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Blue Dot: Inside the forecast: a visit with the National Weather Service

Weather is an important part of the daily lives and commerce of the U.S. In charge of keeping us apprised and safe is the National Weather Service. Dave talks to Meteorologist in Charge Michelle Mead and Warning Coordination Meteorologist Courtney Carpenter from the National Weather Service's Sacramento, CA office.

They discuss all the modern tools that are used to create a dynamic forecast that is as accurate as possible. They also discuss the role that messaging the public plays in keeping everyone informed and safe during extreme weather conditions from snow in the Sierra-Cascades to fire weather warnings.

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.
Matt Fidler is a producer and sound designer with over 15 years’ experience producing nationally distributed public radio programs. He has worked for shows such as Freakonomics Radio, Selected Shorts, Studio 360, The New Yorker Radio Hour and The Takeaway. In 2017, Matt launched the language podcast Very Bad Words, hitting the #28 spot in the iTunes podcast charts.