John D. Cox - Weather For Dummies

Weather For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

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Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942674

ISBN 978-1-119-81100-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-81101-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-81102-2 (ebk)

1 Cover

2 Title Page

3 Copyright

4 Introduction About This Book Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book A Note about Measurements Beyond the Book Where to Go from Here

5 Part 1: What’s Going On Up There? Chapter 1: 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! Chapter 2: Forecasts and Forecasting Forecasting Prophets Making a Forecast Flavors of Forecasts Keywords to the Wise How to Read a Weather Map Chapter 3: Behind the Air Wars I Don’t Like Your Latitude! Where the Armies Mass News from the Fronts Here Comes the Sun The Big Picture Putting on Airs Chapter 4: Land, Sea, and Precipitation: Is This Any Way to Run a Planet? Water’s Stirring Role Rain to Rime: Forms of Precipitation Dew to Fog: Forms of Condensation Weather and the Land Weather and the Ocean

6 Part 2: Braving the Elements Chapter 5: Blowing in the Winds Taking the Pressure A World of Wind and Pressure Bending the Winds The Winds Aloft The Westerlies The Jet Streams The Tradewinds A Scattering of Winds Chapter 6: Getting Cirrus Making Clouds: The Heavy Lifting A Question of Stability Clouds by Class Chapter 7: The Greatest Storms on Earth Breeding Grounds Mysteries Birth of a Hurricane Bad Weather’s Big Weapons Signals of the Seasons Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’ Coming Ashore … But Where? In Harm’s Way Hurricane Force

7 Part 3: Some Seasonable Explanations Chapter 8: The Ways of Winter Winter’s “Official” First Day It’s a Temperature Thing Coast to Coast Storms of Winter Where They Come From Where They Go Name That Storm When the Flakes Fly Life and Limb Chapter 9: Twists and Turns of Spring When Has Spring Sprung? Coast to Coast Thunderstorms Supercell Hail the Size of Hailstones Flash Floods ZAP! Crack! Bam! Downbursts Really Twisted Winds Tornado Alley Forecasting Lives and Limbs Chapter 10: Extremely Summer Good Ol’ Summer Timing Coast to Coast Avoiding That Radiant Feeling The Heat Is On Storms of Summer Out of Whack When It Rains Too Much … When It Rains Too Little … Chapter 11: Falling for Autumn The Timing Thing Falling Highs and Lows Coast to Coast In a Pigment’s Eye Indian Summer In the Fogs Fires of the Wild West

8 Part 4: The Long Run Chapter 12: 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 Pacific Body Parts El Niño, His Cool Sister, and Their Kissing Cousins Climates of the Past Chapter 13: Weathering Our Changing Atmosphere The Global Warming Picture The Global Warming “Debate” Abrupt Climate Change The Same Weather — Only More So! Getting Ready for Whatever Happens Next Chapter 14: Taking Care of the Air Polluting the Air The Hole in the Sky The Big Warm

9 Part 5: The Special Effects Chapter 15: Up in the Sky! Look! Seeing the Light In Living Color Why the Sky Is Blue Reflecting on Clouds Silver Linings Blue Haze Sunbeams Sunrise, Sunset The Green Flash Rainbows Haloes Sun Dogs Sun Pillars Coronas Glories Mirages Twinkle, Twinkle Little Air Auroras Chapter 16: Tools of the Trade Galileo and the Boys Early American Weathermen The Weather Forecasting Toolbox Chapter 17: Try This at Home You’re Not Just an Amateur Watching Your Weather Getting Fancy Cool Weather Experiments

10 Part 6: The Part of Tens Chapter 18: Ten (or So) Most Deadly World Weather Disasters Droughts Heatwaves Floods Typhoons, Cyclones, and Hurricanes Winter Storms Pollution Chapter 19: Ten Weatherwise Critters Cats Dogs Frogs Ants Birds Caterpillars Squirrels Groundhog Livestock Fish Chapter 20: 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

11 Appendix: Internet Resource Directory Government Websites University Websites Special Resources Commercial Websites Mobile Weather Apps