Mònica Usart: "I am not in favor of changing wardrobes"

Before being a meteorologist, Mònica Usart (Molins de Rei, 1984) wanted to be an astronaut. But she saw Helen Hunt in Twister and a world opened up to her that has never left her. A Physics student at the University of Barcelona (UB), she very soon began to explain the weather in media outlets such as TV3 and RAC1, even with a humorous touch on Arucitys. Not only at home do they ask her what the weather will be like, but friends also call on her, especially when weddings are approaching. From Molins all her life, neighbors stop her to ask if they need to take an umbrella. She not only makes predictions but also writes books. Now, she has just published Fenòmens extrems (Columna), a review of four episodes that have recently marked current events, such as the Glòria storm or the overflowing of the Francolí river, with testimonies from victims accompanied by expert voices.

She feels that people are increasingly concerned about the weather, with climate change altering the rules of the game. "16 years ago, when I started working, I simply gave the weather, but our role has gained a lot of importance in recent years," she explains in an interview with The New Barcelona Post. This is the third installment of a series of interviews with fit personalities from Barcelona's civil society that we publish with the support of DiR, the leading gym chain in Catalonia.

--- Have you always wanted to be a meteorologist?

--- When I was younger, I wanted to be an astronaut. The scientific world has always attracted me a lot; also, at home, my father has a telescope. Now it's super old, but back then it was a great telescope. My sister and I always looked at the planets and the Moon, and it hooked us quite a bit. What happened is that, once, a teacher at school asked us what we wanted to be. I told her I wanted to be an astronaut and she told me that you had to be very physically strong because you have to withstand very extreme conditions. I was very small, not very athletic, and I said, damn, this astronaut thing will be very difficult for me.

--- And then?

--- Well, one day, we went to see a movie with my parents at the cinema. It was Twister and I discovered the great world of meteorology. I wanted to be Helen Hunt chasing tornadoes. That's when I started to become passionate about all this. It's true that I got hooked on an extreme phenomenon, but, over the years, I started to pay more attention to the weather here. I've been more passionate about phenomena like hurricanes and tornadoes, but at home I would have starved and I started to lean towards the world of forecasting.

--- What do you study to be a meteorologist?

--- In high school, I already steered towards the scientific baccalaureate. I didn't know whether to choose Physics or Geography, but Geography doesn't have the mathematical and scientific point that Physics has. Besides, I was very good at science and I liked it a lot. I had also considered doing something like Environmental Sciences, I had even thought about studying Audiovisual Communication. These were different things I had thought about, but always aiming to end up in the media doing the weather. It wasn't like I only liked the weather, but I liked the weather in the media, always having TV3 as a reference.

--- Where did this desire to communicate come from?

--- People find it very difficult to grasp science or meteorology because it's not explained to them properly, and it frustrates me. To think, oh, no, if what they are explaining to you is very, very interesting and, if you knew it, you would freak out. I wanted to reach this point of knowing how to chew information enough to make people see that meteorology can be a lot of fun. It was more this obsession, because I, communicatively, for example, within my group of friends, have always been one of the most discreet, one of the most shy. When I'm with a lot of people at a table I don't like to talk too much, but when I have to talk about this topic, yes. Despite wanting to be Helen Hunt chasing tornadoes, I didn't obsess over that, but rather over being able to explain it to other people, I also really wanted to disseminate science. I had to study Physics, a very tough degree, and I had to study many subjects that had nothing to do with meteorology, but, well, in the end, by working hard, I got there.

--- It's at TV3 where you start working.

--- Yes, on 3/24. I did my internship and, just when I finished it, the meteorologist who was there, Mònica López, went to TVE and a great door opened for me. With Gemma Puig, we did the tests to get in and they took both of us to combine weekends. At first, I had a really hard time, because it was my dream, but, at the same time, looking at that camera and expressing myself, after having been so many years locked in a library doing Physics problems, it was a bit complicated for me. It was the point I had to work on the most.

--- How did you do it?

--- In that first stage, I met people who helped me a lot. In the camera I used, there was no one behind it, they controlled it automatically from outside. It was very difficult for me to look at a device and talk to it as if it were a person. I remember Ester, a director, who would, if she could, stand behind the camera or next to it, telling me, look at me and explain it to me. It made things much easier for me. Afterwards, mentally you achieve it. Also, I was very closed off and didn't feel comfortable with the clothes they put on me. I had to overcome many difficulties at first. On the other hand, radio is much easier because I always have a person in front of me to talk to, who asks me questions, who I answer, who we dialogue with, and that way people at home can understand it better. The time I was on Arucitys was a very similar system to radio, with him asking me questions all the time, like at a table among friends, and me explaining science. The time I did RAC1, RAC105 and Aruscitys was the most complete because I did TV, I did radio, I did humor, I did information, I had it all.

--- At home, I understand they're constantly asking you about the weather.

--- Yes, I'm the one who decides what clothes the girl will wear the next day to go to school. Or, before leaving, my husband is the one who asks me. If he has to travel, he tells me, what do I do, do I take the thick jacket or the thin one.

"Before leaving, my husband is the one who asks me. If he has to travel, he tells me, what do I do, do I take the thick jacket or the thin one"

--- No, no, no! You don't have to look it up on Google! You always have to listen to us. Meteorologists don't rely on a single numerical model; we rely on more than one, and this gives more reliability to the forecast. The device you have at home, your mobile, tablet, or whatever, picks up a single model, and that model is gospel. We, based on our experience, know that, with a type of situation with more convection, this model gets it right more often, or, when fronts arrive from the Atlantic, this other one gets it right better. With this knowledge, we end up giving a more accurate forecast.

