About

This page is run by Jacob Meisel, an amateur meteorologist who grew up in Westport, Connecticut and is a sophomore at Harvard College.  The website is run alongside a study of Boston and Cambridge weather, though this has been and will remain the predominant outlet for Jacob’s meteorological interests.  Jacob has been studying meteorology for upwards of 8 years now, and has operated a weather website previously for 6 of those 8 years.  He forecasts primarily winter months, but will forecast year-round when large scale low pressure systems are expected to impact Southwestern Connecticut.  He is also trained in forecasting patterns for thunderstorms and other Summer storm systems, allowing him to provide summer weather consulting services even when the site is not updated as consistently.  Jacob’s specialty is large scale systems and determining exact tracks and expected impacts, hence winter forecasting which involves the time of year when most low pressure systems, or Nor’ Easters, tend to impact Southwestern Connecticut.  Jacob has also increased his study of seasonal patterns, applying numerous statistical tests to various upper air patterns and climate drivers to try and compile statistical estimates for each season.  Forecasts will be updated daily on this page, and when more extreme weather is expected blogs will be posted covering it.

Forecasts have historically focused specifically on Fairfield County, but recently they have been expanded to officially cover neighboring Westchester and New Haven counties, which can now expect updated forecasts on a day to day basis, and updates can often give up-to-the-minute information on breaking weather events.  This website also has a Facebook and Twitter for shorter updates, both of which are listed on the home page.  The Twitter account, @SWCTweather, livetweets during storms for second-by-second breakdowns of expected conditions.

Jacob has upgraded potential personalized service offerings through SWCTweather this year, providing a competitive pricing scheme to offer individuals forecasts for specific events up to a month in advance.  For additional information on any of these individualized weather services, please see the “Additional Forecasting Services” section of the website or contact Jacob directly at jacob.meisel@gmail.com.

Jacob has also been furthering research at Harvard into market-driving weather patterns and the economics of meteorological forecasting, putting weather forecasts to work in equity investments.  For further information on potential investment consultation or services, please email Jacob at jacob.meisel@gmail.com.

Quick Aside From Jacob: I often get asked how I, a freshman in college, think I can deliver more accurate results in forecasts than the National Weather Service, Accuweather, The Weather Channel, or other paid professionals.  The answer is I don’t, at least not every time.  But what I have done is try and create a model that even an amateur forecaster can follow and achieve as close to a success rate as the National Weather Service does: focusing in on a small geographic area in which you reside in.  For awhile this has always been a theory of mine as to how I can deliver accurate weather information without the training of professionals, but recent testing by meteorology professors at various Universities now prove that this is in fact true.  The regional expertise combined with forecasting experience can outlast just forecasting alone.  If you don’t believe me, read up on it here.  One of my favorite quotes straight from the abstract is:

“Specifically, experienced forecasters are able to use regional knowledge to their advantage in forecasting temperature and precipitation amount, while their less-experienced counterparts cannot advantageously use such information for either type of forecast.”

I hope that through my website I can properly convey precipitation and temperature forecasts that fit the numerous needs of people across not just Southwestern Connecticut but the surrounding area as well.  It’s always been argued that specialization is the key to success in any economy: my goal is to bring that to weather.