As an important milestone for NOAA’s ongoing efforts, researchers from universities, NOAA OAR research laboratories and the National Weather Service (NWS) recently met to discuss efforts to improve S2S predictions.

A special issue on the interagency North American Multi-model Ensemble, a seasonal prediction system combining forecasts from the leading North American climate models, is now available. The papers in this special issue document a variety of different research uses of the NMME system database, which includes a 30-year set of hindcasts as well as real-time forecasts.  

Bridging the gap between short-term weather and long-term climate predictions has remained challenging for scientists, but public demand and promising research has focused NOAA's attention on this prediction problem. In an effort to further progress, researchers from universities, NOAA and other labs and centers will meet to highlight recent efforts to develop skillful predictions for the subseasonal to seasonal timescale. 

Predicting the weather 3 to 4 weeks from now is extremely challenging, yet many critical decisions affecting communities and economies must be made at this lead time. However, model forecasts available for the first time this week could help NOAA's operational Climate Prediction Center significantly improve its week 3-4 temperature and precipitation outlooks for the U.S. 

A CPO-funded study analyzed cloudiness and rainfall changes associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which is known to influence weather in the United States.