ESJ2204, "How We Measure Weather: A Brief History And Where We're Going Next" James Hyde 12/10/25
The presentation began by providing a historical background of meteorology. Meteorology began with the invention and use of the rain gauge by 14th century Joseon. The invention of the thermometer, hygrometer, and barometer in the 17th century expanded upon understanding of meteorology. Meteorology advanced as these instruments were improved and refined and technology developed. In particular, the invention of telegraph allowed for easier communication between instruments from across the globe, contributing to the creation of the first weather maps. WW2 was a turning point as meteorology played a critical role in determining an optimal landing day for the DDay invasion; it was at this moment that meteorology shifted from just a science to also being commercially useful. The presenter also touched on the human touch: before measurements were digitized, people made observations by hand. Although slower, observations made by humans provided more nuance than digitized observations. However, as instruments advanced, digitized observations became necessary to keep up with the instrument's increasing speed and efficiency. The presenter then transitioned into the focal issue: modern day weather instrumentation lacks proper quality control, resulting in a wide spectrum of trustworthiness for instruments. This is a problem because all databases take into account all instruments equally, no matter their quality. This can create skewed data. I thought the problem was sold pretty well, as the presenter displayed four instruments at vastly different levels of trustworthiness. However, looking back, the presenter only showed these four instruments and extrapolated this out to thousands of other instruments without providing any further data, which indicates some sampling bias. The presenter went on to emphasize why it's important to have accurate weather measurements. I already knew meteorology was important for forecasting natural disasters like floods, but the presenter also mentioned meteorology's importance in the military, fire prevention, forestry, pest and weed control, roads and infrastructure, crimes, energy resources, and construction. The solution to a lack of quality control is Mesonet: the implementation of calibrated maintained instruments. Mesonet stations monitor temperature dew point/humidity, wind speed, direction, sunshine and clouds, soil temp and moisture, rainfall, snow depth. More importantly, Mesonet stations reintroduce the human touch by being able to provide nuanced, in depth observations. For future steps, the presenter emphasized being able to effectively communicate weather information. The presenter cited an incident that happened earlier this month in Maryland where forecasted snow caused a two hour delay in many schools. However, the snow never happened. The weather data actually showed that this snow would never occur, but the data wasn't effectively communicated to the schools. The presenter also emphasized the importance of training the next generation and further optimizing cost efficiency production of weather stations.