Making weather forecasts is hard. Getting people to understand them is even harder

Louis Uccellini retired at the beginning of the month as director of the National Weather Service, the federal agency responsible for issuing forecasts and warnings. His departure ends a nine-year tenure when the weather – especially extreme weather – began upending the lives of greater numbers of Americans.

Winter storms set records in the Pacific Northwest for snow and low temperatures recently. Throughout 2021, the country saw record flooding in the Northeast, and heatwaves in the West. And on the front line of every event has been the National Weather Service (NWS).

Uccellini spent a great deal of his time as director on improving technology at the weather service. But the agency's biggest challenge is effective messaging about the weather, especially extreme events, Uccellini says.

Even now,people don't really understand what forecasts are