DISRUPTIVE
IT’S EASY TO take weather forecasting for granted. Every goofy TV meteorologist told us more than a week ahead that Hurricane Irma was turning into a giant storm that would nail the U.S. East Coast. Given the incomprehensible complexity of weather, such a feat is like predicting today who will win the 2020 presidential election. (Crowdsourced site Paddy Power gives Oprah 33-to-1 odds.)
Over the next few years, technology will make weather modeling even more precise and useful, which is good news as the planet enters an era of worse storms driven by climate change. Not only will models get a better bead on storms that can wreck things, but superspecific forecasts will integrate with everyday actions. An app might read your calendar and automatically let you know that there is going to be a rain cloud directly over your patio the moment people arrive for that barbecue a week from Saturday.