When a storm rolls through your area, odds are you’ll have days of warning and hour-by-hour information about what to expect. That accuracy is thanks to a global data network that turns real-time measurements into forecasts that can stretch weeks. But it wasn’t always this way. 

Clare tells Teo how weather went from a guessing game to a precise science, saving lives in the process. 

Have a question about how our world works? Want to know more about weather forecasting? Email the Control F team at controlf@kuow.org 

Support the show by supporting our home, KUOW Public Radio in Seattle.

Sources in this episode:
Archival copies of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on October 12 and October 13, 1962
Why an ‘exact date’ weather forecast headline isn’t what it seems, Met Office of the United Kingdom, 2023
How Reliable Are Weather Forecasts?, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Operational Weather Forecasting, Peter Michael Inness and Steve Dorling, 2013
A Deadly Wind: The 1962 Columbus Day Storm, John Dodge, 2018
Interview with Reid Wolcott, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service, Seattle
Interview with Ted Buehner (a.k.a. Tornado Ted), meteorologist at the National Weather Service (retired)
Interview with Cliff Mass, meteorologist and forecasting researcher at the University of Washington

When a storm rolls through your area, odds are you&rsquo;ll have days of warning and hour-by-hour information about what to expect. That accuracy is thanks to a global data network that turns real-time measurements into forecasts that can stretch weeks. But it wasn&rsquo;t always this way.&nbsp;
Clare tells Teo how weather went from a guessing game to a precise science, saving lives in the process.&nbsp;
Have a question about how our world works? Want to know more about weather forecasting? Email the Control F team at controlf@kuow.org&nbsp;
Support the show by supporting our home, <a href="https://www.kuow.org/donate/control-f-notes">KUOW Public Radio</a> in Seattle.
Sources in this episode:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Archival copies of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on <a href="https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&amp;rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&amp;svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&amp;req_dat=0D2A02882BC90595&amp;rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&amp;rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A142FE773BA94746A%2540WHNPX-16D636DD74E8BF4B%25402437950-16D4331EF04D1756%25400-16D4331EF04D1756%2540/hlterms%3Aweather">October 12</a> and <a href="https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&amp;rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&amp;svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&amp;req_dat=0D2A02882BC90595&amp;rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&amp;rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A142FE773BA94746A%2540WHNPX-16D636E256D05CB6%25402437951-16D433210A32BC42%25400/hlterms%3Aweather">October 13</a>, 1962</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2023/why-an-exact-date-weather-forecast-headline-isnt-what-it-seems">Why an &lsquo;exact date&rsquo; weather forecast headline isn&rsquo;t what it seems</a>, Met Office of the United Kingdom, 2023</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/k-12-education/weather-forecasting/how-reliable-are-weather-forecasts">How Reliable Are Weather Forecasts?</a>, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/washington/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&amp;docID=1120626">Operational Weather Forecasting</a>, Peter Michael Inness and Steve Dorling, 2013</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/205/monograph/book/62943/pdf">A Deadly Wind: The 1962 Columbus Day Storm</a>, John Dodge, 2018</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Reid Wolcott, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service, Seattle</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Ted Buehner (a.k.a. Tornado Ted), meteorologist at the National Weather Service (retired)</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Cliff Mass, meteorologist and forecasting researcher at the University of Washington</li>
</ul>

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data &mdash; hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data &mdash; and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. 

Control F

Two journalists explain how weather forecasting works, and how it has developed over the last 65 years into a more precise prediction than ever before. 