Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of the United States in October 2012, causing $65bn of damage. Remarkably, weather forecasters managed to predict its impact on the US eight days in advance, when it was barely even a storm.

How did forecasts get to be so good? It’s a story that begins with the invention of the telegraph and ends with supercomputers.

We talk to Andrew Blum, author of The Weather Machine(£16.99, Bodley Head), about the history of weather forecasting, why we shouldn’t trust the icons on our weather apps, and whether we’ll ever have an accurate minute-by-minute forecast.

He speaks to BBC Science Focus online assistant Sara Rigby.

Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast which we think you will find interesting:

• What's going on with the weather? – Dann Mitchell
• Could leaving nature to its own devices be the key to meeting the UK’s climate goals? – Mark Lynas
• Can we really predict when doomsday will happen? – William Poundstone
• What if the Earth’s magnetic field died? – Jim Al-Khalili
• Why is the magnetic north pole moving? – Ciaran Beggan
• Are we facing an insect apocalypse? – Brad Lister

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Image: Actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio stares at a visual showing Hurricane Sandy using data from Goddard Earth Observing System Model © NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth

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