Tonight, we’ll read from “The New Air World: The Science of Meteorology Simplified" by Willis L. Moore, originally published in 1922.

This work aimed to make the complex field of meteorology understandable to the layperson, particularly for those seeking to become more “weatherwise”.

Beyond being an author, Willis Luther Moore was an American meteorologist and educator. He also served as chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau, and president of the National Geographic Society.

When Moore began his career for the Weather Bureau, long range weather forecasting was considered little more than quackery both by Moore himself and the scientific community. However, a little more than a decade later, in 1906, Moore announced that the Weather Bureau was about to begin forecasting the weather a month in advance using new scientific methods. The Bureau made weekly forecasts a standard release in 1910. However, despite some successes, these would remain as inaccurate as the older methods. It wasn’t untilthe 1970s that forecasts for multiple days became consistently reliable, thanks to more sophisticated computer models, satellite data, and improved observational networks. 

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