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Meteorologist
Studies weather patterns and atmospheric conditions — predicts weather and climate.
Did you know?
Admiral Robert FitzRoy coined the term 'weather forecast', and the first daily forecasts were published in The Times in 1861.
How subjects help
- Physics: Explain how warm air rises, cools and forms clouds, rain and thunderstorms.
- Mathematics: Turn temperature, pressure and wind readings into equations that predict tomorrow's weather.
- Geography: Know how mountains, coasts and oceans shape local weather, like sea breezes or valley fog.
- Computer Science: Run weather models on supercomputers and read satellite and radar images of storms.
A famous name
Edward Norton Lorenz: Meteorologist who discovered the 'butterfly effect', showing why weather is hard to forecast far ahead.
Try it yourself: Be a weather watcher for a week
- Put the jar outside in an open spot, away from roofs and trees.
- At the same time each day, measure the water depth in millimetres, write it down, then empty the jar.
- Also note the sky each day: sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy.
- After a week, look for a pattern. Try to forecast tomorrow, then check if you were right.
Meteorologists, climate scientists and hydrologists all start with careful, regular measurements, then look for patterns over days or many years.
Also try: Read the warning signs.
Known for it in
USA, UK, Japan, Germany, Australia