Inequality in Weather Forecasts Around the World, with Jeff Shrader

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This week, host Margaret Walls investigates the world of weather forecasting with Jeffrey Shrader, an associate professor at Columbia University whose recent research examines inequalities in forecast accuracy among countries across the globe. While the accuracy of weather forecasts has improved steadily over the past few decades, low-income countries experience notably less reliability in their local and regional weather predictions. Shrader explains how factors such as topography and proximity to the tropics impact the ability to get a read on the weather, while lack of investment in weather-observing infrastructure exacerbates such inequalities. In the course of breaking down his…