Meet Krista Hammond - Space Weather expert.

Meet Krista Hammond - Space Weather expert.

Author: Gemma Plumb & Aisling Creevey May 10, 2024 Duration: 35:37

Meet Space Weather expert Krista Hammond who has been forecasting with the Met Office for 16 years. Kirsta is an operational Space Weather Meteorologist as well as a senior Account Manager for Space Weather.

As we enter into a solar maximum, Space Weather activity has been hitting the headlines, not only because of the frequency of the spectacular display of the aurora borealis but because there has been a forecast for one of the largest geomagnetic storms to have hit the earth for 20 year. This level of storm is powerful enough to knock out power grids, networks, navigation and more.

The scale of space weather is simple mind blowing. Krista talks about the difference between solar flare, solar radiation storms and coronal mass ejections (CME’s). She explains the remarkable speed that each can travel at and how much warning we might potentially have before they hit the Earth. A CME is in a whole league to its own and can affect not just a local region but an entire hemisphere.

Krista tells us that unlike modern forecasting for the weather on Earth, there is very limited ways to understand what’s happening in the sun. The main way to do this is to use satellites which look at the sun in different wavelengths and well as looking at the sun’s magnetic fields.

We learn why we need to know what a ‘Lagrange points’ is and why a European Space Agency mission called VIGIL could revolutionise space weather forecasting.

Listen on to find out why Krista loves summer, Noctilucent clouds and why even though she is a space weather forecaster she has never seen the Northern Lights!

If you would like to contact Krista she is on LinkedIn - Krista Hammond - Space Weather.

You can follow the podcast on ‘X’ we are @4loveofweather and on Instagram @fortheloveofweather.

Thanks so much for listening and supporting the podcast, and we hope you leave this episode loving the weather just a little bit more.


Ever find yourself actually enjoying a rainy afternoon or wondering why a certain cloud looks the way it does? You're not alone. For the love of weather is the ongoing conversation between meteorologists Gemma Plumb and Aisling Creevey, who have spent over fifteen years forecasting across the UK. This podcast captures the kind of deep-dive chats they've been having for years, moving far beyond simple small talk. They pull back the curtain on what weather really means for our daily lives, drawing on a surprising range of experience. Their professional paths have seen them predicting conditions for everything from major music festivals and national rail networks to agricultural harvests and even ice cream demand, giving them a unique perspective on how the atmosphere connects to the ground beneath our feet. Each episode feels like sitting with two experts who are still genuinely fascinated by their subject, discussing the science behind a storm front, the challenges of a long-range forecast, or how a shift in the wind can change an entire industry's plans. It's a look at the patterns and stories in the sky, grounded in the reality of jobs, life changes, and a shared curiosity that hasn't faded. Tune in for a human take on the forces that shape our days.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

For the love of weather
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