During the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix, I was watching the drivers battle with the damp conditions when the commentator said that rain was expected at the track in 6 minutes. How can forecasting be so accurate? If such technology is available, why isn鈥檛 it offered to the public? Incidentally, the rain didn鈥檛 arrive on this occasion, but was predicted with such confidence that presumably the forecasting must be accurate most of the time.
鈥� The reason we can achieve such accuracy in forecasting at each grand prix is because we have radar and weather stations on-site provided by the the , the governing body of world motor sport. In Monaco, these are operated by the French meteorological office, M茅t茅o France, which has an experienced forecaster on-site to predict when inclement weather will arrive.
Each racing team is offered a subscription to the service, which is then fed to the team鈥檚 timing stand at the trackside. This displays radar images, temperatures and pressures in near real time. There is also a minute-by-minute rain update provided via the trackside TV feed system, which also updates on-track events such as the blue warning flags waved at cars about to be lapped.
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Joseph Birkett, Trackside IT Engineer, Red Bull Racing, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK
Many readers thought the answer was probably weather radar. The US, Australia the Netherlands and Germany all appear to have publicly available services. Here鈥檚 a typical example鈥�
鈥� I assume they use a weather radar. We have one sited 200 kilometres to the west of us, at West Takone, Tasmania, and by checking on the we can see a real-time picture of where the rain is falling and how heavy it is, or a loop showing how fast the rain is moving towards us. Great for getting the washing dry.
鈥淲e can see a real-time picture of where the rain is falling or how fast it is moving towards us鈥�
When our roof collapsed in the middle of winter and we were living under tarpaulins, it was wonderfully useful. The builders kept an eye on the weather radar, and when there looked to be at least 20 minutes clear they would whip off the tarps and work until I gave them a 5-minute warning to put them back again.
Jan Horton, West Launceston, Tasmania Australia