WEBVTT - Under the Weather 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.360 From how Stuff works dot com. This is the stuff 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:10.000 of life. Welcome to the Stuff of Life. I'm your host, 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.400 Julie Douglas. The Earth is wrapped in an atmosphere that 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:18.080 weighs five point five quadrillion tons, and inside this atmosphere 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:23.160 the weather creates a crazy quilt of conditions. Consider that 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:27.720 in December a weather system over Texas delivered tornadoes and 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:30.320 floods to one part of the state, while the other 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:34.199 part of the state experienced record snowfall. To say that 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.840 the weather is unpredictable is to sum up our entire 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.680 existence and to personify weather in this way, well, that 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.800 is deeply entrenched in us. This is a mode of 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.720 thinking with a very strong ancient pedigree. I mean, we 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.560 have an extremely dominant predisposition to believe that weather events 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.840 are aimed at us, and often in reaction to our behavior. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.120 I mean, look at all the people throughout history who 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.040 have thought that weather events are punishments for for sin. 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:03.880 If you did something wrong, the gods are going to 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:09.000 send a storm at you, Which is why we find 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.600 solace in charting the chaos that is the weather. I 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.679 was shipping forecast issued by the mess Office on behalf 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.880 of the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency at w O 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:23.839 one five on Wednesday September. They are wanting for gales 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.760 in Dover, White Portland, Plymouth. John P. Swaddle, a professor 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.640 of biology we talked to in an upcoming episode, fondly 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:37.280 remembers these BBC shipping forecasts. I can't do it now, 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:39.360 but when I was a kid, I could recite most 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.120 of the shipping forecast areas in order because they go 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.200 through them and almost a sort of sing song type 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.200 of way, and they're all called things like the forties 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.640 and stuff like that. And um, they go round the 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.040 coast basically clockwise, I think, um, And they'd say each 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:54.760 one of the shipping zones and then what the weather 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:56.960 would be like, and I just sort of rattled off. 0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.640 And when I was a kid, I listened on the 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:01.720 radio because he used to come on basically after the 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:03.840 news at nine or ten o'clock in the evening, stuff 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:09.440 like that. These forecasts have been a tradition since the 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:14.080 nineteen twenties, when citizens of storm lashed coastal cities in 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:17.200 the UK settled in for the evening. The theme music 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.760 of the broadcast sailing by a serene backdrop for their 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.040 thoughts as they sussed out what the following day might 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:30.480 look like. This kind of weather prognosticating is one of 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:36.119 the oldest human activities and persists as a topic for discussion, dissection, 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:41.240 and even obsession. Good morning, It's March twelve, two thousand 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:43.919 and nine, and it's a Thursday here in l a 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:51.520 Mostly blue skies, some white clouds floating by muted golden sunshine, 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:58.880 very still, fifty two degrees fahrenheit eleven celsius. For a while, 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.840 film director day with Lynch gave weather reports for the 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:06.400 greater Los Angeles area. His Midwestern accent and the relatively 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:10.000 stable conditions of the southern California climate give a sense 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:14.520 of continuity that life might always be drenched in muted 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:19.519 golden sunlight. While his forecasts aren't exactly an American counterpart 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.760 to the UK shipping news, they do offer a sense 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.040 of order in the face of roiling chaos and confusion 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:31.600 that bubbles under the surface of the American experience. Whether 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:39.480 then becomes the metaphor for our existence, awe inspiring, unpredictable, mysterious, 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:44.640 something we consciously and unconsciously organize our lives around, even 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:48.960 coloring our emotions something author Lauren Redness Explorers and the 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:54.000 weather phenomenon the Doldrums. That word just struck me because 0:03:55.760 --> 0:04:00.240 it's the doldrum seems to indicate a psychological phenomena as 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:04.720 much as the meteorological phenomena. The first let's take a 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.640 detour into the ways in which weather makes a dent 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.760 into our psyches. I'm Joe McCormick. I'm a writer and 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.320 host at How Stuff Works, and you can find me 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.080 on my other podcasts, Stuff to