Airman Pulse

A weekly podcast featuring analysis of issues critical to Airmen with experts currently serving in and retired from the U.S. Air Force.

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Weather or Knot: Forecasting Short- and Long-Term

Airman Pulse
Ashley Dancer and Collin Meisel
September 3, 2026

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Episode Notes:

Collin sits down with Ashley Dancer, an environmental social scientist and former U.S. Air Force weather officer now completing her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder. Ashley traces her path from forecasting weather for fixed-wing, airborne, and infantry operations to studying how economic and environmental systems interact decades into the future. They unpack the difference between short-term forecasting and long-term projection, and what that contrast means for how we plan our operations, our institutions, and our own lives.

Image: Mark Sulaica via Wikipedia Commons