Why are they called Spaghetti Models?

@sedel1027 (17846)
Cupertino, California
September 9, 2008 5:04pm CST
When they show multiple tracks for hurricanes why are they called "Spaghetti Models"? Is is just because they do like 10 tracks all in about the same area so they sort of look like spaghetti?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@know21 (1250)
• United States
9 Sep 08
hurricane - Picture of a hurricane
Spaghetti charts are a forecasting tool that the average person might as well ignore. A spaghetti chart shows outputs from different models or different runs of the same model and plots each output as a line. The result is a big mess of lines (hence spaghetti chart) where, the closer together the lines are, the more certain the models are of that particular feature. Conversely, the greater the spread of the lines, the more uncertain the models are. Forecasters use these charts along with knowledge of model biases to construct better forecasts.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
9 Sep 08
That didn't 100% answer my question, but thatnks for a bunch of stuff I knew already.
• United States
10 Sep 08
hmm weird.. i dunno.. i dont think i have heard that term before which is weird since i follow hurricanes a lot.. i guess i wasnt paying attention
@icyorchid (2564)
• United States
10 Sep 08
My guess is because it does look like spaghetti. lol I had to get a laugh this morning
@know21 (1250)
• United States
9 Sep 08
Its a big mess of lines; that's why its called a spaghetti models.