Viewing observations in the dashboard

Back calculated inflow observations can be noisy and sometimes, this can impact the initial state of the forecast if the model is using them in real-time. We apply smoothing parameters to inflow observations for this reason. To ensure inflow observations are as clear and useful as possible, we apply a Gaussian smoothing process that filters out minor noise and short-term fluctuations in the inflow data. This mathematical adjustment helps highlight the most important trends while intelligently handling any gaps or missing values in the observation records.

HydroForecast’s web dashboard includes both raw observations as well as “cleaned” observations, where smoothing parameters are applied to eliminate noise in the data. 

To switch between viewing “Observed clean” data with smoothing parameters applied and “Observed” raw data, use the check boxes on the Short-term and Seasonal forecast legends. On Seasonal forecasts, both "Observed" and "Observed clean" values are aggregated by 10-day time steps.