Is weather forecasting science or a best guess estimate?

I know from my own experience watching the forecast that I can be either completely frustrated or completely amazed at how well the weather forecast turns out. I have seen snow storms predicted many days in advance, and been disapointed many times when they are calling for a foot of snow and we barely get an inch!

The fact that anyone can predict the weather is honestly mind boggling to me. Maybe you have heard the old adage that a “a butterfly flapping its wing’s in Africa can be the cause of a major hurricane in Central America”…or however it goes. Weather is a completely choatic thing. How can anyone predict the weather at all?

I am not the only one wondering about this question. Iggy (of IggyZ.com) and I have kept in touch over the years since we met at Gnomedex back in 2005. He is the reason we have been pondering this question lately. Perhaps he has been the victim of a few bad forecasts recently? So, when Iggy asked us the question “Is weather forecasting science or a best guess estimate?”, we were very happy to oblige and try to answer his question.

Iggy had quite a few questions about forecasting and WeatherBug in general, so, we sent him our answers and he has broken it down in four blog posts…please take some time and read them and give us your thoughts in the comments section!

• Part 1: Forecasting
• Part 2: Storm Chasing
• Part 3: WeatherBug on Television
• Part 4: WeatherBug in Education