Where does the weather forecast come from?

The weather forecast used in Kite is based on the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

The ECMWF is a European global forecast seamless model and it is widely regarded as the best and most reliable model currently in existence. A valuable feature of this model, called 4D, is that it is constantly being updated with new observations (satellite, WMO weather station data) as they come available.

The official website can be accessed here.

The version of the ECMWF used in Kite is the HRES global forecast. This model has a spatial resolution of about 9 km. The Forecasts are issued every 6 hours (00, 06, 12, 18 UTC). This is perfect timing for an early morning update for the feedlots on the East Coast at 5 am AEST.

The forecast is refined even further using a high-resolution terrain model (down to 90 m) and updates from real-time weather stations (WMO-approved sites) located in 820 locations across Australia.