For many years forecasters in Florida at the NWS and the university have been using a regression model developed by Warren Wallace and Jim Georg. The Wallace/Georg model uses key stations to predict temperatures on cold nights at remote sites. This model was based on only two years of data from the 1960s. Since then, the terrain surrounding remote sites, and especially the key stations, has changed, making the original regression analysis less reliable. This COMET Partners Project funded a student to recompute the regression analysis using the most recent data available. The updated model will be used to aid the forecasters in making forecasts for a larger number of locations than in the past.
In the course of the project, the university also set up accounts for the forecast office in order to link the NWS office with the university via the Internet. This communication method has been used to send "lectures" to forecasters and to solicit input from them on other research topics the university investigator has been studying.