Every day, meteorologist Hannah Wangari takes the free graphs and maps produced by the five forecasting models she subscribes to and interprets what she sees. “What’s the likelihood of rain in different parts of the country?” she might wonder. “How much of it is likely to fall within the next 24 hours?” Answering such questions quickly and accurately is essential to the potentially life-saving work she and others do at the Kenya Meteorological Department.
As climate change drives ever more frequent and intense extreme weather, the need for faster, more precise predictions will only grow. Heavy rain and floods wreaked havoc this year, killing hundreds and displacing countless more in the United States, Spain, central Europe, and a great swath of Africa, where over 7.2 million people have been affected. An estimated 267 people died in Kenya alone and another 278,000 were displaced as floods impacted 42 of the nation’s 47 counties last year. With torrential storms projected to intensify by 7 percent for each 1.8 degree Fahrenheit of warming, predicting precisely when and where such events will happen is key ... Read more
