Bocadude85 wrote:
My biggest problems with the models is that the 240 hour position of the lastest EURO & GFS is over 1000 miles apart. One of these models is going to be horribly wrong... Im not sure which one it will be, but one would think that we need to see these two models come to a better agreement before we can really come to any conclusions on a potential USA threat.
Sorry to pick on you here, it's meant more of a discussion, but why on earth even look at the 240? We know for a fact the verification at this range is extremely low, especially for a single feature. I think it's usable to try and get some information on overall patterns but for a tropical system, to see much past 120/144 hours as more than entertainment is folly. In my opinion, of course. AS models improve you might add another day to the dependable range but it will be a long long time before 240 is accurate.

One other thought. We know globals are pretty bad at estimating intensity, so if the intensity of a storm will be a driving factor in the track then a model can make a much bigger mistake than usual if it gets the intensity wrong. It might nail the upper air environment in 5 days but still fail in predicting the location of a tropical storm.