Table of Contents

The origins of weather - basic concepts, including atmospheric layers, the significance of temperature, pressure and humidity differences. Global weather - air masses and their distribution around the globe, continental and marine weather, high- and low-pressure regions, climate zones, fronts and jet streams. Winds and ocean currents - global patterns and seasonal variations. Weather systems - development and movement of weather systems. Clouds and other phenomena - the importance of recognising and understanding cloud types in order to understand actual and forthcoming weather, identification details for cloud types and optical phenomena. Local weather - the influence of surface features on actual weather, mountain/valley weather, sea/land/lake breezes, mountain weather, coastal weather. Unusual and severe weather - weather hazards, including lightning, extreme winds, thunderstorms, waterspouts, droughts, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. Observing the weather - techniques, weather instruments, professional observations, amateur observations, recording observations, making a forecast, photographing clouds and other phenomena.

About the Author

Storm Dunlop is an acknowledged expert on weather forecasting and astronomy, and a Fellow of both the Royal Meteorological Society and the Royal Astronomical Society. He has written numerous well-received reference books on meteorology and astronomy. He lives at East Wittering, near Chichester in West Sussex.