[122] Testing the limits of weather predictability

How can a butterfly in Brazil trigger a snowstorm in Colorado? And what does this mean for weather predictions? Scientists in the NCAR Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Laboratory used one of the most-detailed weather models ever developed to “hunt” for the ultimate limit of weather predictability. Get your questions ready for this week’s session with scientist Falko Judt, talking about chaos theory, the butterfly effect, and why we will (likely) never be able to forecast the weather for more than 2-3 weeks into the future.

Season 1: 2020/2021 Meet the Experts Program, Episode 22

Falko Judt, Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM), NCAR