All of us hear about the storms or the typhoons that are going to hit us, but how do we get to know before it arrives. Are there some fortune tellers in the weather forecasting team? Is someone reading the stars by looking at their position? Well, these methods were used in the past, but not any more. The science had evolved so much that we can know for sure that it is going to rain after 3 days or exactly when the Typhoon is going to hit.

How does it all work? Weather forecasts are made by collecting quantitative information like temperature, pressure and the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere. When these readings change with time the change is also noted.  A lot of data is also acquired from remote sensing. Remote sensing is the concept of collecting data from remote weather events and eventually producing weather information. We use  Radar, Lidar, and satellites for remote sensing. Each collects data about the atmosphere from a remote location. Weather satellites along with more general-purpose Earth-observing satellites orbiting the earth at different heights are unmatched tools for studying any kind of weather condition.

In order to analyse all this data we rely heavily on computers. However, nature is highly unpredictable, and a little error in any observation can cause erroneous forecasts.

Weather forecasting has helped protect life and property. It also helps the farmers in agriculture. They also help in planning outdoor activities.

References:
Meteorology – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorology