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John D. Cox. Weather For Dummies
Weather For Dummies® To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Weather For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Illustrations
Guide
Pages
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
A Note about Measurements
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
What’s Going On Up There?
What in the World Is Weather?
The Daily Forecast: A Scientific Marvel
What Causes Weather?
The Weather Celebrities
It’s Seasonal
A Changing Climate
Heads Up!
Forecasts and Forecasting
Forecasting Prophets
THE GO FIGURE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Making a Forecast
PLAYING THE SPREAD
Take what is happening now …
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
… And add a little future
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
“We interrupt this program …”
Water, water, everywhere …
Flavors of Forecasts
Agricultural forecasts
Aviation forecasts
Marine forecasts
River forecasts
Fire forecasts
Keywords to the Wise
Precipitation
Temperature
Temperature’s relative humidity
Heat index
FAHRENHEIT AND CELSIUS
Wind
Wind chill
Sky cover
How to Read a Weather Map
Behind the Air Wars
I Don’t Like Your Latitude!
Where the Armies Mass
A WEATHER WAR ZONE
Winter air masses
LAKE-EFFECT SNOWS
Summer air masses
News from the Fronts
Cold fronts
Warm fronts
THERE GOES THE MOON
Stationary fronts
Occluded fronts
Here Comes the Sun
Moving Sun’s energy
REFLECTING ON ALBEDO
Looking absolutely radiant!
BRING IN THE CLOUDS
HOW TO CAUSE A STORM
A contagious convection
The Big Picture
Long live the revolution!
Spreading the beam
A MATTER OF SOME GRAVITY
Tilting at the seasons
Spin of the day
Putting on Airs
Do I smell gas?
Oxygen
Water vapor
Carbon dioxide
The bit particles
How high the sky?
Land, Sea, and Precipitation: Is This Any Way to Run a Planet?
Water’s Stirring Role
A WORLD OF WATER
Ocean to atmosphere
Atmosphere to surface
IT’S JUST A PHASE
Surface to ocean
SETTING THE WATER TABLE
Rain to Rime: Forms of Precipitation
GETTING THE DEWPOINT
Rain
GETTING FULL MEASURE
Snow
TOO COLD TO SNOW?
Hail
Graupel (snow pellets)
Sleet (ice pellet)
Rime
Dew to Fog: Forms of Condensation
Dew
Frozen dew
Frost
Fog: A grounded cloud
Weather and the Land
A lopsided planet
Radiating hot and cold
Air’s roller-coaster ride
Weather and the Ocean
Braving the Elements
Blowing in the Winds
Taking the Pressure
PAINS AND POPPING EARS
A World of Wind and Pressure
That muggy Bermuda High
That cool Pacific High
The winter lows
Bending the Winds
MEASURING PRESSURE: BAROMETERS
Taking the pressure — it’s a gas
MEASURING WINDS
Here’s the rub — total friction
A COMMODIOUS CORRECTION
EYEBALLING THE WIND
A perfectly straight curveball
The Winds Aloft
The Westerlies
The Jet Streams
Polar jet stream
Subtropical jet stream
Low-level jets
The Tradewinds
A Scattering of Winds
Coastal breezes
Valley and mountain breezes
Asian monsoon
Southwestern monsoon
Chinooks
Santa Anas
Haboobs
Getting Cirrus
Making Clouds: The Heavy Lifting
Heating up
Crowd control
Frontal assaults
Over the top
A Question of Stability
INVERSIONS: PUTTING A LID ON IT
Clouds by Class
High clouds
Cirrus
Cirrocumulus
Cirrostratus
Middle clouds
Altocumulus
Altostratus
Low clouds
Stratocumulus
Stratus
Nimbostratus
HOW HIGH IS HIGH?
