Andrew Blum: Understanding How We Predict the Weather - MBM#35

Andrew Blum is the author of 'The Weather Machine', which provides a history & global overview of how we predict the weather, from the data collection to forecast modelling. His book came out in 2019 so we also discuss the current evolutions & changes since its release.---Episode Sponsor: GeoAwesomeness & UP42 EO HubGeoawesomenessUP42---About Andrew:WebsiteTwitter Shownotes:Andrew Blum's booksThe Weather MachineTubesMicheal Lewis, author of the Big ShortBook & Podcast recommendationTomorrow & tomorrow & tomorrow by Gabrielle ZevinThe Carbon CopyWind of ChangePatrick Radden Keefe Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 02:50 Andrew Presents Himself 03:46 Difference between author and journalist 08:14 Choosing What to Write About 12:35 The Goal of Writing a Book 14:34 The Importance of Going on Location 17:04 The Duality of Talking About People / Facts 20:12 Initial Email Outreach is takes a lot of care 25:37 Weather Is International Yet Competitive 27:52 Bringing An Outsiders Perspective to Understanding the Weather 32:55 Being Knowledgeable is Simply Asking Better Questions 37:36 The Difference Between Facts, and how we Find those Facts 41:13 The Need for Separating Building & Owning 45:10 Feedback on the Weather Machine, a few years After its Release 51:52 The Dangers of Privatising Weather 01:01:11 How Good do we Actually Need Forecasts to be? 01:05:23 Weather is THE mainstream Earth Observation application 01:09:00 Data Inequality in Weather Forecasting Quality 01:14:44 How Much Does it Cost to run the Weather Machine? 01:18:15 Tips on Writing & Editing, for non-writers 01:21:44 Advice for the Scientific Community 01:27:21 Book/podcast recommendationFeel free to reach out! - Website- My Twitter- Podcast Twitter- Read Previous Issues of the Newsletter- Edited by Peter Xiong. Find more of his work