National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Dangerous Cold Weather for Most of the Country; Rare Winter Storm for the South; Fire Weather Concerns for Southern California

Arctic air will filter south and east through early this week. As this cold air moves across the South, a rare winter storm is forecast to develop from Texas, Gulf Coast States into the Southeast through early this week. Several new daily record low temperatures are expected, including new record-low maximum temperatures. For Southern California, fire weather concerns increase this week. 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.