Prediction Center.

While it’s not a forecast created by Storm Team 2, we only present it when we agree with the general idea. 

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There are a couple of keys to keep in mind. These forecasts are not making a specific temperature forecast for every single day of the 6 to 10 day period. Instead, it conveys a general trend based on probabilities and average temperatures. You can keep an eye on these outlooks by checking out the CPC’s website.

Watch this week’s Heather’s Weather Whys for an explanation of how that works and a look at how accurate these outlooks are.

New episodes of Heather’s Weather Whys are posted to the WGRZ YouTube channel every Wednesday evening. You can also watch on Thursdays at 5:30 on Channel 2 News.

If you have a weather question for Heather to answer, send it to her at heather.waldman@wgrz.com or connect with her on Facebook or Twitter.

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