The room
Richardson's hall is now a room of screens.
ENIAC, and the first machine forecast
In 1950 a machine reproduced in about a day the kind of calculation Richardson had done by hand in six weeks, and the result was good enough to prove the method rather than the weather.
How a model is actually run
Running a numerical weather model is not pressing a button and waiting.
Somebody still draws the isobars
The synoptic chart looks like it predates the computer. It does.
The People on Shift
A forecast office runs continuously, and the handover between shifts is where judgement is actually transferred from one person to the next.
Getting the observations in
Before the model can run, it needs to know where the atmosphere is right now — and that is harder than it sounds.
Fronts as a Drawing Convention
The triangles and semicircles on a weather map are not decorations — they are a theory drawn in ink.
Isobars, and what they are for
Pressure drawn as lines turns a page of measurements into something a forecaster can read at a glance — and the distance between the lines says how hard the wind will blow.
Every piece in The room
The same set as a list, for reading rather than browsing.
- ENIAC, and the first machine forecastLongIn 1950 a machine reproduced in about a day the kind of calculation Richardson had done by hand in six weeks, and the result was good enough to prove the method rather than the weather.
- How a model is actually runLongRunning a numerical weather model is not pressing a button and waiting.
- Somebody still draws the isobarsMediumThe synoptic chart looks like it predates the computer. It does.
- The People on ShiftMediumA forecast office runs continuously, and the handover between shifts is where judgement is actually transferred from one person to the next.
- Getting the observations inMediumBefore the model can run, it needs to know where the atmosphere is right now — and that is harder than it sounds.
- Fronts as a Drawing ConventionShortThe triangles and semicircles on a weather map are not decorations — they are a theory drawn in ink.
- Isobars, and what they are forMediumPressure drawn as lines turns a page of measurements into something a forecaster can read at a glance — and the distance between the lines says how hard the wind will blow.