No one remembers when you’re right, but no one forgets when you’re wrong. Your local weather person knows that saying all too well. But while they take a lot of the heat (get it?), how much of it is actually justified? In this episode, Mona Chalabi looks at weather forecasting data to see how accurate these predictions really are, and gives us tips for when we should–and shouldn’t–trust the forecast.
.
Watch:
Glossary
- backlash – a strong feeling among a group of people in reaction to a change or recent events in society, politics
- to indict – to charge with a fault or offense
- to hold off – to delay
True or False?
1. People tend to remember it better when somebody’s way of thinking is erroneous.
2. The director of a provincial weather bureau in Taiwan was accused of predicting the weather incorrectly.3.
3. Provided one day in advance the weather forecast of the US National Weather Service was incorrect by about six degrees.
4. In order to be able to forecast the weather most accurately we’d have to know the position of more than 100 billion molecules in the atmosphere.
5. Unless you want to be precise when predicting something, it’s better to postpone the verification process.
Key: : 1T; 2T; 3F; 4T; 5F
Practice Makes Perfect
Fill in the gaps in the text below with some extreme weather words. The first and last letters of the missing words have been provided.
(…) The World Meteorological Organization recently released its 2018 State of the Global Climate report. In 2018, it said, 62 million people around the world were affected by extreme weather and climate events, including over 2 million people displaced from their homes and 37 million people affected by 1. f ………. g. The US was hit by 14 “billion-dollar disasters” in 2018, including 2. h ………… s Florence and Michael; intense 3. h ……….. s and f …..s caused more than 1600 deaths in Europe, Japan and the US, with the US facing record economic damage from fires. 2019 began badly, with massive destruction from Tropical 5. C ……. Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in addition to the 6. c …….. e bomb in the US.
The report noted that although world hunger had been on the decline, in 2017 the number of undernourished people in the world rose to 821 million, “partly due to severe 7. d …… s associated with the strong El Niño of 2015-2016.”
Source: https://www.inc.com/maureen-kline/flood-emergency-cost-of-inaction-on-global-warming-looks-far-greater-than-cost-of-action.html
Key: 1. flooding; 2. hurricanes; 3. heatwaves; 4. fires; 5. Cyclone; 6. cyclone; 7. droughts
Discuss:
- Do you often check the weather forecast?
- Does the weather change how you feel?
- Have you ever experienced extreme weather?
- Have you ever had to weather a storm?
- Do you worry about the world’s changing weather?
- Do you think the weather is a good conversation topic?
Explore it more to create your own teaching-learning experience!
Yes, It’s Snowing in Hawaii. No, It’s Not That Weird.
The National Weather Service said roughly a foot of snow was expected to fall on the Big Island summits. “We do get snow there pretty much every year,” one local meteorologist said.
Read: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/04/us/hawaii-blizzard-warning.html
(2405)
