National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Critical Fire Weather Persists in the Southern High Plains; Snow in the Great Lakes into the Northeast

Elevated to critical fire weather conditions will persist across the central and southern High Plains today as gusty winds and dry conditions continue across the region. A clipper system will bring some lake effect snow to the Great Lakes and snow into the Northeast. Well above-average temperatures are expected to expand across much of the West, into the Plains states, and Southeast. 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.