The little book of weather

Weather basics

Winds

Weather phenomena

Extreme weather

Weather patterns

Weather and historical events

The distant past

Weather forecasts

Climate change

Myths and folklore

Curius facts

The future.

Cover

Contents

Introduction

1. Weather Basics

The atmosphere is a fluid

Pressure

Temperature

Troposphere

Stratosphere

Mesosphere

2. Winds

Going around in circles

Storm tracks

It's all about which way the wind blows

Hadley cells

Sea breezes

Katabatic and anabatic winds

3. Weather Phenomena

Clouds

Rain

Rainbows

Hail

Snow

Thunder and lightning

4. Extreme Weather

Tornadoes

Hurricanes and typhoons

Extreme rainfall and floods

Droughts

Extreme rainfall and landslides

What's possible?

5. Weather Patterns

North Atlantic Oscillation

El Niño and La Niña

Madden-Julian Oscillation

Sudden stratospheric warming

Quasi-biennial Oscillation

Pacific and Atlantic variability

6. Weather and Historical Events

D-day landings

Pests and plagues

Napoleon and 1812

History repeats itself

1877, El Niño

The 1930s Dust Bowl

7. The Distant Past

Ancient Earth

The migrating Moon

Milankovitch cycles

Dansgaard-Oeschger and Bond events

Ice ages

The last millennium

8. Weather Forecasts

Origins of forecasts

L. F. Richardson

Computer-based forecasts

Chaos

Long-range forecasts

Artificial intelligence

9. Climate Change

Not a new idea

Greenhouse gases

Global warming

Future heatwaves

Future rainfall

Future tropical storms

10. Myths and Folklore

Bathtubs and plugholes

Can it rain frogs?

Red sky at night ...

Lightning never strikes twice

Can animals predict the weather?

Special weather days?

11. Curious Facts

Gigantism in insects

Length of day

Ionosphere

Space weather

Sting jets

Global connections

12. The Future

Where is the weather heading?

Hidden surprises?

Future forecasts

Geoengineering

Weather on other planets

The end of weather

Glossary

Further Reading

Index

Acknowledgments

About the Author