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Numerical weather prediction uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to predict the weather based on current weather conditions. A number of global and regional forecast models are run in different countries worldwide, using current weather observations relayed from radiosondes or weather satellites as inputs to the models. Mathematical models based on the same physical principles can be used to generate either short-term weather forecasts or longer-term climate predictions. Manipulating the vast datasets and performing the complex calculations necessary to modern numerical weather prediction requires some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. Even with the increasing power of supercomputers, the forecast skill of numerical weather models only extends to about six days. Factors affecting the accuracy of numerical predictions include the density and quality of observations used as input to the forecasts, along with deficiencies in the numerical models themselves. To quantify the large amount of inherent uncertainty remaining in numerical predictions, ensemble forecasts have been used since the 1990s to help gauge the confidence in the forecast, and to obtain useful results farther into the future than otherwise possible. (more...)

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• Rioting, initially sparked by a fatal police shooting in London, spreads across parts of England (riot police pictured).
• Manuel Pinto da Costa is elected President of São Tomé and Príncipe.
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August 10

• 955 – Forces under Otto I were victorious at the Battle of Lechfeld near present-day Augsburg, Germany, holding off the incursions of the Magyars into Central Europe.
• 1270 – Yekuno Amlak deposed the last Zagwe king and seized the imperial throne of Ethiopia, beginning the reign of the Solomonic dynasty that would last for more than 700 years.
• 1793 – The Louvre (pictured), the most visited art museum in the world, officially opened with an exhibition of 537 paintings.
• 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The first major confrontation between modern steel battleship fleets took place in the Battle of the Yellow Sea.
• 1953 – First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central modern-day Vietnam.
• 1988 – Japanese-American internment: The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 became law, authorizing US$20,000 in reparations to each surviving internee.

More anniversaries: August 9 – August 10 – August 11