Winter 2023-24 through the eyes of a climate model 🤖
Premium update #28
Some people look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, or a birthday, but for climate scientists, the 10th of every month is a holiday 🎁
Since late 2019, it has marked the day on which a coordinated “data dump” from the world’s top meteorological centers occurs — the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and Japan all contribute.
This data provides insights on general weather themes over the next six months.
Put another way, climate models are like an event planner for a costume party. They can tell you the general theme of the party, such as "tropical luau" or "winter wonderland," giving you a sense of the overall atmosphere and ambiance you can expect. However, they can't provide you with the exact costumes or outfits each guest will wear to the party.
Climate models give us insights into the general weather themes, such as long-term temperature trends or shifts in precipitation patterns. They help us understand the broader context of the climate, but they don't provide specific details about individual weather events or occurrences. Just as partygoers decide on their unique costumes, weather events are influenced by various factors and can't be precisely predicted by climate models alone.
It's up to meteorologists to describe what the theme of the winter 2023-24 “party” will be, whether it will be dominated by frigid temperatures and heavy snowfall or milder conditions 📖
