How ready are we in the face of a stormy season?
Summary
Evelyn Cusack, former head of forecasting at Met Éireann, joins Anton Savage to discuss her new book, *They Say It Might Rain*, co-written with Seamus Walsh. They reflect on the evolution of weather forecasting technology, from analog barometers to high-resolution models run in Icelandic supercomputers. Cusack also shares her humorous experience of having a storm named after her and explains the limits of long-term forecasting due to chaos theory.
Topics discussed
Introduction of Evelyn Cusack and her new book
Evelyn's retirement and the current state of forecasting
The Met Éireann app and local weather updates
The naming of Storm Evelyn and its history
The effectiveness of storm naming for public safety
Changes in weather terminology: millibars to hectopascals
Traditional barometers and interpreting pressure changes
The location of the Met Éireann supercomputer in Iceland
Evolution of weather model resolution from 100km to 2km
Global performance of European weather models
Evelyn's rejected storm name suggestion: Pico
Overview of the book 'They Say It Might Rain'
The limits of AI and chaos theory in long-term forecasting
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