Hobbies And Interests
Providing Range Forecasting
Many countries fund national meteorological centers that provide range forecasts for the nation. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also provides regional forecasts for Asia and Europe through the WMO Regional Climate Centers. These centers provide high resolution images and data for global forecast centers, as well as training for meteorologists throughout the developing world. Because of the massive amounts of data that must be processed for global weather forecasting, the computing power needed is immense and only available at the WMO Global Producing Centers for Long-Range Forecasts. These centers provide data and forecasts for regional and national services and help mediate multinational and regional forecasting during times of natural disaster.
Planning for Agriculture
Obviously, the farmers of the world are dependent on the weather to supply the rain and sun necessary to grow a given crop; they are also at the whims of inclement weather, and droughts and floods can instantly ruin the lives of farmers who are ill-prepared. Farmers around the globe benefit from using forecasting to plan for appropriate crop rotation, prepare contingencies for bringing in external water or protecting crops from early frosts and predict when the best times to plant and harvest will be. The World Meteorological Organization works with many national weather services to find clear and easy-to-understand ways of presenting forecast information to farmers who don't have computers or a scientific education.
Planning for Markets
Businesses need to know when opportunities are available and when certain resources will be scarce to accurately project supply and demand. Long-range forecasts can alert industries that certain crops will be ruined and the global supply of a given food will be less. This allows businesses to adjust prices accordingly and allows companies to make smart investments when resources are limited. Governments, especially those in the developing world that provide food subsidies to their people to lower the cost of bread or other simple foods, are also affected by crop yields and benefit from including long-range forecasting in their planning of short-term and long-term policy.
Planning for Other Contingencies
National governments can implement disaster prevention plans that lessen the physical and economic damage caused by predicted natural disasters, including conducting safe and timely evacuations of those who will be in the path of the disaster. The military uses forecasting to ensure an attack or operation will occur during the best weather, increasing the chances for success. Weather range forecasting is of particular importance to the U.S. Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force. Even athletic teams use weather forecasting to choose the best pitcher or running back given a particular forecast for game day.