Satellites above the atmosphere can get a clear, big picture of Earth's cloud formations. By analysing these cloud patterns, meteorologists can forecast how these clouds will change and move, and predict the weather, be it rain or shine, for many areas. For example, hurricanes can be easily spotted from satellites but not easily spotted from ground due to its size, and thus satellites come in very helpful. Also, infra-red satellite forecasting can also determine the temperatures in different areas on Earth's surface, which aids meteorologists in finding out cloud heights, cloud types, water cycles and sea surface termperatures (an important factor in the formation of hurricanes).