Publisher's Synopsis
- 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.
