[dewilson58]

This "Florida" terminology was new to me.


Where I come from, the weather people talked about 60% chance of rain............not 60% coverage.


Prior to Florida, what did you hear???

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

This "Florida" terminology was new to me.


Where I come from, the weather people talked about 60% chance of rain............not 60% coverage.


Prior to Florida, what did you hear???

In my family of snooty intellects it is called precipitation possibility analysis.

[photo1902]

I guess it depends on what station you’re watching. I watch the local news daily and have never heard the term “coverage” for rain chances.

[Viperguy]

I lived in Seattle for four years and I figured it out! 50% of showers meant that it was going to rain half the day!

[Bay Kid]

40% chance it won't rain. Multiple guess.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

I thought 60% coverage meant it would rain for absolute certain, over 60% of the covered (meaning, discussed) area (meaning, vicinity).

So if it was the Villages weather report, then 60% of The Villages would get rain, for absolute sure.

Like cloud cover - how much geographical area will the cloud cover? Not "what are the odds clouds will exist at all."

[Shimpy]

Basically what they are saying in a round-a-bout way is they don't understand all they know about rain chances. Last summer they predicted a weekend (sat. and sun) rain chance at 100%. We didn't get a drop.

[Inexes@aol.com]

As my spouse always..... it is the only job in the world where you can be wrong 100% of the time and not lose your job....... lol

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

This "Florida" terminology was new to me.

Where I come from, the weather people talked about 60% chance of rain............not 60% coverage.

Prior to Florida, what did you hear???

What channel and time(s) are you seeing/hearing...this terminology?

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

What channel and time(s) are you seeing/hearing...this terminology?

News 6. I would guess they make this statement on 25% of the news casts as "clarification".



I think they get call-ins and so they clarify.


Up North it was always, 'there is a 60% chance you will have rain today."


Not a big deal, just a change.

[ColdNoMore]

What "__% chance of rain"...really means.


"Chance of rain" explained.

To be fair, this confusion cannot entirely be blamed on the general public. The terminology most used by people is “There’s a 80 percent chance of rain,” which reasonably leads people to think there’s an 80 percent chance it’s going to rain on them.

And when they don’t see it, they think their local meteorologists are huffing glue.

The factor that’s missing in the comprehension of Probability of Precipitation (PoP)? Area. To quote the National Weather Service (NWS), what PoP is actually describing is the chance of rain at any point over an area.

Here’s the math:

PoP = C x A where “C” = the confidence that precipitation will occur somewhere in the forecast area, and where “A” = the percent of the area that will receive measurable precipitation, if it occurs at all.

.

[dewilson58]

60% humidity today.




Does that mean 60% of Florida will have humidity today???