Hello NST heds,
As the weather seems to be getting more unpredictable — from flash flooding overtaking our subways in NYC to the deadly floods in central Texas — this week, we’re turning our attention to our weather apps. Are they getting worse? Are Trump’s DOGE cuts to blame? Why don’t we use feels like as the default temp? And what does the percentage of precipitation (PoP) actually mean?
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I chat with Dr. Lauriana Gaudet, an applied meteorological scientist at The Weather Company, and Mary Glackin, a scientist who worked at NOAA for nearly 35 years, to answer all of those questions and more.
Then, Heather McCalden, author of “The Observable Universe,” answers a question from a listener named Austin about how Spotify’s shuffle feature actually works — and why it doesn’t actually seem to be all that random.
The last track in this week’s episode is from Certain Self’s “Girl in the Walls” from his new EP You Look Tired.
We reached out to NOAA for comment, but didn’t hear back. We’ll update you all if they respond.
If you haven’t noticed, we’re not recording in an actual podcast studio so you can see your pretty faces in HD on Instagram.
Have a question/comment/complaint? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at (860) 325-0286. And don’t forget to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts and give us 5 stars!