Weather Things: Basic Weather Instruments

Weather forecasting requires observation. Beyond the things we can see, hear and sense, meteorologists need detailed data to observe distant weather, whether that is distant along the ground, or distant up into the sky. Weather observations come from radar, satellite, weather balloons, and other basic traditional instruments. Data from instruments is consistent and less-biased than the opinion of people. Once the data is compiled, it can be put it into a form that a computer model can use to project into the future.