Rain or shine? A short history of the weather forecast
The Forum
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Do the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings Set Off a Tornado in Texas?
Gibbs: Professor Lorenz said that any small movement in the atmosphere could trigger a bigger movement someplace else. He was addressing what if you had butterflies that all took flight somewhere in the Amazon basin, would that have an effect? And his answer was actually it would because the atmosphere is chaotic. So modern forecasters try to get the starting conditions as close to reality as possible but even that doesn't solve everything.
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