It's playoff time in major league baseball. And though I'm not a Yankees fan, I do enjoy some of those quotes that are attributed to Yogi Berra, former Yankees player and coach. You know, sayings such as "It ain"t over till it's over" and "Baseball is 90% mental - the other half is physical."

One of Yogi's quotes can even be applied to weather forecasting. It goes something like this: "You can see a lot just by observing." After all, observations are the foundation of weather forecasting - not just looking out the window, but at data from across the country. In fact, a wise forecaster once told me that the first three things you should do when making a weather forecast are: look at observations, look at observations, and then look at more observations. With a picture in mind of how the weather's behaving now, meteorologists can visualize the possible scenarios that may develop for tomorrow.

That brings us to another saying that may or may not be attributed to Yogi Berra, but truly applies to meteorology: "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."