Italy Changed the Weather Forecast

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Before satellites, radar, and computer models, Italian scientists were helping transform how humanity observed, measured, and predicted the weather.

In this special Italian-American Heritage Month episode of Meteorology Matters, we trace centuries of scientific breakthroughs, from Galileo’s early temperature experiments and Evangelista Torricelli’s invention of the mercury barometer to the pioneering meteorological observing networks established by the Medici family.

At the center of the story is Father Angelo Secchi, the Italian Jesuit scientist whose work at Rome’s Collegio Romano helped revolutionize weather observation. After spending time at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Secchi developed advanced meteorological instruments that eventually reached observatories around the world, including Havana, Cuba.

There, Father Benito Viñes, a Spanish Jesuit and pioneering hurricane forecaster, issued one of history’s first publicly documented hurricane forecasts in September 1875. Their remarkable scientific connection provides an important chapter in the evolution of tropical cyclone forecasting.

We’ll also explore Luigi De Marchi’s early research into atmospheric circulation and vorticity, Cesare Emiliani’s revolutionary discoveries about Earth’s ancient climates, and the contributions of American meteorologists including former National Weather Service director Louis Uccellini, National Hurricane Center specialist John Cangialosi, and broadcaster Rob Marciano.

From seventeenth-century Florence to the modern National Hurricane Center, discover how Italian innovation, international scientific collaboration, and centuries of observation helped shape the forecasting science we depend on today.

Meteorology Matters explores the science, history, and real-world impact of weather, hurricanes, and our changing atmosphere.

Created and produced by broadcast meteorologist Rob Jones.

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