A meteogram, also known as a meteorogram, is a graphical presentation of one or more meteorological variables with respect to time, whether observed or forecast, for a particular location. Where forecast data is used, the meteogram will typically be generated directly from a

weather forecasting Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology forecasting, to predict the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia a ...

model based on the

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

and

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of the location, but it can also be corrected by a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

. Where a meteogram is used to display historical weather observations, this will typically be for a specific

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

. In the meteogram, time is plotted along the X axis, while the values of the different weather parameters are plotted along the Y axis. The most common weather parameters in a meteogram are

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

air pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The Standard atmosphere (unit), standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equival ...

cloud cover Cloud cover (also known as cloudiness, cloudage, or cloud amount) refers to the fraction of the sky obscured by clouds on average when observed from a particular location. Okta is the usual unit for measurement of the cloud cover. The cloud co ...

wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind speed ...

and

wind direction Wind direction is generally reported by the direction from which it originates. For example, a ''north'' or ''northerly'' wind blows from the north to the south. The exceptions are onshore winds (blowing onto the shore from the water) and offsho ...

, such as i
this example meteogram
provided as part of a weather forecast by

yr.no yr.no is a website and a mobile app for weather forecasting and dissemination of other types of meteorological information hosted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in collaboration with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. The websit ...

. In this example,

and

are conveniently presented in the form of wind barbs,

is represented in column format, while

and

are represented as lines.

Cloud cover Cloud cover (also known as cloudiness, cloudage, or cloud amount) refers to the fraction of the sky obscured by clouds on average when observed from a particular location. Okta is the usual unit for measurement of the cloud cover. The cloud co ...

is represented in a layered format, providing an indication of the amount of cloud at different heights in the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

History

J. H. Lambert (mathematician and scientist) and

William Playfair William Playfair (22 September 1759 – 11 February 1823), a Scottish engineer and political economist, served as a secret agent on behalf of Great Britain during its war with France. The founder of graphical methods of statistics, Playfai ...

(political economist), working in the late 1700s, used time-series plots in lieu of tables to describe data. This technique marked the revival of a graphic display after nearly 800 years from the first known time-series use. Over the two centuries since Lambert and Playfair, time-series graphs have been used frequently to show data, or data relationships, for a variety of variables. The meteogram is one application of the time-series graph.{{Cite book, title=Principles of Meteorological Analysis, last=Saucier, first=Walter, publisher=University of Chicago Press, year=1955, location=Chicago, IL, pages=Chapter 12, "Local Analysis," pp. 385–399, especially Figures 12.02 and 12.03 "Meteorograms" Climate and weather are ideally suited for display using time-series techniques because of the way the variables change with time. The meteorograph recording of weather variables "as they happen" is simply another application of time-series. Examples are the barograph, wind, or thermograph traces, and early upper air soundings.Huschke, Ralph E., Editor, 1959, Glossary of Meteorology American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA, Definition of a "meteorogram" The mechanical meteorograph, which was used to take the first atmospheric soundings above the surface, traced the data in a series of lines similar to the seismograph, became known as a meteorogram of the sounding data.Geer, Ira W., Editor, 1996, Glossary of Weather and Climate With Related Oceanic and Hydrological Terms American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA, Definition of a "meteorogram" Saucier described the use of meteorogram charts to analyze surface weather data with respect to time. It is a simple extension to project these variables into the future using data from the forecast models and produce the modern meteogram. So, meteograms have evolved to mean any group of meteorological variables graphed with respect to time, whether observed or forecast, usually confined to surface variables, though some include time-height charts. Meteogram use increased in the 1990s with the growth of computing power. Now meteograms are created from various models and made available to forecasters through the Internet. In addition, researchers and operational forecasters have the capability to make meteograms for their local use on their local computing systems. The shorter spelling meteogram was apparently first used in the 1980s in the then-popular WXP (Weather Processor) computer program, by its primary developer, Dan Vietor.

References

External links

Meteogram generator with interactive map
Meteorological diagrams