Blow your Mind and 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.080 Forward Thinking. I'm Holly for I am an editor and 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.480 I co host Stuff You Missed in History Class. I'm 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.720 Dylan Fagan and I'm the photo researcher here at How 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.840 Stuff Works. Um, and I have my hands and many 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:33.400 different pots around the office. Why there is so much 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.400 a part of the story of our existence that when 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:41.240 we step into an unfamiliar situation or maybe even a 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.760 slightly awkward one, like say an elevator, it is our 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.200 go to topic for discussion. I think it's the most 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.360 surface level conversation that you can start with with a stranger. UM, 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.000 And I don't mean that in a negative way. I 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.760 mean it and that it's a threat that ties us 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:58.960 all together, we all go outside, we all see what's 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.360 going on. You know, we I'll have that common experience um. 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.840 And it is cliche um, but it also could be 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.479 a door opener and icebreaker, um to get to know 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.000 someone a little better. You know. It could just be 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.640 for the elevator, or it could be jeeves hot day 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:18.920 out there, sure is, so what's your name? You know, 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.440 it's a jumping off point if you look at it optimistically, 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.080 It's how you start to get into somebody's head to 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:30.680 do the long con what's your name? And social Security number? 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:33.680 The weather ain't what it used to be when it 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:38.039 comes to safe topics, global warming, climate change. Weather is 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.480 clearly having a moment. Were close here tonight with more 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.000 unusual weather is in the grip of another descemb But 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.760 hate life is part of the wild weather and recent 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.080 wait forecast. There's a warning of more chaos a space. 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:55.800 Storms and floods continue to battle the southern United States. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.359 Nobody that is living has ever seen anything like What 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.680 do you guys think about the names we have for 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.160 all these storms and weather events? Now? Is that? I mean? So, 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.760 we we've been naming hurricanes for a long time, but 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.440 now we've had these winter weather events that get names 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:15.640 in the media like Snowmageddon and snow apocalypse and the 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.039 polar vortex, which I guess is a different thing because 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.320 that's a real scientific term. But but you see these 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:22.919 come up in the media a lot. Is that is 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.960 that new or have we always been doing that? Well, 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.039 we haven't always been doing it because we didn't even 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.760 always have like a weather service that you know, worked 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:36.400 on these predictions. But I certainly think the I mean, 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.839 I don't remember storms when I was a kid in 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:44.560 the seventies and eighties having these cockamami like full on 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:50.600 drama with a musical stinger under them names right like mom, 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:52.599 this is the one, you guys, I don't know it's 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.200 the one. What this leads Holly two News on a 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:59.200 unified theory of weather sensationalism. I mean, I have this 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.680 whole thing completely separate from weather, where I feel like 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:05.640 there's this perpetual competition in that our news cycle and 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.080 the social media angle, where there's this perpetual competition to 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.520 be the cleverest and so people all want to come 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.520 up with the kicky name for everything that happens. And 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:19.480 that's where Snowmageddon comes from once in a generation storm, 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.880 a historic and deadly winter storm shuts down the southern 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.280 US that was so very scared outside. If I don't 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.080 get home to life hands, I'm like, I'm going to 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.280 freak out. State troopers sent in to rescue small children. 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.400 And it's like they can't just say we're having this 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.040 weather event. They're serious snow. There is a bad traffic 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.640 situation because everyone released every school at the same time, 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.320 and all offices shut down, and so all of these 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.520 people got trapped on the interstate. They can't say that 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:49.720 they have to go. And Hey, if we're going to 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.800 the trouble of giving weather systems dramatic names, we might 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:56.920 as well go one step further and saddle these systems 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:02.760 with the responsibility of our personal suffering. I feel like, um, 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:06.840 sometimes weather is like a scapegoat for your problems. I mean, 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.840 in my in my opinion. You know, when it's seventy 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.520 at Christmas and you you think like, well, that's that anno, 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.600 or that's climate change, or it's so cold, that's the 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.000 polar vortex. You know, whatever kind of weather phenomenon that 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.400 you're hearing about on the news. It gives you something 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:29.800 to blame for why things are abnormal. I should mention 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:33.800 that we all live in Atlanta, Georgia, also known as 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.760 Hot Atlanta. I want to pick up on something you said. 