Though we’re still more than two weeks from the end of 2012, it’s not too soon to get a sense of how the year will go down in meteorological annals. Some of the signals from January to November are so strong that December won’t change the outcome.

The new system provides 8-hour forecasts of potentially dangerous atmospheric conditions over remote ocean regions

The new Erebus supercomputer will lead to improved Antarctic forecasts.

What if we could use the data from fevered searches for flu information on the Web, plus humidity observations, to help predict the course of an outbreak? If new research lives up to its promise, we’ll soon be able to do just that.

By predicting the timing and severity of flu outbreaks, the new system can eventually help society better prepare for them.