NOAA indicated that the preliminary data are usually quite close to the official historical data, which are published with a lag of two to three months. A second interest was that there be one set of tailored data for common reference. This could reduce disputes that might arise from different sources for the weather data. NCDC will try to assemble the weather data series for these cities as a package. Industry representatives indicated that they will explore hiring an expert third party, such as a university, to assemble and analyze such data.
Weather forecasts influence pricing.
One firm asked whether NOAA could offer its forecasts in terms of probability distributions. NOAA indicated that this was a long-term objective. NOAA scientists discussed in some detail anomalies that exist in historical data series. For example, temperatures recorded at a specific site may vary because of instrumentation or locational shifts. Data on river flows may vary because of administrative waterflow decisions, as well as a result of changes in precipitation.