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:42.280 They're about it being seventy on Christmas, because I always 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.000 have this feeling that. I mean, I like nice warm weather. 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.200 I like nice sunny days when it's warm out, and 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.600 especially when it's nice in the winter when it's otherwise 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.240 been cold. But I hate it when it's hot on Christmas. 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.480 And it's frequently hot on Christmas around here, and it's 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.760 just awful. It just feels like it ruins the holiday, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.160 ruins the spirit of it. It's not really Christmas because 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.199 you're sweating. It's just gross and you hate it. And 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.600 I think it's weird that we give that kind of uh, 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:15.840 we give that kind of emotional power and association between 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:22.440 certain feelings or events and how it's supposed to be outside. Yeah, 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.480 I mean if it's hot during December, I refused to 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.280 wear shorts because they're Christmas lights. You know, it's like, 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:33.000 it just ruins the holiday feeling. When it's seventy outside 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.360 and you see a dude and flip flops, You're like, no, No, 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.840 that's not that's not what I'm used to. That doesn't 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.920 fit this ideal in my head that I have from 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.120 you know, television and movies and when I was a kid, 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:57.360 and I remember it's knowing I have to confess that 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.560 hot Christmas isn't my thing either. I tend to think 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:05.960 of winters is time to symbolically fold into yourself. So yeah, 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.640 you know it just it's getting darker out earlier, and 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.400 it's sort of this time to just mentally hibernate or 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.440 you know that feels safest to me in the winter, Like, yes, 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.760 this is okay. I'm going to be depressed, probably because 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.680 I always am over Christmas. And I also get angry 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.400 when it's seventy degrees on Christmas because that just feels 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:27.280 like it's underscoring all the weirdness that is an attention 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.360 and stress that is Christmas. See now I feel guilty 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.400 because when it's seventy on Christmas, I feel like it's 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.000 a gift to me and everyone else is apparently miserable. 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.560 You've done the human sacrifice that made that happen, and 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.320 now Julie and I are just having to stew and 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.199 feel betrayed. I didn't think about that. I think you 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:49.719 caught something interesting there. Um, Like when it's seventy on Christmas, 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.400 it just adds the unpredictability and the tension and the 0:10:53.480 --> 0:11:00.280 weirdness that is getting together like that. It adds a 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:05.680 certain weird level of anxiety here. Whether is disrupting the 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.400 narrative that our Western culture has told us about how 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.760 Christmas should be, but it goes deeper than that, Whether 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:16.200 it can actually shape our moods. I think it's interesting that, um, 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.880 looking at like a five or seven day forecast on 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:23.360 your phone for me personally, can determine what my mood 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.320 is going to be, Like I can already predetermine how 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.599 I'm going to feel that day, like, oh gosh, just 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:30.959 gonna be cold and rainy on Sunday. That's going to 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.319 be awful, you know, or it's gonna be it's gonna 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.199 be really nice on Monday. I'm really excited about that. 