The Europeans were able to predict that Hurricane Sandy would make landfall in the United States several days before the Americans were writes Scott K. Johnson. Here’s why:

• The European weather forecast model runs on one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, while the American one runs on a less impressive one.
• The American system is also based on snapshots of data while the European system is based on continuous observation.
• The future for the American system looks bleak. Even though it has received some additional funding in recent years, it is not enough to put it on the same competitive plane as the European system.

Read more about weather forecast models and the differences between the United States and Europe, as well as one time when the Europeans got it wrong over here.

Source: ArsTechnica