Overview

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Learn whether you can weather the weather.

Description

There was a time, not that long ago, when the prevailing theory of how weather worked was, "A wizard did it." This led to a few confused smart people wondering who exactly this wizard was, and why he hated trees so much. Thus, the science of meteorology was born.

It got off to a bit of a rocky start. After all, the quickest way to determine if it's raining is to stick your hand out the window. Meteorology aspired to do more than this. It wanted to stick a hand out of the window in the future, or out of many windows at the same time. That hand, delicately groping the cold fronts of the air, began to get a lot more precise.

As you might have guessed, meteorology is the study of weather. Not meteors, as we initially thought. That's too bad, because those things are always trying to slam into Earth, forcing a plucky band of blue-collar heroes to blow it up to the sounds of an aging rock band. No, the study of meteors is actually part of astronomy. Scientists like to be misleading sometimes.

Despite the fact that we've invented roofs and walls, weather remains a very important part of our lives. Rain can contribute to a greater number of traffic accidents, flooding is still a concern, and high temperatures can be a serious threat to the elderly. This is to say nothing of weather disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and Marvel superhero battles.

Being able to predict things like this can save lives. You don't have to go that far in the past for severe weather-related disasters. Scientists are predicting a sharp uptick in these kinds of calamities due to the changing climate. This makes trained meteorologists more valuable, even if it makes the job more difficult.

There are any number of places you can take the major, too. While the most obvious and visible is TV weatherperson, there are many other options. Although, if you do get to be a weatherperson, then you have to pick an awesome name. We'd probably go with Magnificus Thunderus, but we were never known for subtlety.

You can also be one of the people studying the weather to try to get a more accurate prediction while Magnificus Thunderus hogs all the credit, the jerk. You can specialize in one specific thing, too. Maybe you're super into tornadoes ever since one of them hauled you to Oz. We're not judging. That can be useful to study.

The weather isn't going anywhere. It's just going a little crazy. If you're interested in it, you should be able to find a place you're doing useful and fulfilling work. Plus, whenever someone asks you if it's going to rain, you can pretend to be a wizard.

Famous People who majored in Meteorology

• John Dalton, chemist, physicist, and meteorologist (duh)
• William Morris Davis, the "father of American geography"
• Gabriel Fahrenheit. You know what he did.
• Thor (with Norse religions, probably)
• Ororo "Storm" Monroe. What, you think she was born with those powers?

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