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.679 That's gonna make Monday better. Like it can. It can 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:43.520 drag you down or it can pull you up. I hate, hate, hate, hate, 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.720 hate being cold so much. I have winter rage disorder, 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.640 not a real disorder when I made up, but people 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:51.840 often think I'm like citing a doctor. When I say no, 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.719 I went to rage disorder. Bring it on. I'll wear 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.120 red and green shorts in the winter. I don't care 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.760 if I need my holiday fix. I would rather be 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.079 on fire than be cold. I live in the South 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.200 for a reason. Bring on seventy degree Christmas. All of 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.959 us have, at one time or another, take him weather 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.880 personally and shaking our fist to the sky. Some even 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.920 feel like they could control the weather. We did an 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.000 episode once on Crown Prince Sotto of Korea who was 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.000 suffering with some very real mental illness, and he thought 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:26.200 his clothing choices would affect the weather. Uh, which kind 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.600 of He was already dealing with a lot of stuff 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:30.760 and he was prone to fits of violence. But he 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.440 really felt the burden of that that, you know, if 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.760 he wore color X or robe at Y on a 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:41.080 certain day, it could potentially impact the entire world. And 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.320 that's a lot to carry on your shoulders. So in 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:46.600 a in a lighter way, thinking that the weather is 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.240 mirroring us, does that happen to you or you like 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.440 I made it rain with my sadness. There wasn't there 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.880 a Georgia governor who there was a drought in the 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:59.400 nineties and he put He's like said, Okay, we're going 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.200 to pray for rain. Ask and you shall receive. Just 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:04.400 one day after, Georgia Governor sunny Ford let a prayer 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.480 service for rain on the steps of the state capital. 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.080 The rain fell. It sounded and felt pretty good last night. Here, 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.720 I have to tell you, we do believe in miracles. 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:17.600 We do believe that you are the miracle Creator, the 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.360 creator that established the water and the land and the 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:28.000 air and even us. God, we need you, we need rain. 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:33.160 So it's I mean, it's still in some form continues today. Um, 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.800 this feeling that you can influence the weather based on 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:43.400 an action or clothing or mindset. This influence is an 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.920 ancient idea that we just can't seem to quit. Weather 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:51.280 patterns that change over the seasons are definitely a cycle, 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.480 and you can see it happen in real time, and 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.439 that that is certainly reflected in ancient beliefs too, because 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.640 lots of ancient gods are seasonal gods. You know that 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.760 their mythologies are derived from the seasonal changes. So you 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:09.040 have gods that are killed and then reborn in the 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.840 same way that your harvest. You know all the plants 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.360 are killed by the winter and then reborn in spring, 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.120 But whether the elements are the realms of gods or mortals, 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.280 it all comes back to the sense that it's just 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:28.680 deeply personal. My great grandmother was still in her seventies 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:30.240 when I was growing up, and she would be the 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.560 one to pick me up from school in the afternoons, 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.760 and uh usually on sunny days, I would go outside 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.320 once I got home and play basketball for hours until 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.800 my parents could pick me up. But on rainy days. 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:45.720 My grandmother was a great cook, and she would always 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.320 have either leftovers or something she'd just made. And because 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:51.720 she came from a time where food was scarce and 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.560 their way of showing love was cooking, um, she always 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.520 wanted me to eat when I got home. She didn't 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.880 have cable. She had this little black and white TV 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.560 and it got PBS, and I remember at three o'clock 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.000 it was Mr. Rogers, but at three thirty it was 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.000 The Joy Painting with Bob Ross. And I would sit 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.040 there and she would have made macaroni and cheese and 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.480 green beans and turkey, and I'd sit there and I 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.120 would watch Bob Ross as the rain fell, and in 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.440 my mind. That is just like a blanket wrapped around me. 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:30.960 It's the warmest memory I can think of from my childhood. 