Make Weather Seen by Everyone
A simple weather display? Who needs that.
Summer 2019, after I finished my bachelor study in London, I decided to take a gap-year before Master study to explore around a bit on what field I would like to continue working in. I joined Dr. Yu for his project idea of developing a micro-chip based weather forecast display device - it would look a bit like a hygrometer on your nightstand, only that it displays the outdoor weather now and coming in a few hours. The idea was questioned by pretty much everyone: why does anyone need an additional device to see the weather if they can pull out their smartphone and see every information on their Apps?
Deep inside, I believe such a device can bring huge benefits to people. But I didn't have convincing enough proof to demonstrate. By the end of my employment, we got a fully functioning prototype and applied for patent. However, the commercialisation was way more difficult - a more attractive design of interface, real-life user test, an attractive marketing strategy - all beyond our expertise as researchers.
I carried the question about the potential of our weather alarm device with me to Bern, where I stayed for my Master study. One of the most popular local activities is probably swimming in the Aare river in summer - some even commute by floating down the river. At Parkplatz Marzili, one of the popular entry to Aare, a real-time screen displays the current and forecasted condition of the river, showing the temperature, water volume and all necessary information one needs to know for safely swimming in a rapid river like Aare. People always check on various weather Apps on their own smartphones before coming to Marzili, but always get a final confirmation glance at the display before jumping into the river.
Extreme Weather Events
In city life, people start to disaccociate from natural weather. Radiator and air-conditioning provides fine adjustment to indoor temperature. Plus, regardless of the precipitation prediction tomorrow, I would always put an umbrella in my bag when I was living in London, or now in Hamburg.
In 2021 summer, Henan province, where 10% of the chinese population reside, 200mm rainfall was recorded within 1 hour, the highest record ever since there was a weather record there. The street was full of people who were not fully aware of how catastrophic this was getting. They were trying to get back home as soon as possible, intuitively as most human beings would when facing natural disasters. However, some never made their way back. In the end, a total of 398 deaths were counted, out of which 14 drowned in the metro, and 6 found in a jammed tunnel.
The more I read about the news, the more I realised how easily tragedies could have been avoided. The local meteorology bureau posted emergency notice on their social media a few hours ahead, reaching only very few people. By the time people began to realise the rainfall was unusually heavy, no one would pull out their smartphone to know they were stuck in pouring rain. Even if they were able to find the precipitation data of 200mm/hour online, not many would be able to understand what that number really means.
Imagine having a simple weather display at each entry of the underground, tunnel, or highway rest areas: public crowds gather at these spots during tough weather conditions, and a real-time display with green light showing 'still safe to continue', yellow showing 'proceed with caution' or red showing 'unsafe, seek nearby shelter'.