Have you voted yet? I have! No matter which candidate wins in November, they will face many scientific challenges in the years of their presidency, including impacts from weather and climate. Weather forecasting in the US has fallen behind other nations, and that becomes especially important when short-term disasters like hurricanes or floods threaten. Climate disasters like droughts impact agricultural production and ecosystem health and we are often not adequately prepared for those impacts.
Dr. Marshall Shepherd of UGA wrote a recent posting in Forbes.com on newly published recommendations from the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) on research priorities for the 45th president of the United States and the 115th Congress. UCAR is the leading consortium of more than 100 member universities and colleges with significant activities in the atmospheric, earth and related sciences. Their list points out that 1/3 of the GDP is affected by weather and so improvements in weather forecasting alone have the potential to improve businesses like farming and forestry. Wouldn’t you love to have more accurate and useful forecasts? The priorities also include improvements in hydrological forecasting of floods and droughts, improved air quality forecasts, and improved forecasts of space weather (which can affect the electric grid including satellite communications) and climate variability and change.
I also noticed that Scientific American has compiled answers from the four main party candidates to 20 questions related to various aspects of science and technology, including vaccination, infrastructure, internet security, and innovation. Question 10 is on water forecasting, #12 is on food and agriculture, and #13 is on global challenges such as population growth and changing climate. You can read the entire compilation at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/grading-the-presidential-candidates-on-science/.
