Forecast differences??

[Cookiely]

Can someone explain why there is a difference in the forecast for Tampa?

http://tinyurl.com/kehj5
http://tinyurl.com/8dam6
Thanks.

[Recurve]

I'll take a stab, but you may be looking for more in-depth information:

One is the National Weather Service official forecast. One is a forecast from a TV station, a private company -- which may use the NWS forecast, may revise it, may use another forecasting company, may ignore the NWS completely.

It may seem obvious, but since a forecast is a prediction of the future, two agencies can look at the same data and come up with different forecasts. There is no one "right" or more official forecast, and the government doesn't require news outlets to use only the NWS forecast.

[senorpepr]

I'll take a stab, but you may be looking for more in-depth information:

One is the National Weather Service official forecast. One is a forecast from a TV station, a private company -- which may use the NWS forecast, may revise it, may use another forecasting company, may ignore the NWS completely.

It may seem obvious, but since a forecast is a prediction of the future, two agencies can look at the same data and come up with different forecasts. There is no one "right" or more official forecast, and the government doesn't require news outlets to use only the NWS forecast.

To piggy-back on this... you'll even find different forecasters in the same agency producing different forecasts. It all boils down to what the forecaster sees... and how they think those conditions will play out.