Risk forecast as work practice: between codified and practical knowledge

If the use of meteorological data has progressively expanded in tackling different sources of risk, less developed is by contrast a reflection on how meteorological systems apply in local contexts and to what extent that locality may affect the use and the content of forecasting recipients. By focusing on a wildfire forecasting, I show how forecasting practice cannot be reduced to the implementation of meteorological devices; it rather takes shape in the articulation between the technical device and different sources of knowledge – tacit, practical and ‘profane’. This articulation work, this study gives account of, reveals some specific challenges in the introduction of forecasting systems in risk management.