The science and the technology of foretelling the state of the atmosphere in the future in a particular place is known as weather forecasting. The Human race has been attempting to predict the weather from the beginning of civilization but only since at least the nineteenth century has this been done in a formal fashion. Such formal weather forecasts are made by collecting quantitative data about the present condition of the atmosphere and using scientific knowledge of the atmospheric process to determine the state of the atmosphere and how it will evolve.
Today, forecast models are being used to predict and determine future conditions, when once it used to be an all-human undertaking mostly based on barometric pressure, current weather conditions and sky conditions. But even today human participation is still necessary to select the most favorable forecast model to found the forecast upon, which includes pattern recognition skills, teleconnections, knowledge of model performance, and knowledge of model biases.
