Weather Affairs

Michael Glantz - December 11, 2001

(A PowerPoint-Like Presentation)

The blending of physical, biological, and social science and the humanities education, research and applications centered on weather

• Weather systems
• Weather variability
• Weather extremes
• Weather: the climate system's building blocks
• Weather concerns throughout history

• On ecosystems
  • Terrestrial
  • Marine
• On the built environment
• On societies
• On economies

• Land use in floodplains
• Building codes in hurricane prone areas
• Hail insurance in agricultural areas
• Insurance coverage
• Tall smoke stack construction
• Location of air-polluting industries
• Early Warning Systems
  • Wind shear
  • Severe Storms
  • Avalanches
  • Inversions
  • Heat waves

Case Studies:

• The Rapid City Floods
• The Challenger Launch
• Housing construction in low-lying coastal areas
• The politics over providing airports and/or aircraft with the latest weather-detecting technologies

• Value of weather information
• Value of forecasts for different extremes
• Cost/benefit of a missed forecast
• The insurance industry and weather events
• Risk assessments
• Seasonality bias (hurricane season, tornado season, snow season, etc.) and tourism
• Fog dispersion
• Extreme weather event damage

• Are the poor (defined as those without political access) disproportionately affected by adverse extremes of weather, such as tornadoes?
• Do the poor have the same access to weather information as do the wealthier elements of society?
• Do the poor tend to be located in areas at higher risk to extreme meteorological events?