Fishel: Animations from space and the East Coast advantage

So how far out does The Fish feel confident in a weather forecast? In the summer, about seven days.

Given the consistency of summer weather patterns, it's easier to expect and predict sunny and warm, Fishel said, than the variety of weather possible during a North Carolina winter.

"Here on the East Coast, we have a huge advantage. We can get data on about 3,000 miles of observations as a system moves over land before it gets to us," Fishel said.

Communities along the West Coast must rely on sparse data from sensors mounted on ships and buoys in the Pacific Ocean.

"The density of those observations is nowhere near what it is over a landmass," he said.

Fishel pointed to the GOES-16, the latest in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Program (GOES), a joint effort of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as the most exciting new development in forecast technology.

The additional images create an almost-animated look at the evolution and devolution of weather systems. "It's unbelievable," Fishel said. "It's like satellite imagery in forecasting has now gone HD."