Changes

Other Late Antiquity and early Medieval developments also occurred in India, a region that had developed a strong meteorological tradition already by around 3000 BCE. Varahamihira wrote at around 500 CE about the importance of early rains and it is clear, similar to Chinese knowledge, that rain did not just come from the sky but related to the sun and evaporation. There were also attempts to correlate revenue, or the wider economy, with rainfall, as the timing of the rains was seen as being critical to affecting the wider economy. The types of clouds were seen as being a strong indication of the types of rains one could expect.<ref>For more on Varahamihra, see: Anon (2014) <i>Challenges and opportunities in agrometeorology</i>. Springer.</ref>

While some observation and understanding of weather phenomena improved in the Middle Ages, there were improvements in optical instruments and observation techniques that allowed better understanding of observations such as rainbows and lightening. It was with Galileo Galilei in the 17th century through the thermoscope, which was a series of glass containers and gases that would rise and fall based on temperature, that more significant changes began to emerge in the understanding of weather. This instrument allowed him and others to make more accurate measurements of temperature, improving understanding of temperature fluctuations. This also now meant that European scientists could move away from Aristotle's concepts of fire, air, water, and earth as driving temperature. While it is not fully clear if Galileo was the inventor of this device, it is clear that such 17th century innovations did help the understanding of weather to now develop in something more similar to what we would call scientific observation.<ref>For more on the thermoscope, see: Valleriani, M. (2010) Galileo engineer. Boston studies in the philosophy of science 269. Dordrecht [Netherlands] ; London ; New York, Springer, pg. 160.</ref>