Vertical clouds
Cumulus
Cumulonimbus
A CLOUDY PICTURE
Special clouds
Lenticular
Billows
Banner
Pileus
Mammatus
Contrails
Clouds of the stratosphere
Nacreous
Noctilucent
The Greatest Storms on Earth
Breeding Grounds
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Mysteries
TYPHOON ALLEY
Birth of a Hurricane
Disturbance to depression
Storm to hurricane
Bad Weather’s Big Weapons
Storm surge
Winds
Tornadoes
Flooding rainfall
HURRICANE MITCH
Signals of the Seasons
HURRICANE KATRINA
HURRICANE MODIFICATION
Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’
Satellites
Aircraft
Radar
Computer models
Coming Ashore … But Where?
The Big Picture
Tracking the track
In Harm’s Way
Barrier islands
Playing it safe
The overwarning problem
GALVESTON 1900
Hurricane Force
HURRICANE ANDREW
Some Seasonable Explanations
The Ways of Winter
Winter’s “Official” First Day
It’s a Temperature Thing
Coast to Coast
Storms of Winter
CYCLONES
A storm is born
Working out the wrinkles
WHAT PUZZLED BEN FRANKLIN
Catching the waves
Riding the conveyor belt
Where They Come From
Where They Go
Name That Storm
Colorado Low
Alberta Clipper
Chattanooga Choo-choo
Nor’easter
“Bomb” cyclones
Hatteras bomb
Gulf Low
PERFECT STORMS
Pineapple Express
Polar vortex
Panhandle Hook
Texas Panhandler
Blue Norther
When the Flakes Fly
MEASURING SNOW
Blizzards
“GREAT WHITE HURRICANE”
Ice storms
“THE BLIZZARD OF ’96”
Life and Limb
“ICE STORM OF THE CENTURY”
Cold weather exposure
Frostbite
Caught in a car
Twists and Turns of Spring
When Has Spring Sprung?
Coast to Coast
Thunderstorms
How … exactly … “severe”?
Shapes and sizes
Single cell
Clusters
Complexes
Squall lines
Supercell
Hail the Size of Hailstones
HAIL OF FAME
Flash Floods
ZAP! Crack! Bam!
Rumbles and claps
COUNTING DOWN TO THUNDER
Different strokes
Ball lightning
St. Elmo’s Fire
Sprites and jets
Lightning safety tips
Downbursts
EL TERRIBLE DERECHO
Really Twisted Winds
THE SUPER OUTBREAK OF 1974
THE CHASE IS ON
Tornado Alley
Forecasting
FINLAY’S SECRET STORMS
TORNADO MYTHS
Lives and Limbs
A watch or a warning?
Tornado do’s — and nots!
THE FASTEST WIND ON EARTH
Extremely Summer
Good Ol’ Summer Timing
Coast to Coast
Avoiding That Radiant Feeling
THE UV INDEX
The Heat Is On
THE SHADOW KNOWS
Heatwaves
CHICAGO’S SUMMER OF DEATH
HOW HEAT KILLS
Stranded on crowded islands
COOLING IT
Storms of Summer
Out of Whack
WRONG TURNS
When It Rains Too Much …
THE FELONY SUMMER OF ’93
When It Rains Too Little …
WILDFIRE SEASON
THE DUST BOWL
Falling for Autumn
The Timing Thing
Falling Highs and Lows
Coast to Coast
In a Pigment’s Eye
WHAT WAS SO PERFECT ABOUT IT?
Indian Summer
In the Fogs
Fires of the Wild West
The Long Run
Climate Is What You Expect; Weather Is What You Get
Climate or Weather?
Climates of the World
What Makes Climates Different?
Climate and the Seasons
A climate of mystery
“It’s the ocean, stupid”
COULD IT BE SUNSPOTS?
Pacific Body Parts
The Warm Pool
The Cold Tongue
COULD IT BE VOLCANOES?
El Niño, His Cool Sister, and Their Kissing Cousins
EL WHO?
Is El Niño a bad boy?
