Gary Fine
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226249520
- eISBN:
- 9780226249544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226249544.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Science, Technology and Environment
Whether it is used as an icebreaker in conversation or as the subject of serious inquiry, “the weather” is one of the few subjects that everyone talks about. And though we recognize the faces that ...
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Whether it is used as an icebreaker in conversation or as the subject of serious inquiry, “the weather” is one of the few subjects that everyone talks about. And though we recognize the faces that bring us the weather on television, how government meteorologists and forecasters go about their jobs is rarely scrutinized. Given recent weather-related disasters, it is time we find out more. This book offers an inside look at how meteorologists and forecasters predict the weather. Based on field observation and interviews at the Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma, the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., and a handful of midwestern outlets, the book finds a supremely hard-working, insular clique of professionals who often refer to themselves as a “band of brothers.” In this book, we learn their lingo, how they “read” weather conditions, how forecasts are written, and, of course, how those messages are conveyed to the public. Weather forecasts, the book shows, are often shaped as much by social and cultural factors inside local offices as they are by approaching cumulus clouds. By opening up this world to us, the book offers a glimpse of a crucial profession.Less
Whether it is used as an icebreaker in conversation or as the subject of serious inquiry, “the weather” is one of the few subjects that everyone talks about. And though we recognize the faces that bring us the weather on television, how government meteorologists and forecasters go about their jobs is rarely scrutinized. Given recent weather-related disasters, it is time we find out more. This book offers an inside look at how meteorologists and forecasters predict the weather. Based on field observation and interviews at the Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma, the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., and a handful of midwestern outlets, the book finds a supremely hard-working, insular clique of professionals who often refer to themselves as a “band of brothers.” In this book, we learn their lingo, how they “read” weather conditions, how forecasts are written, and, of course, how those messages are conveyed to the public. Weather forecasts, the book shows, are often shaped as much by social and cultural factors inside local offices as they are by approaching cumulus clouds. By opening up this world to us, the book offers a glimpse of a crucial profession.
Peter J. Thuesen
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190680282
- eISBN:
- 9780190680312
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190680282.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The Conclusion draws on the author’s interview with leading meteorologist Howard Bluestein to explore the state of contemporary tornado science, which helped inspire modern chaos theory. Just as the ...
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The Conclusion draws on the author’s interview with leading meteorologist Howard Bluestein to explore the state of contemporary tornado science, which helped inspire modern chaos theory. Just as the weather has taken Americans to the outer limits of theology, bedeviling them with the same unanswerable questions that have nagged humans for centuries, scientists now recognize fundamental limitations on their ability to predict a tornado. Thus, even though meteorologists continue to make lifesaving advances in forecasting outbreaks of severe weather, the tornado remains a uniquely American totem—a symbol of Americans’ quest for mastery, but the embodiment of primal, unconquerable mystery.Less
The Conclusion draws on the author’s interview with leading meteorologist Howard Bluestein to explore the state of contemporary tornado science, which helped inspire modern chaos theory. Just as the weather has taken Americans to the outer limits of theology, bedeviling them with the same unanswerable questions that have nagged humans for centuries, scientists now recognize fundamental limitations on their ability to predict a tornado. Thus, even though meteorologists continue to make lifesaving advances in forecasting outbreaks of severe weather, the tornado remains a uniquely American totem—a symbol of Americans’ quest for mastery, but the embodiment of primal, unconquerable mystery.
