Why measure weather? That... Wow. Consider him shocked, because this one would strike him as rather basic. Looked like he was going to have to drag out lectures from years gone by to try and get it all laid out in a logical way. So for a moment Nida is quiet, alternating rubbing his hands together and holding them out to the fire. Once it was all sorted out in his head he reached up to run his fingers through his hair.
"It's relevant for a number of reasons. First for the long-term monitoring of weather patterns. Checking out the sky and all of that is well and good, but when you have an idea of how temperature and weather typically plays out in your climate you're in a better position to account for what you'll need to do to provide for yourself in subsequent years. Not to mention when it's safe to go outside or not. Like... like ice skating. People do that, right? But if you're doing it you have to be careful to make sure the ice is thick enough. If you know what the temperature has been like the last few days you can more accurately gauge whether the water has had a chance to freeze thick enough to allow the needed weight. It's all physics. Or learning to read a basic barometer. You can tell early if it's going to rain due to atmospheric pressure."
And that didn't even go into tactical applications. If you knew it was going to, or already had, dropped below -40, you could reliably say that the enemy could not come after you with gas powered vehicles. By that point gasoline gels and it can't be used for combustion engines. You also needed to know to make sure your winter gear was rated appropriately for the area you were in. Perhaps explaining those things to someone without the concept of measuring temperatures might not be as useful, though.
no subject
"It's relevant for a number of reasons. First for the long-term monitoring of weather patterns. Checking out the sky and all of that is well and good, but when you have an idea of how temperature and weather typically plays out in your climate you're in a better position to account for what you'll need to do to provide for yourself in subsequent years. Not to mention when it's safe to go outside or not. Like... like ice skating. People do that, right? But if you're doing it you have to be careful to make sure the ice is thick enough. If you know what the temperature has been like the last few days you can more accurately gauge whether the water has had a chance to freeze thick enough to allow the needed weight. It's all physics. Or learning to read a basic barometer. You can tell early if it's going to rain due to atmospheric pressure."
And that didn't even go into tactical applications. If you knew it was going to, or already had, dropped below -40, you could reliably say that the enemy could not come after you with gas powered vehicles. By that point gasoline gels and it can't be used for combustion engines. You also needed to know to make sure your winter gear was rated appropriately for the area you were in. Perhaps explaining those things to someone without the concept of measuring temperatures might not be as useful, though.