ground truth
n.— «Weather spotters provide what’s called “ground truth” to the National Weather Service and emergency weather management. “We’re needed because cloud-piercing Doppler radar is very good at helping the National Weather Service see what’s going on in the upper atmosphere, but it’s unable to detect what’s actually happening on the ground because of the curvature of the Earth.”» —“Volunteers track storms” by Debra Carr-Elsing Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) Oct. 26, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And there are many, many terms for a cold snap...
Temperature blankets are a visual and tactile mirror of the day’s weather. Knitters use specific shades of yarn to match daily temperatures, creating a colorful, cozy record of weather across time. Plus, a new book chronicles the history and...