Weather Tech: Microcast

New Haven, Conn. (WTNH) - Checking the weather is part of our everyday routine for the Storm Team 8 Meteorologists. And with tools such as Microcast the information is as clear as a sunny day.

Simple. Accurate. Effective. Those are a few of the words that describe what Microcast can do. It's technology we use at WTNH to convey to viewers what is happening weather wise in terms everyone can relate to.

"When I go to work everyday I look at this raw data -- these numbers, these pictures -- that really don't mean anything to a viewer," Storm Team 8 Meteorologist Steve Maclaughlin said. "But Microcast turns complicated information into something even a viewer that has no meteorological experience whatsoever can understand."

The method proved its worth earlier this year when record-breaking storms barreled through the state and kept everyone on their toes.

"Microcast was incredible this winter. It was dead-on with the rain snow/line, which computer models really have a hard time finding, especially in Connecticut," Maclaughlin said.

An important detail when a change in precipitation could mean the difference between a foot of snow and a total washout.

"So I can look at Microcast the day before a snowstorm and see how much snow it thinks will fall in one town versus another town. Now maybe it's exactly right or maybe it isn't, but at least I can see where the heaviest snow will be."

The end-result isn't concocted out of thin air but rather from the air. Weather balloons play an essential part in data retrieval. The information is also gathered via thousands of observation sites.

"What's happening over the course of a week, how is Microcast showing us consistency or a pattern ... that's what we really look at," Maclaughlin said.

These are streamlined into mathematical equations that are converted into computer models.

"Microcast is taking those models and putting it on TV and showing it in an easy way what exactly is going to happen."

Microcast also updates itself, constantly tweaking the results based on the information coming in.

"When we watch our computer models, it's not really what they are doing on any given day but how they are doing compared to how they did yesterday."

Consistency in the information generates more confidence in the forecast. And what Microcast is helping to do this spring is pinpoint where the weather is happening and its potential impact.

"We can show viewers on the air - this is where the heaviest rain will be."

What viewers may find attractive is how Microcast relates to their everyday life.

"A viewer can look at it and say there's the rain, there are the clouds, there is the snow," Maclaughlin said. "They can see their county, their town, and they can see the time so we can show over 48 hours here's where the rain is now, here is where its going."

But the information Microcast reveals is just one part of the equation. Experience is the other, a piece necessary to solve any weather puzzle.

"It's up to the individual forecaster -- his or her experience -- to know really how to interpret data.

"So Microcast gives us a pretty good idea with what may happen with the weather, but it's up to me as a weather person or another weather person to say okay, it looks like today it's going to work out and I'm going to talk about this on TV."