When you want to know what the weather is going to be like on the weekend, where do you look? You probably use an internet website to look up the forecast and that website might use GIS technology to forecast the weather.
Weather tracking and forecasting that uses GIS technology is highly sophisticated and accurate as well. In the event of a natural disaster or a dangerous weather situation, using a GIS-based weather tracking system could make a difference.
Applications for GIS and Weather
One of the most rapidly growing aspects of the technology industry is GIS. Geographic information system, or GIS technology, gathers, analyzes, and stores geographic information. Not only does geographic data include things like elevation, city locations, and population, but it also includes weather-related information like climate, rainfall, and weather activity.
Figure 1: Rainfall Map
GIS technology can be used to track things like wind movement, cloud patterns, rainfall, and more. With GIS technology, meteorologists can achieve more accurate weather forecasting and they can use GIS to track dangerous weather patterns as well. Thanks to GIS technology, communities can be given early warning of dangerous weather activity so they can prepare or evacuate the area.
Advantages of GIS for Weather Tracking
Internet-based weather tracking applications make it quick and easy for individuals to access weather-related information. Not only can you use these applications to find weather information for your area, but for locations all over the world. How is this possible? It is all thanks to the use of GIS technology. The combination of weather tracking software and GIS technology has made modern weather tracking applications more accurate (and more useful) than ever before.
Figure 2: GIs Weather Tracking
When it comes to using GIS software for weather tracking, there are several important benefits. First, GIS software can be used to map large sets of weather-related data to improve weather monitoring and prediction. GIS software can be used to incorporate standard data sets like elevations and landmarks with up-to-date weather information.
One of the most important benefits of GIS software for weather tracking lies in its ability to predict dangerous collisions. By tracking weather patterns in a GIS map, you can predict when and where certain patterns might collide, resulting in dangerous weather situations like tornadoes, hurricanes, and more. If you are able to predict when and where a dangerous weather situation is likely to occur, you can avoid that area or, if you are already in the area, evacuate safely before the situation arises. Using GIS technology in conjunction with weather tracking has the potential to save lives.
Conclusion
Not only can GIS technology be used for a wide variety of applications in business, retail, government, and more, but it is also extremely useful for weather tracking. With GIS software weathermen can predict where dangerous weather conditions might arise and they can track weather patterns to provide citizens with up-to-date weather information.
References:
http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc00/professional/papers/PAP159/p159.htm
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gis-weather/
http://gisgeography.com/gis-weather-data-sources/
http://enterprisesolutions.accuweather.com/gis-data-layers