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.320 Rain is the most emotionally evocative weather event that there 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:45.320 is in movies. It's a handy signifier for a heightened 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:49.680 emotional state, whether it's a melancholy character staring out of 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:54.760 a rain splattered window or a couple kissing under a deluge, 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.680 you know, just completely oblivious to everyone else and bursting 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.680 under their desire for each other. That is how effective 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.440 of a metaphor. Rain is. So much so it's rainbow 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.080 producing abilities. That moment when we get to briefly see 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:14.400 white light split part into its brilliant component colors. That 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:19.080 moment of a rainbow could even inspire a book. I 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:23.160 had finished my previous book, Radioactive, and m I was 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:25.320 chatting with a friend and we were actually taking a 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.160 walk one day one of those days where the weather 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.560 changed really rapidly where it rained and then I think 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:33.680 it even hailed and the sun came out and there 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:36.680 was a terrific rainbow, and you know, kind of as 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.080 a joke, I said, um, you know, I'm really burnt 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.040 out the book I just finished, which for which I 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:45.320 had to learn a lot of physics, and I'm not 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.160 a physitist by any stretch, and so I just thought 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.880 my next book could be out clouds and Rainbows. As 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:55.960 I heard myself say this, I realized that I wasn't kidding. 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:00.360 And this spectacular panorama of this guy that you take 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:02.800 for grant duties give me such an interesting ech other 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.040 because it's hidden in plain sight. Lauren Redness is the 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.080 author of three books. She's been a Guggenheim Fellow and 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:12.880 Artist in Residence of the American Museum of Natural History, 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.159 and a finalist for the National Book Award. She teaches 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:19.600 at Parsons the New School for Design. Her newest book, 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.240 Thunder and Lightning, Weather Past, Present, and Future, is an 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:28.480 exploration of and meditation on the ways that humans cower, celebrate, 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:32.120 profit from, and even try to control the weather. Her 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:36.440 accompanying illustrations stir the senses that we associate with those 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:40.640 elements of weather. The opening chapter, titled Chaos, spells out 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.280 the ground rules for the book with a story about 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.280 a cemetery. So my mother in law told me this story. 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:49.520 She was a minister in New Hampshire and she heard 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.800 about a town not too far away from her where 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.560 a friend of hersage of pasture and the floodwaters from 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.600 Hurricane Irene had unearthed the grades from the cemetery. And 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:04.359 I was so struck by that that idea that you know, 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.359 this very most basic premise, you know, you die, you 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.439 are buried, even whether can even up end that basic 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.520 assumption about life. So I wanted to start with that 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.320 kind of unrattling and then through the book try to 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:27.040 put the pieces back together. That weather disabuses us of 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:31.040 the sense of continuity. Instability makes it that much more 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.640 important for us to track and predict. And to that end, 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.639 The Old Farmer's Almanac has been predicting the weather since 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:43.639 sevent founder and editor Robert B. Thomas came up with 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:48.480 a secret forecasting formula. So the Old Farm of Dominac is, 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.639 you know this publication that's been around since before George 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:56.359 Washington was president. It's predates electric light. It's one of 0:18:56.400 --> 0:19:00.320 the very first books that a colonial American fami might 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.240 have had in their home. The way that they predict 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.600 weather is using a sacred formula that child in a 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:11.160 black box, which they have at their headquarters in New Hampshire. 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:16.360 This mysterious black tin box is the stuff of weather legend. 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.280 It's been passed down from editor to editor, and it 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:23.160 was thought that that person, and that person alone would 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:26.000 set eyes on it. I was talking to m. Judge 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.520 and Hale, who was editor of the Almanac for many, 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:30.720 many years, and I asked him, I said, you know, 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.600 have have you ever seen this black box? And he 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.960 said casualist could be Oh, yeah, here it is. You 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.480 can look at it. And he picked it up off 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:41.280 the phone and handed it to me, and I was 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:51.119 just stunned. In thunder and lightning. Lauren documents this moment 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.000 describing the black box is quote dusty. It was black 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:58.119 with gold trim, about the size of a tackle box 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.040 or a makeshift coffer that might use for cash at 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.520 a big sale. The lock was open. Inside were a 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.639 few leathery spiral notebooks, two keys with clover shaped heads 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.000 held together on a jumbo paper clip. There were a 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:17.200 number of loose documents, some type, some handwritten, and one envelope. 