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Watching Hurricane Erin; Heavy Rainfall Threat for Upper Midwest; Heatrisk for Mississippi Valley

Hurricane Erin continues to track westward with its outer bands bringing heavy rainfall and gusty winds for Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. Life-threatening surf and rip currents are occurring and will spread across the Atlantic coasts this week. Meanwhile, heavy rainfall and possible flooding are in the forecast for upper Midwest through Monday. Heatrisk continues for the Mississippi Valley. Read More >

National Weather Service forecast offices are creating digital forecasts for their specific defined service areas.  These digital forecasts are mosaicked into a national forecast database.  The forecast grid box resolution is 2.5km x 2.5km for specific latitudes and longitudes.  Below are things to considered when you click a latitiude/longitude "point" forecast: 

The Colorado 14ers Mountain Locations and Forecasts has 14er flags located all the Colorado 14,000+ feet elevation mountains. See Image Below  For example, there is a flag for the Pikes Peak Summit. 

 

 

If you left click the Colorado 14ers Mountain Locations and Forecasts map, then a 7-day "point" forecast web page loads for that particular latitude/longitude grid box.  VERY IMPORTANT AND NOTE, the forecast is for the grid box, and not necessarily for the mountain summit.  See Image Below  In the 7-day forecast GIS map, there is a 'green' box.  The 'green' box is the forecast grid box.  The mountain summit is within the forecast grid box, and there is about a 3,000-4,000 foot elevation change witin the forecast grid box.  The forecast grid box mid-point elevation is 13,750 feet.  

 

Here is a Google Earth 3 dimensional look at how the forecast grid box is tied to ground level, and shows the various terrain within the grid box.  

Just remember, the "point" forecast is for a grid box that includes the mountain summit, and the "point" forecast is not necessarily specifically tied to the mountain summit elevation.