As I am getting longer in the tooth, my psoriasis is getting ever more pronounced. Annoying as it is, it comes with a silver lining of sorts. Namely, my skin is a pretty good predictor of the weather. The cold months make the red blotches flourish, and the warm months make them fade away. A particularly cold or warm day is also reflected on my skin. Which is why I would suggest that meteorological services should have at least one person suffering from psoriasis among their employees. Their weather forecasts would be based on personal experience rather than mere science, which remains forever fickle, as witnessed by generally lousy weather forecasts. The greater the bite of climate change, the lousier the forecasts, too. In time, meteorology could also be improved by studying psoriasis, as well as other skin conditions sensitive to the weather. Human bodies are full of useful clues of this ilk. Why not make full use of them?

Addendum (November 1, 2016)

The link between psoriasis and weather goes way beyond meteorology, though. Botanists and biologists may find it useful, as well. This I realized a few months ago, when there was an unexpected cold spell. And it was only the beginning of August! The spell lasted three or four days, but my psoriasis flourished as never before. Given the time of the year, I was quite amazed with a profusion of red spots on my skin. But I was even more surprised when the leaves on chestnut trees on the hotel terrace and Barbacan started wilting. They, too, reacted to the spell in unexpected ways. Although most of the chestnut trees soon returned to normal, as it were, some of them shed all of their leaves within a few weeks. The trees figured out the fall had started already! In short, psoriasis and wilting of leaves must have had the same cause. Once again, human bodies are full of useful clues of this ilk, and scientists ought to make better use of them.