Weather
forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the
state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. Human beings
have attempted to predict the weather since time immemorial. Today, weather
forecasts are made by collecting quantitative data about the current state
of the atmosphere and using scientific understanding of atmospheric
processes to project how the atmosphere will evolve. The chaotic nature of
the atmosphere, the massive computational power required to solve the
equations that describe the atmosphere, and incomplete understanding of
atmospheric processes mean that forecasts become less accurate as the
difference in time between the present moment and the time for which the
forcast is being made (the range of the forecast)
