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While the scientific methods have varied a great deal, weather forecasting has been a subject of human endeavor for as long as we have written records! Ancient forecasters used everything from cloud observations to jellyfish sightings to predict the weather and help them make their most important decisions on topics from going to war to sowing crops. 

There have been many changes in the role of humans in the forecast process in recent years and many new roles that have been created in this era of social media, smart technology, and artificial intelligence. This webinar series details how humans will use machine learning and other techniques to develop tools that will assist forecasters, not replace them.

AMS 2018 Keynote Speaker Richard Alley joins us to share his enthusiasm for science and science communication.

The Weather Band is for all of us who are fascinated with the wide range of phenomena we see in the atmosphere, from the power of hurricanes to the delicacy of a dendritic snowflake.

Watch TODAY anchor Dave Garroway deliver the national weather forecast via telephone and by hand.

We sat down with artist and science communicator Jill Pelto to learn more about her background and fieldwork, her artistic process, and why she sees art as the key to connecting more audiences to science. 

Watch the original film on relief efforts by the Workers Progress Administration to help communities along the East Coast of the United States recover from the "whirling, shrieking vortex of high wind and heavy rain" caused by the massive hurricane of 1938. 

In his book, Cloud Dynamics, Robert Houze quotes Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn:

“The fifth night below St. Louis, we had a big storm after midnight, with the power of thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in a solid sheet.”  (Houze, Cloud Dynamics, Academic Press, 1993). The likelihood is that Twain's story was recounting a common occurrence in the Midwest summer: what we know today as the mesoscale convective system or MCS, a conglomeration of thunderstorms that often reach a peak in the middle of the night.

Well, it’s that time of year again. The National Weather Service in Miami has issued an unofficial warning for falling iguanas the week of Christmas. 

If you know me, it’s no secret that my love of tornadoes runs deep. Ever since I saw my first funnel cloud at two years old, I’ve wanted to be a meteorologist. I knew I didn’t want to be a broadcaster, I wanted to do “behind-the-scenes” research on tornadoes.

What is a secret though is that I’m deathly afraid of tornadoes.

On January 14th-15th, 1972, a National Weather Service (NWS) cooperative observer (COOP) site located in Loma, Montana recorded a 103F degree temperature change (-54F to 49F) within twenty-four hours, thereby breaking the previous record of 100F recorded on January 23rd-24th, 1916 in Browning, Montana. 

What if weather observations were made differently in each country, or even by State or region? 

We compare observations to understand weather phenomenon in order to predict future conditions and document historical ones. If each location took their observations differently, we would never be able to understand what we are looking at.

Before today’s technology was available, skilled technicians plotted cloud and atmospheric observa­tions on weather maps by hand. New observations arrived over telegraph or Teletype, and the plotter would create a new map each time. The information arrived in an alphanumeric code, and the plotter would have to decode and record the correct data at the location of each station. The information had to be entered quickly in order for the plotted map to be current. It also had to be entered in a universally accepted format, and it had to be legible so that the analyst could use the plotted map.

On May 30, at exactly 5 P. M., Eastern Standard Time, a great throbbing sigh, followed by a ringing cheer, went up from the multitudinous assemblage gathered at Bettis Field, Pa., for it was then that, in the words of the program, the first racing balloon "leaped into space."

Get a view of the balloons and pilots from the six countries competing in the Gordon Bennett International Balloon race in 1929. 

For a first hand account of the race of 1928, read then Lieutenant William Eareckson's story of the winning balloon ride.

Film from the Prelinger Archives in San Francisco

Even tall tales have their facts, but in historical fiction the myriad factual details often far outshine the story itself. In the ever popular books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the telling details turn out to be the truly epic—and real—weather of the past. Recent research led by Barbara Mayes Boustead (University of Nebraska—Lincoln) has begun documenting how Wilder’s book The Long Winter, isn’t just good history wrapped into a great novel. It’s also valuable climate data.

Sunlight and shadowing alter the groomed snow surfaces used for ski racing in a variety of ways. The impacts of sun and shade can be seen on everything from the way the course is prepared and how the cameras are positioned for television broadcasting all the way down to the ski chosen for the race and the type of wax placed on that ski. 

With a height of 8,848 m, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. For over a century, it has been the subject of exploration for both scientific and recreational purposes. This exploration began in earnest with the British expeditions during the early part of the twentieth century.