Seeing through the Fog

This chapter discusses the move to modern meteorology, the science of weather. As meteorology has moved from antiquity through modernity, as we’ve sliced and diced the various aspects of weather into measurable, quantifiable units, we have demystified and changed our thinking about weather altogether. Without question, this conceptual slicing and dicing has increased our understanding of weather phenomena and improved the predictive validity of our forecasts, but it has also in many ways removed us from the most hazardous front lines of weather. The objective of this chapter is more epistemic than practical, to suggest that our relationship with weather has changed as we’ve learned to conceptualize weather differently. The final section of the chapter discusses the ways in which the demystification and quantification of weather has been adapted to characterize weather and its impacts as risk.