Rainfall, snowfall forecast apparatus and method

An apparatus for forecasting a quantity of rainfall or snowfall in a specified region from reflection intensity images corresponding to cloud distribution conditions obtained from weather radar images, said apparatus comprising:

• (a) input means for inputting reflection intensities from a plurality of lattice points defined on said reflection intensity images;
• (b) memory means for memorizing the reflection intensities inputted by said input means;
• (c) calculation means for multiplying the reflection intensities from a group of neighboring lattice points memorized in said memory means at a specific past time with a separate coefficient for each lattice point, summing the products of multiplication, transforming the values of the product of summation using a specific function based on cloud related properties to generate computational present data, and iterating until a specific predetermined threshold value is obtained so that the squared error of a difference between said computational present data and present data being observed presently becomes smaller than said threshold value;
• (d) forecast means for predicting future reflection intensities for each lattice point of said group of neighboring lattice points at a future time, by summing products of the present reflection intensities and said coefficients generated by said calculation means to generate a product summation, and transforming said product summation using said specific function;
• (e) decision means for determining the quantity of rainfall or snowfall in said specified region at said future time based on the reflection intensities predicted by said forecast means.