Sometimes our feelings are hard to talk about, but everyone knows how to talk about the weather. ‘My inside weather,’ Illustrated by Lara Berge, Written by Jen Thorpe, Designed by Emma Beckett, Edited by Janita Holtzhausen with the help of the Book Dash participants in Cape Town on 2 December 2017. Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0. (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Profiles more than 100 scientists from around the world who made important contributions to the study of weather and climate, including David Atlas, John Dalton, Kristina Katsaros, and Klaus Wyrtki.

This workshop report examines the capability of the forecast system to efficiently transfer weather and climate research findings into improved operational forecast capabilities. It looks in particular at the Environmental Modeling Center of the National Weather Service and environmental observational satellite programs. Using these examples, the report identifies several shortcomings in the capability to transition from research to operations. Successful transitions from R&D to operational implementation requires (1) understanding of the importance (and risks) of the transition, (2) development and maintenance of appropriate transition plans, (3) adequate resource provision, and (4) continuous feedback (in both directions) between the R&D and operational activities.

The report explores how best to communicate weather and climate information by presenting five case studies, selected to illustrate a range of time scales and issues, from the forecasting of weather events, to providing seasonal outlooks, to projecting climate change.