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:24.040 This one envelope that was stamped confidential confidential. So I 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.920 opened it up and they began to fade through this 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.160 system for predicting weather, and it read like a riddle. 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:42.520 Laura was given permission to copy the formula and share 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.160 it with Greg Carbon, a meteorologist from the National Oceanic 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:50.400 and Atmospheric Administration. He said to me, the meteorologist, well, 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:54.400 it's rather hard to follow, and it's a beautiful and document. 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.800 It's you know, all about the moon cycles in the atmosphere, 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:01.240 in the solar system and suns. And what struck me, 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:05.240 why is that actually to read this secret formula, to 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:09.439 have the mystery unveiled, actually did nothing to destroy the 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:14.280 mystery itself, because whether it is endlessly unpredictable and no 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:18.560 formula can give us a key, and in fact reading 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.840 this document I could I had that sense of a 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:27.280 mystery only deaconed because the mystery of weather forecasting is 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:29.920 bigger than the old farmer's almanac, and weather prediction will 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.800 always no matter how our science advances, it always seems 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:40.760 to be just beyond our grasp, just beyond our grasp, 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:45.040 and yet directly influencing us. As Lauren explains in her 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:49.280 chapter on wind, specifically with the example of long distance 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:53.159 swimmer Diana and Nayad, who in planned to swim from 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.800 Cuba to Florida for three straight days and nights of 0:21:56.760 --> 0:21:59.879 a feat that would require a little or no wind. 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.480 I read something about Diana and Nyad preparing for her 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:10.359 long distance swims, in particular from Cuba to Florida, and 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:14.600 how she waited for a windless pocket of weather um 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:17.640 which she referred to as a dull drums. She connected 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:22.520 weather to climate and to these grand metaphysical questions. She 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.240 talked to me about some of the thoughts that led 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:28.800 her mind as she swims for days out on the 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:31.480 open ocean. And she said, she said to me, it's 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:33.960 a very small planet. I'm thinking about the melting of 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:37.080 the polar ice caps. Where are we in the universe? 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:39.960 Will the Earth last forever? Will the human race last forever? 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:43.320 And you can just picture her, this tiny, tiny body 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:47.600 in this vast, vast ocean, you know. And she says 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:50.080 that she pictures all the animals swimming beneath her, and 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:55.200 she can see the stars sparkling above her while waiting 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:57.840 for the easterly winds to change. In Key West, a 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:01.440 sailor took Diana out on the deck. Kay. She says, 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:04.240 can you taste something gritty in your mouth? And so Diana, 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:06.680 you know, he says, we're all standing there with our 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:08.879 tongue is hanging out, and she says she does. She 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:11.359 tastes something gritty, so she just assumes that she fault. 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.040 You know, that makes sense. There they are on the 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:17.040 edge of the water, but no, her friend tells her 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:20.320 that this is actually sand from the Sahara that's blown 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:25.800 over clear from Africa across the Atlantic. And it just 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:29.879 struck me that idea, these tiny tiny stecks of cross ocean, 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:32.560 almost like you know, a butterfly making it some migrations, 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:36.080 tiny speck of sand that made it from Africa all 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:39.439 the way to the east coast of America. This moment 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:42.879 crystallizes the link between ourselves and the rest of the world, 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:47.399 removing a sense of distance. Time kind of collapses because 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:49.520 like when did that wind blow over the Sahara And 0:23:49.960 --> 0:24:01.160 suddenly the globe seems particularly small. When we talk about nature, 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:03.560 we tend to think of all the things that we 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:08.919 can see, trees, flowers, animals, and insects. But at its court, 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:12.919 nature is the unseen, the forces that come together to 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:17.040 allow our very existence in the first place. Think of 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:21.480 the Sun's radiation beating down, driving life cycles, warming and 0:24:21.520 --> 0:24:26.160 cooling molecules until they become air movement. Then wind than gals. 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:31.360 Nature then is weather, and weather is brutal and riotous, 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:35.000 but it also contains its own kind of symmetry and 0:24:35.119 --> 0:24:37.840 breathtaking beauty, the same kind of beauty that we gape 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:41.280 at when we wonder about our existence. Where we are 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:44.680