Author Archives: Cydney Seigerman

Cydney is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology and Integrative Conservation (ICON). Their dissertation work explores how socionatural (i.e., interrelated sociopolitical, environmental, and technological) processes shape and are shaped by the lived experience of water insecurity and in Ceará, northeast Brazil. Before pursuing her PhD, Cydney studied chemistry and Spanish language at the University of Michigan, graduating from the Residential College and Honors College in 2013.They then relocated to Madrid, Spain, where they served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, studied acting at the theater school La Lavandería, and ran competitively.
Dr. Eduardo Sávio Martins of Funceme pointing to presentation slide with seasonal forecast information indicating probabilities of rainfall of 10 percent below average, 40 percent around average, and 50 percent above average. Text in red states that the models indicate high spatial and temporal variability for rainfall.

Making Forecasts Work: The Evolution of Seasonal Forecasting by Funceme in Ceará, Northeast Brazil

Every January, government officials, urban dwellers, and rural families across the state of Ceará, Northeast Brazil anxiously await the rainy season forecasts from Funceme, the Research Institute for Meteorology and Water Resources of Ceará. Yet throughout the state, many also proclaim that Funceme’s forecasts are “wrong,” that the forecasts do not work. (read more...)