It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. And more and more, the National Weather Service is taking that message to heart by providing weather forecasts that are easy-to-read, icon-based, and graphical. And these forecasts are available on their web site.

There, you can get detailed graphical forecasts of temperature, cloud cover, humidity, wind, and precipitation probability, for your county, at three-hour intervals covering the next two days. So, for example, right now you can get specific forecasts of these conditions starting at 7 p.m. this evening and continuing, every three hours, right through 4 p.m. the day after tomorrow. Less detailed longer-range graphical forecasts are also available, with high and low temperatures, cloud cover, and precipitation probability for the next seven days.

You can also get an inside look at some of the actual computer data that drives the forecasts - for example, precipitation amounts plotted on a grid of our local area. Right now the grid boxes are about fifteen miles on a side, but the Weather Service expects to increase the resolution to less than five miles later this year. And again, all of this is accessible at their web site - in fact, right from the top of their home page.