From The Atlantic.
How are we still getting caught in the rain? This week’s “Galaxy Brain” explores the world of weather forecasting—specifically the apps on our phones that we have come to rely on. As climate change intensifies storms and smartphones put hyperlocal forecasts in our pockets, we’ve never had more meteorological data. And yet plenty of people lament that their weather apps can’t get it right. Charlie digs into why we obsessively refresh our weather apps, why we blame them when they’re wrong, and what it really means to forecast an inherently chaotic atmosphere.
Charlie talks with the physicist Adam Grossman, a co-creator of the cult-favorite weather app Dark Sky that redefined minute-by-minute forecasting before being acquired by Apple. Grossman pulls back the curtain on how weather predictions are made—a process that includes government satellites, weather balloons, massive physics simulations, and machine-learning models—and explains why forecasts are improving even if it doesn’t always feel that way.
This episode of “Galaxy Brain” was produced by Renee Klahr and engineered by Dave Grein. Our theme is by Rob Smierciak. Claudine Ebeid is the executive producer of Atlantic audio, and Andrea Valdez is our managing editor.
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00:00 Are Weather Apps Bad?
02:43 Adam Grossman Joins
06:17 How Forecasting Works
09:02 Why Dark Sky Took Off
11:27 Accuracy Limits and Fumbles
18:24 Leaving Apple for Acme
20:59 Designing for Uncertainty
25:50 AI in Forecasting
29:07 Data Funding Risks
32:38 Conclusion
