Weather changes according to season or area. In order to report an accurate forecast, equipments of the meteorological observation are placed all over Japan and they collect necessary information such as precipitation and force of wind. Observation data from foreign observatories is also gathered. And ships at sea and drifting buoy help to collect information.

Meteorological satellites are used to collect the weather information that cannot be collected from the earth, for example information of unclear clouds and typhoon covering large area.
The meteorological satellite, ‘Himawari’ stays above the equator in the due south of Japan. It observes clouds around pacific area in Asia. The first satellite was launched in 1977. In 2005, ‘Himawari 6 (MTSAT-1R)’ was launched. ‘Himawari 7 (MTSAT-2)’ was launched as a back-up satellite in 2006.
The data from the satellites helps to mitigate meteorological disasters, for example damages by typhoon in Japan and other countries.

The basic data processed by the high-performance computers will be the main reference for weather forecast. But at this stage the data cannot be sent out as weather forecast.
Concrete information like isobar lines and wind direction lines on weather maps will be completed by forecasters.
And forecasters decide final forecast with results of the data processed by the computers.
Based on the weather forecast of today and the next day, they make weather report for a week.

Weather forecast is very important for your life. It is essential for especially fishermen and farmers who grow rice and vegetables, because it affects their living. Besides weather forecast of today or tomorrow, distribution forecast shows the forecast of the area nearby. Hourly forecast reports how temperature and weather will change within 24 hours. Through seasonal forecast, average data will be compared. Forecasts of cherry blossom flowering is one of the reports related to 4 distinct seasons in Japan.