What is the origin of weather forecast?

The changes of weather and climate, wind, frost, rain and snow are very important to people's life and production practice. Dressing, walking and even life are inevitable.

In the long-term production practice, people have struggled with the sky and the earth, gradually mastered some meteorological knowledge, and predicted the weather according to objects and sky phenomena.

As far back as 3000 years ago in Shang Dynasty, China used Oracle Bone Inscriptions to record weather conditions such as wind, rain, drought and waterlogging. This is the meteorological record of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty in BC 12 17, and the words on it are: Gui Hai Bu, Ding (true) 10th. March. Ugly, in the evening (night), it rains. Ding Mao, Ming and Yu. E (Chen), small mining day, rain, wind. Self (fourth), Ming and Qi (Ji). Ren Shen, the wind comes from the north.

For the reasons of weather phenomena, ancient China people explained some phenomena. Zhuangzi said, "A big breath is called wind." This shows that wind is formed by air flow. Zhu explained the cause of rain in the Southern Song Dynasty: "Steaming is rain, like rice, steaming and sweating." He also said that Lou didn't land. Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica said: "Those who expose themselves are wet at night."

There are detailed meteorological records in China ancient history books and local chronicles. Since the Han Dynasty, especially in the capital area of each dynasty, there have been records of special weather such as drought, severe cold, frost, snow and hail.

China has long used meteorological instruments to observe weather conditions, and was the first country to invent anemometers and rain gauges. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng invented the waiting seismograph in 132. It stands a 5-foot (about16.7m) high pole with a rotatable copper bird on it. According to the direction in which the bronze bird rotates with the wind, we can see what the wind direction is. This is similar to the waiting chicken in the12nd century recorded in foreign books, and it is later than the bronze bird 1000 years.

In ancient China, there was also a wind flag with a small bell tied to it and hung on a high pole. Look at the direction in which the flag blows, and you will know what wind it is blowing. This is similar to the modern wind pocket.

China used the rain gauge for the first time. There is a narrative in Shu Shu Jiu Zhang in Song Dynasty from 65438 to 0247. The rain gauge is uniform in size, with a cylindrical diameter of 14 cm and a copper rain gauge.

However, for a long time, except for a few meteorological instruments, we mainly rely on objects and astronomical phenomena to predict the weather.

In the17th century, scientists invented barometers and thermometers, and later successively invented thermometers and anemometers, so as to quantitatively determine the weather conditions in a certain place.