For us New Englanders, we are no strangers to extreme weather conditions. For instance, if we have a look at the past couple of months, we went from the ability to wear a t-shirt mid-December with temperatures at 60 degrees some days, to preparing for a “snow-pocalypse” only a month later.
One of the immediate behaviors for extreme weather is preparing for them. Whether it’s running to the grocery store to make sure we have enough food in the house to be stuck inside during a long storm or stocking up on fans and AC units for a 90 degree heat-wave. The truth is none of this preparation would be possible without technology. Technology including computers, advanced radars and satellites are the keys to unlock the information used for weather predictions.
The power of radar works by sending out radio waves that reflect off particles in the atmosphere such as raindrops, ice, dust and even insects! Radars send out these electromagnetic waves similar to wireless computer networks and mobile phones. The signals are sent out as short pulses, which may be reflected by objects in their path, in part reflecting back to the radar. When these pulses intercept precipitation, part of the energy is scattered back to the radar.
With weather satellite technology and communications satellite technology, you can find out the weather anywhere in the world any time of the day. Satellites are able watch the weather from around 22,000 miles above the earth or measure in “real time”, meaning they transmit photographs to the receiving system on the ground as soon as the camera takes the picture.
New technologies are starting to emerge for weather predictions. We all know how GPS systems have made our lives easier by mapping out directions for us, well, that is not the only thing they can do. According to Scripps Institution of Technology, a new technique led by a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego stands to improve weather models and hurricane forecasting by detecting precise conditions in the atmosphere through a new GPS system aboard airplanes.
Mobile smart phones also have the ability to pull up the weather right from palm of your hand. Anyone can wake up in the morning and check the weather from the comfort of his or her own bed just by clicking a button, and instantly see what the weather will be for the day or week. This instantaneous information allows us to save time, and help us plan our day around temperatures.
Technology has made predicting the weather and sharing that information with the public an efficient convenience. As this technology improves, so does our well-being. Check out the funny spoof video of someone preparing for a storm below!