Video: Forecasting

Weather maps, also called synoptic maps, simply and graphically depict meteorological conditions in the atmosphere from a spatial perspective. Weather maps may display only one feature of the atmosphere or multiple features. They can depict information from computer models or from human observations.

On a weather map, important meteorological conditions are plotted for each weather station. Metorologists use many different symbols as a quick and easy way to display information on the map.