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📊 A past estimate 📊 To estimate past
backcast

backcast

9.3
An analysis that uses current models to estimate past events
  • noun
  • /ˈbækˌkæst/
  • Specialized
translation icon : retropronóstico
  • The team's backcast revealed significant trends in economic growth that were not visible in the current data.

Examples

  • Using a backcast, the researchers could estimate how the climate has changed over the last decade.

  • Twice, I hooked Mark on my backcast.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • He was laying out a Royal Coachman fly after several elegant backcasts.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • A second gasp came when her fly floated over the crowd and paused, poised for a long moment at the end of a backcast.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • It had been an odd scene, all those little men in their decorated uniforms nodding seriously into the face of their leader, a guy about my age who was standing on a rock with his fly rod, explaining the backcast.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • At first I was out of practice, throwing wide loops that dipped low on the backcast and piled up on the forecast, but with each stroke I made a minor adjustment, and soon I could feel the rhythm, marking time.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • We used a backcast to analyze the rainfall patterns from last year based on this year's data.

Synonyms

to hindcast
vsbackcast
  • Specialized
1 8.8

To use a model to recreate past weather or ocean conditions

focuses on estimating past events or data rather than running full simulations
reforecast
vsbackcast
  • Specialized
7.5

A prediction for a past period made with a current computer model to test it

is a broader estimate of past data using current models for analysis

Antonyms

to forecast
54 2.5

To say what will probably happen using information, for example about weather or business

Surface Forms

backcast singular
backcasts plural

Morphology

backcast = cast (semi-transparent) = back + cast

Built from 'back' + 'cast' by analogy with 'forecast'; the directional/temporal idea is clear but the use of 'cast' to mean 'estimate/predict' is somewhat specialized and may not be obvious to all learners.

Etymology

The word backcast comes from the parts back ('behind' or 'past') and cast ('to throw' or 'send'), the same cast you see in forecast and broadcast. So a backcast is like 'throwing' a model backwards to make an estimate of past events.