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, EURO for every 20km, and AUSTRALIA for every 12km. In the future we will be able to increase EURO to every 9km, and AUSTRALIA to every 1km.

Read more about how meteorologists make a weather forecast from these weather models.

In AEST you can expect a new answer:

• from USA around 3am, 9am, 3pm and 9pm each day
• from CANADA around 4am and 4pm each day (it only runs twice)
• from EURO around 6am, 11:30am, 6pm and 11:30pm (the 11:30am/pm run only updates the first three days, the remaining are from the full run beforehand)
• from AUSTRALIA around 6am, 11:30am, 6pm and 11:30pm (the 11:30am/pm run only updates the first three days, the remaining are from the full run beforehand) 

The Consensus forecast updates every time an individual model updates - that is 14 times per day. 

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)