Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Hungary's weather chief sacked over wrong forecast
The art of weather forecasting began with early civilizations. Forecasters used reoccurring astronomical and meteorological events to help them monitor seasonal changes in the weather. The Babylonians tried to predict short-term weather changes based on the appearance of clouds and optical phenomena such as haloes as early as 650 B.C. Chinese astronomers had developed a calendar that divided the year into 24 festivals, each festival associated with a different type of weather by 300 B.C. In fact, weather forecasting was critical for farmers, fishermen, and sailors and even crucial for kings, generals, and priests, for religious or ceremonial events and battles. If a forecaster gave the wrong forecast that affected the consequence of a military operation, he might have been killed.
St. Stephen's Day, or Foundation Day, is celebrated in Hungary on August 20th each year. The highlight of the state holiday celebration is Europe’s biggest fireworks display on the bank of the Danube in the evening. This year, the fireworks display was postponed only seven hours before the scheduled event because of an extreme weather warning issued by the National Meteorological Service. However, the rainstorm changed direction and hit eastern Hungary instead. The government was so upset that they fired the top two weather experts. If the forecasters had given an OK forecast but had rained heavily, what would the government have done?
Enjoy reading the article and think about how responsible weather forecasters are for weather conditions.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62640051
Hungary's weather chief sacked over wrong forecast
The art of weather forecasting began with early civilizations. Forecasters used reoccurring astronomical and meteorological events to help them monitor seasonal changes in the weather. The Babylonians tried to predict short-term weather changes based on the appearance of clouds and optical phenomena such as haloes as early as 650 B.C. Chinese astronomers had developed a calendar that divided the year into 24 festivals, each festival associated with a different type of weather by 300 B.C. In fact, weather forecasting was critical for farmers, fishermen, and sailors and even crucial for kings, generals, and priests, for religious or ceremonial events and battles. If a forecaster gave the wrong forecast that affected the consequence of a military operation, he might have been killed.
St. Stephen's Day, or Foundation Day, is celebrated in Hungary on August 20th each year. The highlight of the state holiday celebration is Europe’s biggest fireworks display on the bank of the Danube in the evening. This year, the fireworks display was postponed only seven hours before the scheduled event because of an extreme weather warning issued by the National Meteorological Service. However, the rainstorm changed direction and hit eastern Hungary instead. The government was so upset that they fired the top two weather experts. If the forecasters had given an OK forecast but had rained heavily, what would the government have done?
Enjoy reading the article and think about how responsible weather forecasters are for weather conditions.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62640051
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