What exactly is a weather model?

Jane's Weather offers a range of different weather models, which we combine into one forecast called the Jane's Weather Consensus.

But what actually is a weather model?

Weather observations from across the globe (from satellites, radars, airplanes, ocean buoys etc) go into a supercomputer, where extensive mathematical equations churn through all that data. After about 4-6 hours, they compute an answer. This answer is the weather forecast; a different one for every square on earth.

Each model uses their own mathematical equations, so the answer can differ from model to model. And each model has a different resolution of these squares. USA has one answer for every 28km square, CANADA has one for every 22km square, and AUSTRALIA has a higher resolution (and therefore takes longer to compute) of 12km.

In AEDT you can expect a new answer:

• from USA around 4am, 10am, 4pm and 10pm each day
• from CANADA around 5am and 5pm each day (it only runs twice)
• from AUSTRALIA around 7:30am, 12:30pm, 7:30pm, 12:30am (the 12:30am/pm run only updates the first three days, the remaining days are from the 7:30am/pm run) 

Start by looking at the differences between each model for your favourite location(s). (Have you set them yet? Do that under Account Settings/Locations)