Stanley A. Changnon

Applied climatology has been the foundation upon which the world's weather-sensitive activities and infrastructure have been developed. Applications of climate data and information have likely contributed more to the development of most nations than any other function of the atmospheric sciences. Today weather forecasts are very useful and important but these only became available in the 20th Century, more than 150 years after applied climatology had been in service to the nation. By 1970, applied climatology had moved to a new level of recognition and ever higher value to the user community. Atmospheric scientists within the field turned their attention to improvements to: weather-sensing instruments, data quality and its archival, access of data and climate information, and generation of user-friendly climate products. The era since the 1960s has seen a series of scientific and technological changes that have vastly enhanced the field of applied climatology. Coupled with these advances have been national and global economic conditions that acted to increase the demand for climate products. The golden age of applied climatology had begun.