A question I get a lot is–how have extended forecasts improved and what is the accuracy of a 7 day forecast? With help of model guidance and a little experience with how the local climate works (with nuances like Lake Michigan and how conditions usually behave in certain setups here in the Region)–our extended forecasts have gotten pretty accurate!

Every week I go back and look at my forecasts and compare to actual numbers to see where I was off and how I can make adjustments in the future–that’s how we continue to grow as meteorologists. I always tell the future meteorologists I mentor to do the same thing–always check your work.

This week was a pretty standard week forecast-wise–here’s a look at our numbers from last Monday morning and how they compared to what actually happened. These were our forecasted weather conditions from Monday morning as well. They are still right in line even for today and tomorrow!

We also discussed in last week’s live broadcast how the app you have on your phone will flop back and forth with the models all week–whereas my goal is to have a steady, non-changing forecast trying to forecast what the models will end up doing vs what they’re saying.

Hopefully this provides some comfort that the 7 day forecast you see doesn’t change with the “wind” and you can trust accurate forecasts every week! Cheers to 7 day forecasts!