Mostly for Laurenhat: So, I recently became a devotee of the weather site Weather Underground. Previously, I'd used weather.com. I find the interface on WU ugly and cluttered, and it's full of a lot of information I don't need. The reason I've bookmarked it as my primary weather source is one little tidbit I haven't seen anywhere else:
"Tomorrow is forecast to be Much Warmer than today."
Or Much Cooler, or cooler, or warmer - but whatever it is, it's actually forecast in a way that tells me how to prepare for it. Cooler or warmer are concepts I understand, and I don't spend energy wondering "okay, is 23°C short-sleeve weather?" Was I comfortable today? How do I adjust?
However, I only converted to WU a couple of months ago, when we were already into spring. So, what I'm wondering, and hoping someone else will know, is whether the site changes to "Hotter" or "Colder" in seasons where warm and cool don't apply. If so, what's their cut-off for hot and cold? For that matter, what's their cut-off for "much" cooler or warmer? I've found it very useful, but deciding on a cut-off point for relative adjectives seems interesting (and right up Laurenhat's alley).
Thursday, June 26, 2008
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5 comments:
In terms of lack of clutter, I dig WU's mobile site, but the description in question isn't on there, so I don't have any data to give you.
I've been a fan of WU since it was a gopher site. (Yes, I'm dating myself there.)
As for the question of hotter v. warmer, etc., I have three ideas on this:
1) The words "hotter" or "colder" depend entirely on the reference point. If today is considered "hot", tomorrow might be "hotter" rather than "warmer".
2) The words "hotter" and "warmer" imply differing degrees of change from the reference point - "warmer" being less change that "hotter".
3) The choice of adjective is dependent upon the anticipated resulting temperature. If that temperature is one you'd consider "cold", then you get colder. If you're not getting to "cold" by dropping in temperature, then you're only getting "cooler".
Aww! It's awesome that you thought of me. :D I use WU occasionally, but I'd never noticed the bit that you mention -- thanks for pointing it out! Now I am going to be following the site with a lot more attention and curiosity, trying to figure out how they make their word choices. Neat! :)
Hello, I work at Weather Underground and developed the warmer/cooler indicator on the forecast with a co-worker :-) In reading your comments, you make me blush, because the algorithm is actually much simpler. Here goes:
Basically compare either yesterday's forecast to today's forecast (if it's early in the day)... or compare today's forecast to tomorrow's forecast if it's late in the day.
Then, If it's going to be more than 7 degrees F warmer on the second day, say "Much Warmer". If it's going to be more than 7 degrees F cooler on the second day, say "Much Cooler". We remove the word "Much" if the change in temperature is greater than 2 degrees, but less than 7.
There you have it! Although, the algorithm could use improvement if I used climatic normals. For instance, if the forecast is 90 and the normal high is 70, I should really say HOTTER!
John, thanks for the details! I think it's a really useful tool, and I really appreciate it. Thanks for stopping by to explain it.
I love it the way that it is, but I sure wouldn't mind if it was refined.
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