Q: Why Don't You Forecast For Prunedale/Aromas? - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

Q: Why Don't You Forecast For Prunedale/Aromas?

A: Wendy from Aromas asked, "why isn't there a weather forecast for Prunedale and Aromas?"

Here's Chief Meteorologist Norm Hoffmann:

It is a good question and I have received a number of requests as to why I don't include more cities around the Central Coast. When we set up our graphics about 2 years ago now we looked for a couple things when we developed them. The first thing we asked ourselves in looking for what city to use was do we receive observations from that location to help us in forecasting more accurately? Second we looked at what cities do we receive observations from that represent other cities where we do not receive observations and can we use those observations. Weather observations are important in helping us make our forecasts. The other constraint that we work under is that we have about 3 minutes in the broadcast to cover all the weather for the Central Coast, so we have to move quickly.

Currently the only observation I receive from Prunedale is from my house. I do not receive an observation from Aromas. We have added a few Cities to our forecast maps at viewers request. The examples are Pacific Grove, Scotts Valley and Seaside. In these locations I either have someone who emails me or calls in the high and low temperatures, rainfall and generally winds. An example is from Pacific Grove Mr. Stillwell calls into the Weather Center every day with his observation. So we do receive observations from those locations. In most of the other locations the National Weather Service has observation sites with at least the temperatures, wind and rainfall. Check this site: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/gmap.php?map=mtr

The ticker on the bottom of the screen (when it highlights forecasts) does have the forecast either High or Low temperature and Weather for Prunedale, but not for Aromas. We could add Aromas, but Prunedale and Aromas are very similar in weather conditions and climatology.

One thing I can do is our Weather Authority System does have the capability to give current temperatures at almost all locations around the Central Coast and I can utilize that graphic a little more and move it around to different locations.

If you have a weather station or know someone who does who lives in Aromas who would be willing to report high and low temperature, wind maximum and rainfall on a regular basis I would certainly consider adding that to our data base.