Weather University Special: A conversation with the creator of WeatheRate

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — StormTracker8 Meteorologist Matt DiNardo was joined in the WRIC NOW livestreaming studio by Bruce Fixman, the creator of WeatheRate to discuss accuracy in forecasting.

WeatheRate takes weather forecasts throughout the country and evaluates their accuracy using a number of metrics, including temperature, sky cover, precipitation, strong wind, dense fog and more. This year was StormTracker8’s seventh year in a row being named Richmond’s most accurate forecast.

During the conversation, Fixman explained how WeatheRate works in gathering weather data from outlets all across the country and how that data is evaluated.

DiNardo asked Fixman why WeatheRate scoring is split among three different time periods — morning, afternoon and evening — and he explained it is closer to how people think of weather forecasts

“Broad brush; ‘it’s going to rain tomorrow.’ Well, that’s nice but, y’know, I’m going to walk the dog in the morning or I’m going to be working on the roof in the afternoon. We need a little more detail on that first day especially,” Fixman said.

For a deeper look at Hurricane Helene, check out the previous episode of Weather University . Watch more livestream content on the WRIC NOW page.

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