I see Milton getting compared to hurricanes that formed in the Gulf of Mexico and hit the Tampa Bay area as far back as 1854. What type of meteorological data did they have back then?
In: Planetary Science
The anemometer, that thing with the little cups that spin, is used to measure wind speed and direction. It was invented in 1450 AD.
Fairly-accurate thermometers were invented and refined throughout the 1600s and early 1700s.
Barometers, used to measure air pressure, were invented in 1643.
Hygrometers, used to measure air humidity, were invented in 1783.
The understanding of clouds, storm systems, and how air pressure contributes to storms started in the late 1600s and has been continuously refined to this day.
The point is – by the 1800s, meteorology was a centuries-old science. By the year 1700, there were meteorological societies in every major city and every university conducting measurements. When the telegraph arrived in the 1830s, this enabled real-time communication between these groups, which meant accurate storm tracking between locations. In the second half of the 1800s, nearly every developed nation formed a meteorological department, making nation-wide storm tracking the standard.
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