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Contents at a Glance Introduction. .1 Part 1: What in the World Is Weather?. 7 CHAPTER 1: Forecasts and Forecasting. .9 CHAPTER 2: Behind the Air Wars. .37 CHAPTER 3: Land, Sea, and Precipitation: Is This Any Way to Run a Planet?. 61 Part 2: Braving the Elements. 79 CHAPTER 4: Blowing in the Winds. 81 CHAPTER 5: Getting Cirrus. 103 CHAPTER 6: Climate Is What You Expect; Weather Is What You Get. 125 CHAPTER 7: The Greatest Storms On Earth. .147 Part 3: Some Seasonable Explanations. .169 CHAPTER 8: The Ways of Winter. .171 CHAPTER 9: Twists and Turns of Spring. 201 CHAPTER 10: Extremely Summer. .233 CHAPTER 11: Falling for Autumn . .255 Part 4: The Special Effects. .263 CHAPTER 12: Taking Care of the Air. .265 CHAPTER 13: Up in the Sky! Look! . 285 CHAPTER 14: Try This at Home. .301 Part 5: The Part of Tens. 315 CHAPTER 15: Ten (or So) Biggest U.S. Weather Disasters of the 20th Century . 317 CHAPTER 16: Ten (or So) Worst World Weather Disasters of the 20th Century. 325 CHAPTER 17: Ten Crafty Critters. 331 CHAPTER 18: Ten Grand Old Weather Proverbs. 337 Appendix:COPYRIGHTED Internet Resource MATERIAL Directory. 343 Index. 351 02_9781119806776-ftoc.indd iii Trim size: 7.375 in × 9.25 in December 11, 2020 2:18 PM 02_9781119806776-ftoc.indd iv Trim size: 7.375 in × 9.25 in December 11, 2020 2:18 PM Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ...................................................1 About This Book ...............................................1 Foolish Assumptions ...........................................2 How This Book Is Organized ....................................2 Part 1: What in the World Is Weather?. 3 Part 2: Braving the Elements .................................3 Part 3: Some Seasonable Explanations ........................4 Part 4: The Special Effects ...................................4 Part 5: The Part of Tens .....................................4 Appendix. .5 Icons Used in This Book ........................................5 Where to Go from Here ........................................6 PART 1: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WEATHER? ................7 CHAPTER 1: Forecasts and Forecasting ..............................9 Forecasting Prophets .........................................10 Making a Forecast. .11 Take what is happening now . ............................13 . And add a little future ...................................14 “We Interrupt This Program . .” ................................16 Water, Water, Everywhere . ..................................18 Flavors of Forecasts. .18 Agricultural forecasts ......................................19 Aviation forecasts .........................................19 Marine forecasts ..........................................20 River forecasts ............................................20 Fire forecasts .............................................21 Keywords to the Wise. 21 Precipitation ..............................................21 Temperature .............................................23 Temperature’s relative humidity .............................24 Heat index ...............................................25 Wind ....................................................27 Wind chill ................................................28 Sky cover. 28 Tools of the Trade ............................................29 The instruments ...........................................29 The instrument carriers ....................................30 Table of Contents v 02_9781119806776-ftoc.indd v Trim size: 7.375 in × 9.25 in December 11, 2020 2:18 PM Doppler radar .............................................32 A fleet of satellites .........................................33 Computers ...............................................35 How to Read a Weather Map. 36 CHAPTER 2: Behind the Air Wars .....................................37 I Don’t Like Your Latitude! .....................................37 Where the Armies Mass .......................................39 Winter air masses .........................................41 Summer air masses ........................................42 News from the Fronts. 42 Cold fronts ...............................................43 Warm fronts ..............................................43 Stationary fronts ..........................................44 Occluded fronts. 44 Here Comes the Sun ..........................................45 Moving Sun’s energy .......................................45 Looking absolutely radiant! .................................46 A contagious convection ....................................49 The Big Picture ...............................................50 Long live the revolution!. .50 Spreading the beam .......................................51 Tilting at the seasons ......................................53 Spin of the day. .55 Putting on Airs ...............................................56 Do I smell gas? ............................................56 How high the sky? .........................................59 CHAPTER 3: Land, Sea, and Precipitation: Is This Any Way to Run a Planet? ..............................61 Water’s Stirring Role ..........................................62 Ocean to atmosphere. .64 Atmosphere to surface .....................................65 Surface to ocean ..........................................66 Rain to Rime: Forms of Precipitation ............................67 Rain .....................................................68 Snow ....................................................69 Hail ......................................................70 Graupel (snow pellets) .....................................70 Sleet (ice pellet) ...........................................71 Rime. 71 Dew to Fog: Forms of Condensation ............................72 Dew .....................................................72 Frozen dew ...............................................72 Frost. 73 Fog: A grounded cloud .....................................73 vi Weather For Dummies 02_9781119806776-ftoc.indd vi Trim size: 7.375 in × 9.25 in December 11, 2020 2:18 PM Weather and the Land ........................................75 A lopsided planet ..........................................75 Radiating hot and cold .....................................75 Air’s roller-coaster ride .....................................76 Weather and the Ocean .......................................77 PART 2: BRAVING THE ELEMENTS .............................79 CHAPTER 4: Blowing in the Winds. .81 Taking the Pressure. .82 A World of Wind and Pressure .................................83 That muggy Bermuda High .................................85 That cool Pacific High ......................................85 The winter lows ...........................................87 Bending the Winds ...........................................87 Taking the pressure — it’s a gas .............................87 Here’s the rub — total friction ...............................89 A perfectly straight curveball. .91 The Winds Aloft ..............................................94 The Westerlies ...............................................94 The Jet Streams ..............................................96 Polar jet stream ...........................................96 Subtropical jet stream ......................................97 Low-level jets .............................................97 The Tradewinds ..............................................97 A Scattering of Winds .........................................98 Coastal breezes ...........................................99 Valley and mountain breezes ...............................99 Asian monsoon ...........................................99 Southwestern monsoon ...................................101 Chinooks ................................................101 Santa Anas ..............................................101 Haboobs ................................................102 CHAPTER 5: Getting Cirrus ...........................................103 Making Clouds: The Heavy Lifting. .104 Heating up ..............................................104 Crowd control ...........................................105 Frontal assaults ..........................................105 Over the top .............................................105 A Question of Stability .......................................108 Clouds by Class .............................................109 High clouds. .110 Middle clouds ............................................113 Low clouds ..............................................115 Table of Contents vii 02_9781119806776-ftoc.indd vii Trim size: 7.375 in × 9.25 in December 11, 2020 2:18 PM Vertical clouds ...........................................118 Special clouds ............................................119 Clouds of the stratosphere ................................122 CHAPTER 6: Climate Is What You Expect; Weather Is What You Get .........................................125 Climate or Weather? .........................................126 Climates of the World ........................................126 What Makes Climates Different? ...............................128 Climate and the Seasons .....................................130 A climate of mystery ......................................130 “It’s the ocean, stupid”. 132 Pacific Body Parts ...........................................132 The Warm Pool ..........................................133 The Cold Tongue .........................................134 El Niño, His Cool Sister, and Their Kissing Cousins. .134 Is El Niño