A clearing breeze

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My forecast for Benton Harbor was colored by my camping experience upstream the days before the forecast. I was in southeastern Minnesota, mired in cool, cloudy conditions for the weekend, and seeing the same satellite set up over Benton Harbor, I hedged towards the cooler end of things. My mistake. Breezes of over 15 miles an hour were enough of a steering flow, apparently, to clear things out, and allow the warning other outlets foresaw. The Weather Service grabbed a solo victory in this instance.
Actuals: Monday – High 78, Low 61
Tuesday – High 81, Low 57

Grade: A-C

An unclenching grasp

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There were some signals of cooler weather coming to Winston-Salem last week. A cold front north of the Appalachians, moist flow and overcast from the Atlantic, and the midst of summer’s dog days. The previous several days had been quiet warm, however, and clouds were slow in filling in across the region. Persistence paid off, and warmer forecasters collected the top spots. Victoria-Weather, Accuweather and the Weather Service were tied on the top.
Actuals: Wednesday, August 10th, High 92, Low 73
Thursday, August 11th, .01 inches of rain, High 85, Low 73

Grade: B-C

The peak of the heat wave

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The Pacific Northwest is had a hot spell at the end of July. Sure, it was not quite as long lasting as the one that came last year, but it was just as hot. Last Friday in Corvallis, hit 99, and was 96 on Saturday. As I said, fortunately, temperatures aren’t still that warm, but they lasted long enough that wild fires really exploded in southern Oregon and northern California. Hopefully, they are more well behaved than in recent years. The forecast in Corvallis was overheated, but a fairly well behaved. The Weather SErvice and WeatherNation drew level on the verification.
Friday – High 99, Low 62
Saturday – High 96, Low 62

Grade: A-C

Heat and repeat

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The end of last week in Abilene didn’t promise many changes. A slow, slow moving boundary was sinking towards the Lone Star State, but ultimately, no changes were ever seen in Abilene. Like, none. It was 101 for a high, 80 for a low on each day of our verification, with nary a drop of rain. The Weather Channel and WeatherNation secured a tie for the verification.
Actuals: Thursday – High 101, Low 80
Friday – High 101, Low 80

Grade: A-B

Hotlanta

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It’s been a tough week in eastern Kentucky, as it became a focal point for heavy rain as a slow moving boundary left even slower moving torrents of rain across the state, ultimately leaving dozens dead in flash flooding, and countless more with their lives turned upside down. The news from the area continues to get worse as we find out more, and we continue to keep residents in our thoughts.

Often when rain becomes centered on one spot, as it did in Kentucky, the threat for scattered showers away from that main area diminishes. Such was the case on Tuesday and Wednesday, when Atlanta, which had been forecast for some light showers on either of those two days, successfully avoided precipitation. Temperatures climbed a couple of degrees warmer than anyone had, but it was a generally tightly clustered verification. The Weather Channel and WeatherNation were strange bedfellows, tying for the top spot.
Actuals: Tuesday – High 91, Low 75
Wednesday – High 92, Low 75

Grade: B-C

No room at the top

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The forecast for Baltimore proved to be fairly easy to wrap our heads around. The end of the week was going to be hot, and generally free of any atmospheric changes. Mission accomplished! Everyone came in between 3 and 5 degrees of error, and there was no precipitation to worry about, so everyone can feel good about their day. Accuweather, the Weather Service and Weather Nation can feel just a little better about it though.
Actuals: Friday – High 95, Low 74
Saturday – High 97, Low 77

Grade: A

A little unimpressive, to be honest

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There is blistering heat across the planet this week. The United Kingdom is reaching temperatures never seen in recorded history for the British Isles. It reached 115 in Tulsa yesterday. Last week’s 99 and 100 in Redding don’t stand out quite as impressively under that light, do they? Accuweather and WeatherNation had top forecasts for the city, and even those forecasts were a little bit warmer than what actually transpired. *Yawn*
Actuals: Wednesday – High 99, Low 71
Thursday – High 100, Low 65

Grade: B-C

A fine New England weekend

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That first weekend after the 4th of July is the first intensively “summer” weekend of the year. Laze around, if you want to, go to the lake or the cabin or whatever it is that you do. That first weekend in Manchester was pretty great. Temperatures were in the 80s, and an inactive cold front Friday into Saturday morning brought dew points down a little bit, and kept it from getting uncomfortable. Victoria-Weather and Forecast.io came together for the top forecast, hedging warmer for highs and cooler for lows.
Actuals: Friday 7/8 – High 86, Low 65
Saturday 7/9 – High 82, Low 61

Grade: A – B

Making it through the mist

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We put together a forecast for Milwaukee shortly after the 4th of July, and it was not an altogether summerly forecast. Last Thursday was plenty warm, but a weak wave rippling through the region Friday made for a decidedly different day than one would expect from July. The clouds and light rain kept temperatures from rising above 72. Not exactly anyone’s idea of a hot Friday night. Forecast outlets generally didn’t want to bear the bad news that the first Friday of July wouldn’t be so wonderful, so it was the emotionless computers at Forecast.io that claimed victory.
Actuals: Thursday – High 80, Low 64
Friday – .05 inches of rain, High 72, Low 66

Grade: A-C

How the turntables

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Earlier, we posted a verification for Dubuque, in which thunderstorms showed up and surprised some of us. Well, this time around, a handful of outlets called for rain in Roanoke, and it never happened. The lingering moisture prevented low temperatures from cooling off too much, but otherwise, the lack of clouds or rain meant high temperatures were near 90. The warmer forecasts held the day, and Victoria-Weather and The Weather Channel had the exact same forecast, which was the winner today.
Actuals: Friday, High 88, Low 69
Saturday – High 89, Low 67

Grade: A-B