Weather Watching

This work is a lively introduction to the weather, how it affects us and how it relates to the world around us. "Collins Need to Know? Weather Watching" is a practical guide to understanding common and extreme conditions. This very practical beginner's guide to weather watching offers a lot of valuable advice and insider tips on what to do in the event of a hurricane warning, how to predict unusual and extreme events, where to go to make the best observations for DIY forecasts and tips on recognising unusual and extreme events. A general introduction covers the ice ages, old sayings for predicting the weather, the weather system and how it works and the make-up of the atmosphere. It also gives an overview of weather around the world - seasons and climates, including poles, tropics, sub-tropics, temperate, deserts and arid, semi-arid, Mediterranean, northern, montane and coastal regions.
The contents include: Winds - what causes them, their significance to weather systems, tropical storms, hurricanes, tornados etc; Clouds - what they are, how they form, and how you can forecast the weather based on cloud observations; Precipitation - rain, freezing rain, hail, sleet, snow, floods, flash floods, monsoons; modelling and predicting severe storms; Fog - the different kinds and the primary processes that produce fog. Also what causes smog and what is being done to improve air quality and reduce smog; and, Unusual & Extreme Events - from rainbows to earthquake-induced events - extremes of weather including drought and dust bowls, major floods, sand storms and world records; It also includes Forecasting and Prediction - an introduction to modern weather forecasting, and how to understand the measurements and symbols used in weather reporting; Mankind and The Weather - pollution, acid rain, the ozone layers, recent events, the greenhouse effect and its effects on health and the economy, climate change and global warming, deforestation - also how we can use the weather: wind power, tidal power, hydroelectric schemes and solar power.