--- Do your friends also consult you?

--- For weddings, especially. Right now, I have two weddings in the next 15 days. I tell them, 15 days out, what I'll tell you is a lie. I'll tell you something that will make you nervous, and as we get closer, it will blur and the situation will change. What I do is say, okay, a week before, we start looking at it, and from then on, it's more reliable. There have been people who have put the responsibility on me to rent a tent because if they didn't rent it with enough lead time, it would be very expensive. On days like that, I feel bad because I know what it entails and the excitement and everything you hope it will be. I always tell them it will end up being a fantastic day, no matter the weather. You have to do a bit of psychology too.

--- In Molins de Rei, do people stop you on the street and ask you about the weather?

--- I've always been very involved in many organizations and I know everyone. If I don't stop for those who know me, I stop for those who ask me about the weather. Sometimes, my daughter is a bit fed up with coming with me on the street.

--- You are treated almost as if you were oracles.

--- Yes, yes. Even though there are mobile apps, it's true that people approach us and ask us, telling us, please, I need you. Once on the radio, they brought me eggs. You know they say that if you want to get married, so it doesn't rain, you have to bring eggs to the Poor Clares. Well, they brought them to me so it wouldn't rain. A little box with all sorts of beautifully decorated eggs.

"There have been people who have put the responsibility on me to rent a tent for a wedding because if they didn't rent it with enough lead time, it would be very expensive"

--- Well, now I don't remember. It's just that I'm asked for so many weddings that I don't remember.

--- How do you prepare the weather predictions?

--- When I arrive at the radio station, I start looking at maps. They show me, for example, the pressure or the fronts that are coming our way, the typical ones you can see on TV maps, in blue or red. How the depression or anticyclone is positioned. They also show you the warm air inflows and the colder air inflows. With this whole combination of maps, I can get an idea of what the meteorological situation will be. Nowadays it's very easy to be a meteorologist because we have many tools. If you want, I can show you which maps you have to look at and you can see where it will rain and where it won't, if temperatures will rise, if it will be windy...

--- How do you handle criticism when the prediction fails?

--- It makes me very angry. But we try to manage it among all meteorologists, we do therapy together. When it happens to us, we have a WhatsApp group and we share our frustrations. When someone criticizes us, it's true that sometimes the forecast is not what we said because meteorology is not an exact science, it gives you probabilities. You say, there's an 80% chance of rain, but I can't start listing the probabilities for every town in Catalonia. Therefore, you recommend, take an umbrella because it will rain, but there's this 20% chance that it won't rain. If this happens or the storm that was supposed to pass over Catalonia passes over the sea... This makes people say, it was supposed to rain so much, I've been carrying my umbrella all day and not a single drop has fallen. But, in the next town, maybe 50 liters have fallen. Many times we feel that we are attacked as people and, in the end, these are maps that we consult and we act as messengers. We translate to people what we see on the maps. Both when they get it right and when they don't, it's the maps, not the person. Sometimes, you feel it as a personal attack, especially on social media.

"When the prediction fails, we try to manage it a bit among all meteorologists, we do therapy together. We have a WhatsApp group where we share our frustrations"

--- This year we are having a spring as it should be. We had forgotten that May is like this, temperature ups and downs, now it rains, now it doesn't. It is making a perfect May to recover from the drought. We didn't remember because last year we had heat waves, with values of 38 degrees. Tricks for this coming month... June looks rainy. I would tell you to always carry an umbrella and don't do the wardrobe change yet. I am not in favor of wardrobe changes, but, if you do, leave a jacket, some jeans and some sneakers out because temperatures can still drop, that's for sure.

--- Oh, why shouldn't you do the wardrobe change?

--- Because people want a specific date and then we never get it right. I always give the same example. I got married on July 9, 2011, and it was terribly hot. We went on our honeymoon and suddenly the weather changed, the temperature dropped a lot, people were wearing jackets, and it rained a lot. Of course, if I say, in May do the wardrobe change and this happens, people get angry. Or it could be that they do a wardrobe change in September because you see that the temperature will drop and it will rain, but, at the end of the month or beginning of October, the heat comes and everyone has already put away their suspenders and shorts. With the situation we have now, I am not in favor because you can spend New Year's Eve in short sleeves. Or a tropical castanyada.

--- Don't change wardrobes, noted. Any other basic advice?

--- The first weather forecasts were made by looking at the sky because it was the only indication we had that a temperature change could come when there were no maps or any other tool. There are some signs of weather change like when we say cel rogent, pluja o vent. These are a type of high, thin clouds that, when they arrive, bring rain or wind because they go ahead of the fronts. Also when you see those snowflake clouds, that look like sheep, it is said al cel cabreta, al terra pastetes. These clouds become thicker and thicker and end up covering the sky and leaving rain. These are signs, but they are already very short-term. Therefore, you have to listen to the radio!

--- Last question. With your neighbors in the elevator, do you also talk about the weather?

--- Yes, yes, we talk about the weather with the neighbors. Not always, we talk about many other things, but sometimes they have asked me for the forecast. Also, not everyone has to know what you do. So, it has happened to me to be in an elevator and hear people start talking about the weather. You listen and you stay there in a corner thinking, well, let's see where they must have gotten it from.

--- And, do you get involved?

--- Normally no, I like to listen without getting involved.