THE 1982–83 “EL NIÑO OF THE CENTURY”
The El Niño look
THE 1997–98 “EL NIÑO OF THE CENTURY”
La Niña, the contrary sister
The La Niña look
Climate’s kissing cousins
Climates of the Past
Long warm ages
Short ice ages
Medieval warm period
Little ice age
A warming trend
CLIMATE DETECTIVES
Weathering Our Changing Atmosphere
The Global Warming Picture
The Global Warming “Debate”
Abrupt Climate Change
The Same Weather — Only More So!
Polar airs
Rising seas
THE BIG CLIMATE FLOP
Wildfires
Hurricanes
Heatwaves
’TIS THE SEASONS
Getting Ready for Whatever Happens Next
Taking Care of the Air
Polluting the Air
The short and long of it
LONDON SMOG
The usual suspects
DONORA 1948
Getting the drift
Acid rain
The Hole in the Sky
SMOG OZONE
The ozone-eaters
NOBEL PRIZE SCIENCE
On the mend?
The Big Warm
On the natural
On the unnatural
The Special Effects
Up in the Sky! Look!
Seeing the Light
In Living Color
Why the Sky Is Blue
Reflecting on Clouds
Silver Linings
Blue Haze
Sunbeams
AROUND THE BEND
Sunrise, Sunset
FLATTENING THE SUN
The Green Flash
Rainbows
Haloes
Sun Dogs
Sun Pillars
Coronas
Glories
Mirages
Inferior mirage
Superior mirage
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Air
Auroras
Tools of the Trade
Galileo and the Boys
Galileo’s thermometer
Torricelli’s barometer
Cardinal de Cusa’s hygrometer
Robert FitzRoy’s predictions
WEATHER MAPS
Early American Weathermen
George did it
Tom did it
Ben did it all
LUKE HOWARD’S CLOUDS
The Weather Forecasting Toolbox
The instruments
The instrument carriers
Weather balloons
Ocean buoys
Automated weather stations
Doppler radar
A fleet of satellites
Stationary workhorses
Polar orbiters
And more …
Computers
A FOR ACCURACY, E FOR EFFORT
Try This at Home
You’re Not Just an Amateur
Watching Your Weather
Getting Fancy
Going instrumental
Going digital
GO FIGURE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES BITES THE DUST
Cool Weather Experiments
Making rainbows
Bending light by refraction
Bending light by diffraction
Weighing in on air
Testing the pressure
The greenhouse effect
Cloud in a can
A bottle of fog
The Part of Tens
Ten (or So) Most Deadly World Weather Disasters
Droughts
Africa
China
India
Soviet Union
United States
Heatwaves
Floods
China
Iran
Vietnam
Typhoons, Cyclones, and Hurricanes
Bangladesh
China
Honduras
Japan
Myanmar/Sri Lanka
Philippines
United States
Winter Storms
Afghanistan
Europe
Iran
Pollution
Donora
London
Ten Weatherwise Critters
Cats
Dogs
Frogs
Ants
Birds
Caterpillars
Squirrels
Groundhog
Livestock
Fish
Ten Grand Old Weather Proverbs
Red Sky at Night, Sailor’s Delight …
Clear Moon, Frost Soon
Early Thunder, Early Spring
After Frost, Warm …
Mare’s Tails and Mackerel Scales …
Rainbow in the Morning …
When Halo Rings the Moon …
Rain Long Foretold …
A Year of Snow, a Year of Plenty
In Like a Lion and Out Like a Lamb
Internet Resource Directory
Government Websites
U.S. National Weather Service
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
International weather services
University Websites
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
University of Michigan Weather
Pennsylvania State University
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Special Resources
Wikipedia: List of meteorology institutions
Meteorology FAQ
Hurricanes FAQ
Commercial Websites
AccuWeather, Inc
Cable News Network
The Weather Channel
Weather Underground
Mobile Weather Apps
Index. A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y
About the Author
Dedication
Author’s Acknowledgments
Climate
Thunderstorms and Tornadoes
Clouds
Special Effects
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
