meteorologists News

Assumptions About Hurricane Season Face Winds of Change

With named storms coming earlier and more often in warmer waters, some assumptions about the Atlantic hurricane season are being rethought. For six straight years, Atlantic storms have been named in May, before the season even begins. On Wednesday, a …

The Pandemic Has Started Weakening the World’s Weather Forecasts

The pandemic that has idled scores of commercial flights is having a little-noticed consequence for meteorologists, whose forecasts rely in part on data collected from planes. That means a crucial eye in the sky has weakened just as spring flood …

Wildfire Forecasters Race to Stay Ahead of Unpredictable Flames

Predicting what a wildfire will do is no simple matter. When the Getty wildfire erupted in California a week ago, forcing 20,000 people to evacuate, Richard Thompson raced to the scene. His job wasn’t to fight a fire that spread …

Bad Weather a Boon for Private Forecasters

Heat and drought are parching the southern U.S. plains, floods and tornadoes have shattered long-standing records, and the tropical Atlantic is steaming into the traditionally busiest part of the hurricane season. With commodity markets across the globe in the thrall …