nowcast

English

Etymology

Blend of now +‎ forecast

Verb

nowcast (third-person singular simple present nowcasts, present participle nowcasting, simple past and past participle nowcasted)

1. To predict the weather for a very short upcoming period (usually a few hours).
   • 2017, Nicolas R. Dalezios, Environmental Hazards Methodologies for Risk Assessment and Management, page 169:

     If the nowcasted or forecasted rainfall depth is greater than the FFG, then flooding in the basin is considered likely.

2. (statistics, modelling) To estimate what is currently happening based on knowledge of how data is biased.
   • 2010, Economic & Labour Market Review - Volume 4, Issues 1-6, page 33:

     The indices are nowcasted at a very low level, meaning thousands of nowcasts. Attention has been focuesed on the nowcasts that fail validation checks.

   • 2019, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Transnational Corporations, page 124:

     First, the value-added contribution from each origin country is adjusted according to their (nowcasted) change in GDP.

   • 2020, Adam Kucharski, The Rules of Contagion, page 147:

     Our ability to nowcast will depend on the length of the delay and the quality of data available.

Noun

nowcast (plural nowcasts)

1. (meteorology) A weather forecast predicting the weather for a very short upcoming period, usually only a few hours.
   • 1988, Third International Conference on the Aviation Weather System, page 208:

     A low-probability nowcast was essentially a “No Forecast" , but issued with less confidence.

2. (statistics, modelling) An estimate made by nowcasting.
   • 2010, Economic & Labour Market Review - Volume 4, Issues 1-6, page 33:

     The indices are nowcasted at a very low level, meaning thousands of nowcasts. Attention has been focuesed on the nowcasts that fail validation checks.

Derived terms

• nowcasting

Anagrams

• Sactown, ant cows, snowcat