The Incredible Logistics Behind Weather Forecasting
1,591,581
Published 2022-06-29
Watch Jet Lag: The Game at youtube.com/jetlagthegame
Buy a Wendover Productions t-shirt: standard.tv/collections/wendover-productions/produ…
Subscribe to Half as Interesting (The other channel from Wendover Productions): youtube.com/halfasinteresting
Youtube: / wendoverproductions
Instagram: Instagram.com/sam.from.wendover
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/WendoverPro
Sponsorship Enquiries: [email protected]
Other emails: [email protected]
Reddit: Reddit.com/r/WendoverProductions
Writing by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation led by Josh Sherrington
Sound by Graham Haerther
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster
References
[1] www.weather.gov/rev/upperair
[2] www.weather.gov/upperair/factsheet
[3] www.weather.gov/iwx/wsr_88d
[4] www.roc.noaa.gov/WSR88D/PublicDocs/CONUScoverageNs…
[5] journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/hydr/21/8/jhmD1…
[6] www.ndbc.noaa.gov/
[7] w1.weather.gov/xml/current_obs/
[8] www.weather.gov/media/emwin/EMWIN_Text_Product_Cat…
[9] www.weather.gov/media/emwin/EMWIN_Image_and_Text_D…
[10] www.weather.gov/nwr/
All Comments (21)
-
I work as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service at the WFO level and I want to sincerely thank you for making this video! You did a great job covering the complexities of the NWS, and even highlighted some lesser known aspects, like IMETs deploying to wildfires or the COOP observers that provide daily observations on temps, rain, and snow. I’ve been watching Wendover for years and this is one of my new favorites!
-
Me, as a meteorologist, watching this like "I know them!" or "I know the people working on that!" every 30 seconds.
-
A common joke in coding/computer science is that the true heroes are the random dudes in their 40’s named Gary that donate so much time and effort as a labor of love. I have a lot of respect for volunteers like that.
-
I worked at a wastewater treatment plant on the Pacific Northwest coast and we recorded weather conditions for every single day I worked there. The NWS had a weather station within a mile of our plant at the local airport and we always compared our results with theirs. It was interesting to compare rainfall totals between these two stations and notice the difference between the stations.
-
Lots of people say “the weather man is always wrong” but let’s be honest. Meteorologist and Climatologist spend their lives researching our planet’s climate, weather, and atmosphere. And weather forecasting and climate models have become so much accurate than even just 10 years ago. And remember, it’s all about probabilities and stuff. Nothing being predicted will ever be 100% accurate, but we can get close.
-
Of course Sam would manage to get airplane logistics into a video about weather prediction 🤣
-
I know that on some level I knew this system was complicated, but this gives me a new appreciation for the work people do. Thanks for the breakdown, Sam and team. These hardworking people deserve better recognition.
-
I would just like to appreciate all these people who work behind the "weather app" for us to see what's to come in the next 10 days. It is so easy to just open an app, check weather and close it down for free but the amount of work, effort, calculations that go into it all behind the scenes is enormous, you all are the real ones! ♥
-
HARMLESS WEATHER INSTRUMENT is what I intend to stamp on my villainous superweapons.
-
I work as a production tech/technical director at a weather news tv network based in the Denver metro area (a competitor to The Weather Channel). I never realized till I started working there, how much math is involved in meteorology. Most of the producers have meteorology degrees and it always impresses me how they’re able to help those of us less mathematically inclined to understand weather and weather related stuff.
-
11:54 Love that even professional meterologist have to bookmark a Celsius to Fahrenheit calc!
-
17:53 One interesting bit to note is that they were going to make their own app, but lobbyists stopped this. Also some have tried to make it so that certain data is behind a paywall…despite nearly all the data coming from taxpayer dollars (so it should be free at point of service) !
-
Back in the days when we operated the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity which used solar panels to generate the electric power to work, Malin Space Science Systems provided us with a weather forecast that warned us of strong winds. On one hand strong winds would clean the solar panels but on the other hand they were lifting dust in the atmosphere and reduce the available power. It allowed the rovers to survive the Dust Storm in 2007 and warned us of the one that ultimately killed Oppy in 2018.
-
Sam thanks so much for this video! As a meteorologist who works for deploying the new MROS (Manual Weather Observing System), it was so fun to see both the old and new software and equipment in action in the video! Some corrections though: They are called radioSONDES not radioSCONES, the balloons go up to around 100,000ft or 30,000 meters or 30km not 300,000m. Also, technically fronts don't have pressure so it wouldn't be a "high/low pressure front" . Other than that Sam, this video was top 5!
-
It's crazy how we underestimate a simple thing like weather and forecasting, never imagined the amount of work that goes through for us!
-
finally, someone who takes an interest in weather forecasting systems.
-
0:36 feet to meter is still hard, even after years of edutubing xD
-
Every Wendover video I see someone in the comments that basically says "I work in (relevant sector portrayed in video) and this is so incredibly well done" and frankly it's amazing how consistently this occurs
-
100,000 feet or 300,000 meters. Can’t wait for next years episode of HAI that includes that. Love the videos btw, always well done and informative
-
7:46 the one buoy sitting in the middle of America like 👁
