Weather forecasts come in two varieties: short-term forecasts and long-term forecasts. Long-range forecasts are projections that span more than 14 days, whereas short-range forecasts cover one to 14 days. Predictions from predictive models are less reliable as they try to foresee further into the future.

With the advent of computer technology, meteorology has advanced significantly from its earlier limitations on purely human observations of the sky and weather patterns. These computer programs track weather patterns and make predictions based on that information.

The artificial intelligence course used to forecast the weather is extremely sophisticated, collecting data on weather patterns using different types of radar and satellite photography. Supercomputers use this data to build forecast maps and precise forecasts of potential weather events after it has been stored.