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Delivering a more accurate forecast
May 9, 2008
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Weather forecasters are easy targets for ridicule. Their high-temperature predictions are sometimes off, and that 5-foot snowstorm that had the folks at the ski hills expecting a holy miracle? Well, often it turns out to be a one and a half foot dud — or sometimes none.
But the meteorologists at the National Weather Service are taking steps to ensure Incline Village/Crystal Bay have the best boating forecast possible. They are working with local agencies including the Coast Guard Auxiliary and North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District to create very accurate lake forecasts. Both agencies will take wave readings on the lake and report their findings back to the weather service,
which the meteorologists can then use to create an accurate boating forecast for the lake.
Before this partnership, the Reno-based Weather Service relied on wind readings from around the lake and statistics given to them by the Coast Guard station at Tahoe City, Calif. to make predictions on wave heights, telling boaters when it would be safe to get out on Tahoe.
Now the weather service can pair the wind readings with wave measurements given to them by the two organizations right here on the northeast shore, effectively giving them accurate, timely stats with which to base a report. It means the readings will no longer come from Tahoe City, miles across the North Shore and in a wind-sheltered setting, very dissimilar from conditions in the waters off of Incline’s shores.
It's good to know the forecasters are being proactive and taking more steps than in the past to increase the amount of information available to boaters, telling them when the Lake is safe and when they need to head back to the beach.
We congratulate them for their desire to deliver a more accurate forecast because it will only serve to make our community safer. We also applaud the Coast Guard and NLTFPD for committing their time and resources to this collaboration and for making the weather forecasters a little more accurate.
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SUNNY 30°
