Do you ever shake your head and curse the weatherperson as the weather does the opposite of what they predicted again? You planned your vacation for this weekend because it was supposed to be sunny and warm, but instead it poured rain the whole time.

Why does that keep happening? Why do they keep getting it wrong?

That’s chaos at work.

It’s not the fault of the weatherperson.

The true wonder is not how often they predict the weather wrong, but how often they get it right.

The weather is a chaotic system, and chaotic systems are unpredictable. But thanks to a fascinating thing called chaos theory, we’ve figured out how to predict them anyway.

Don’t worry, I’ll explain. Continue reading →