This is a 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

Andrew Blum is a journalist who writes about some of the biggest infrastructure projects in the world.

His specialty is revealing how systems we think of as

intangible, like the internet, are actually made up a very real stuff. The internet

relies on cables and wires and data centers which are maintained by actual people who keep the whole thing running.

A few years back, Andrew got interested in the weather forecast.

It's this mundane everyday service that, the internet is made possible by a vast and

interconnected global machine that took decades to build.

The system is a huge scientific project, but it's also a diplomatic one.

The atmosphere crosses all political boundaries and so knowing the weather requires international

collaboration.

As weather becomes more extreme, the forecast becomes increasingly important, but ironically,

because of its growing value, there are now forces threatening to undermine the global system that makes it possible.

It is fascinating stuff.

I talked to Andrew about his book, The Weather Machine, and he told me that he first got interested

in the forecast back in 2012.

It was a kind of busy season for me.

My first book had come out.

My dog had died.

My son was born.

It all kind of happened at once.

And there was a weekend afternoon as kind of Sunday in October

...