Your Weather Questions Answered How is a weather map constructed? Print Story Published: 4/07/2008 2:20 pm Share Updated: 4/07/2008 2:21 pm While making a weather forecast, the present weather conditions across the area must be observed. These observations can come from many sources, and allow a weather forecaster to predict future state of the atmosphere.  Meteorological data comes from a network of observation stations throughout the world. There are over 10,000 land-based stations constantly gathering data. Even ships navigating the ocean provide weather information four times a day. Typically, land observations are reported hourly from airports. Upper atmospheric data comes from aircraft and instrument packs attached to weather balloons know as “radiosondes.” Upper air data is typically reported twice daily, but can be obtained more frequently if severe weather is imminent in a particular location.  After the data is recorded, it is sent to the National Center for Environmental Prediction where it is analyzed and constructed into charts and maps for weather prediction. Print Story Share Categories Your Weather Questions Answered Snow Wind & Wind Chill Thunderstorms Optical Effects Weather Forecasting WHAM Weather Book Read It Online Download PDFs: Color | B&W