What with the hourly measurements on wind speed and temperatures, air pressure, humidity, and rainfall all fed into a Cray supercomputer that crunches numbers in the gazillions, weather forecasters are now able to predict the weather with nearly as much accuracy as my next door neighbor Tom. Actually, weather forecasting has come a long way since the days when you could choose between the comics or the weather report for a good laugh. Forecasting today is 90% accurate for a 24-hour-period; however, long-term forecasts fall off dramatically in predictability, with a 5-day forecast presenting a 60% chance of accuracy. As this nicely-lensed (though sonorously narrated) overview points out, the problem lies in that phenomenon we refer to as "the butterfly effect" (i.e., little disturbances which can be magnified into big monsoons halfway across the globe), a feature of the more general "chaos theory." Viewers will learn both how far we've come vis-à-vis the weather (most of us don't sacrifice our children to ensure decent crops anymore) and how far we've yet to go (weekend planning in Seattle is still pretty iffy). While neither as detailed nor as exciting as it could have been, this episode in the 13-part Weather series will offer students and general viewers a decent introduction to the subject. Other titles in the series include: Hurricane, Tornado, Lightning, Snow, and Deserts. Recommended. Aud: J, H, P. (R. Pitman)
Wonders of Weather: Forecasting
(1995) 25 min. $99.95. Ambrose Video. PPR. Color cover. Vol. 12, Issue 3
Wonders of Weather: Forecasting
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.