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NCEP/EMC Near-Shore Water Surface Temperature Page
Submit an observation of water temperatures and ice condition
There are many surface water temperature analyses in the world. One
area they disagree with each other the most is near shore. Lakes and
rivers, inland waters, show so much disagreement that many groups do
not analyze those areas at all. Coastal (ocean) waters are also difficult,
for many of the same reasons. Partly for this reason, the international
Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature
started an
Inland Waters Working Group.
The other major reason is that weather prediction models need to know
the water temperatures to make the best possible forecasts. If a lake
is much too warm in winter, the model might forecast a thunderstorm
over the lake (this happened). As the models have improved their grid
spacing, the US
NAM model now has 4 km (2.5 miles) spacing, they 'see' more and more
lakes. And, as people want increasingly detailed forecasts, they also
notice the effects of erroneous representation of water surface temperatures
on forecasts.
More background on the project
Guidance on how to take observations of water temperatures
Experiment ideas
Points of Contact
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www.nws.noaa.gov 
