Robert’s Weather Q and A

1) When did you decide to become a meteorologist?

When I was in university studying science and math, the possibility arose to work as a
meteorologist (the government weather service hired people every year). I applied and was
fortunate enough to get a job as a meteorologist- forecas ng the weather- when I nished my
degree.

2) What fascinates you about the weather?

Growing up on a farm, I was always interested in the weather. In the summer me, living in the
countryside, I would watch the clouds forming in the a ernoon and would wonder if there
would be a thunderstorm. Also, I realized that the weather was important for many aspects of
farming- for example deciding when crops were planted and harvested.

3) Can you describe in your words: what is weather?

Weather is the temperature, humidity, sun and clouds, precipita on and wind that we
experience every day. What causes weather? The sun drives everything that happens: it warms
the earth near the equator more than near the poles, crea ng an imbalance in temperature.
Nature is always ac ng the neutralize this imbalance, and the movement of air- in the form of
low- and high- pressure systems - is nature’s way of doing this.

4) Can you describe the Atmosphere - literally or physically?

Chemically speaking, the earth’s atmosphere is mainly made up of nitrogen, oxygen, argon,
carbon dioxide, water vapour and a few other components. The atmosphere can also be looked
at in terms of its ver cal structure, with the troposphere being the layer closest to the surface
(lowest 10 km or so, where the temperature decreases with height and where most of our
weather occurs); and the stratosphere (from about 10km to about 50 km, where temperature is
fairly constant with height and where we nd the earth’s protec ve ozone layer). There are
more layers above that but they have less to do with the weather.

5) what does it mean for you to know about weather?

Knowing about the weather helps me plan my daily ac vi es. In winter me, knowledge of an
approaching snowstorm can a ect decisions on shopping or traveling, or even something simple
like when to shovel the walkway. In the summer there are days when it’s important to keep an
eye out for and avoid severe thunderstorms which can bring lightning, strong winds, heavy rain,
hail and even tornadoes. More generally, knowing about the weather at home or in other
countries helps me feel be er connected to the world around me.

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 6) Is it really possible to predict the weather?

Absolutely! There is a great deal of informa on available in the form of surface weather
observa ons (o en taken at airports), weather balloons, weather radars and satellites; this
informa on, especially the surface observa ons and radar, helps us see what weather is coming
in the short term. Also, this informa on is fed into sophis cated computer models which are
run several mes per day and give a detailed weather forecast for a few hours in the future to a
week or more. These forecasts are very reliable, especially for the rst few days. At the same
me, weather systems are complex en es, and even with the wealth of informa on available
the forecast will occasionally miss the mark.

7) how important is weather?

Weather is important for individuals: from what to wear when going outside, to when to take
cover when a severe thunderstorm is approaching. And many businesses are weather sensi ve
in their daily opera ons: farming, shing, transporta on (avia on, marine), tourism and forestry
to name a few.

8) did weather change in its form or strength or direc ons in the last years?
9) can you see a form of climate change in the weather structures?

It’s useful to look at these ques ons together in the context of human caused climate change.
Scien c experts around the world, who have studied this issue closely for decades, agreed
some een or twenty years ago that humans, through emi ng greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere, are very likely having an in uence on the global climate, par cularly in terms of
the global average temperature increase. They found that the changes observed could not be
explained by some other reason such as natural climate variability. They have also found
evidence of changing weather pa erns, and this evidence con nues to increase. Personally, I
think the aspect of changing weather pa erns, and with it the increased likelihood of more
extreme weather events- such as heat waves, storms and droughts- is something that should
concern us all.
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