Christmas weather books and Storm Chaser book review
Storm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey ($23.10 from Amazon) takes the reader on a spectacular photographic journey through the U.S., documenting four seasons of our beautiful and violent weather. Author Jim Reed makes a business of weather photography, and has spent over 15 years chasing storms and documenting their awesome beauty and violent destructive power. The 191-page book would make a perfect Christmas coffee table book for that weather enthusiast (yourself?) in the family, and has great photos of tornadoes, hurricanes, hailstorms, blizzards, sunsets, and lightning. The book is mostly photos, but there are several riveting stories Reed tells. Most captivating is the story of his encounter with Category 4 Hurricane Charley as it pounded Punta Gorda, Florida in 2004. Reed miscalculated his time needed to get to shelter, and got caught in his vehicle on the road in the eyewall. Luckily, his videotaped farewell for mother and friends done during the height of the storm was not needed, as he was able to find shelter during the 4-minute passage of the eye. Reed also braved Hurricane Katrina from the beach front, and tells an abbreviated version of his dramatic encounter with the hurricane from Gulfport, Mississippi. I also recommend Hurricane Katrina Through the Eyes of Storm Chasers ($14.96 from Amazon) to read the full tale of his Katrina experience.
Storm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey has a few flaws. The quality of the writing is not quite as high as that of my favorite storm chaser book, the now dated 1996 Warren Faidley book, Storm Chaser: In pursuit of untamed skies (no longer in print, but available used). Reed's text doesn't match up with the photos presented on the pages in places, and he makes a number of unwarranted connections between global warming and extreme weather events. For example, he blames the June 22, 2003 fall of volley ball-sized hailstones in Aurora, Kansas on global warming. No single weather event can be attributed to climate change--all we can say is that the probabilities of some extreme weather events have increased. For example, the incidence of extreme precipitation events (the heaviest 1% of rain storms) has increased 20% over the U.S. in recent decades. No scientific papers have been published showing a link between tornadoes or hailstorms and climate change. That quibble aside, I heartily recommend Storm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey. The photos are fantastic. Three and a half stars out of four.
Best weather books published in 2007
Weather Photography:
Storm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey ($23.10 from Amazon).
Climate change:
Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming by Chris Mooney ($17.16 from Amazon). See the realclimate.org review. I'll be posting a review of my own at some point.
General Weather:
Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book by Christopher Burt ($17.13 from Amazon). I hope to review this book soon.
Hurricanes:
Hurricane Almanac by Bryan Norcross ($11.04 from Amazon). See my review of the book.
Tornadoes:
Storm Warning: the Story of a Killer Tornado by Nancy Mathis ($16.32 from Amazon). See my review of the book.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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And lookie here off of Antarctica
dont spoil it for me :)
GFS has us under back to back to back to back systems
23-24, 25-26, 29-
And here is the mid east...
Hello boys...and girls!
geez who turned on the storm switch??
sorry, that was me...Thought I was hitting the Staples easy button...
If the Jan 1 system tracks farther west (which they seem to do this year) NE could be looking at its first major widepread snow.
107. Bonedog 7:35 PM GMT on December 19, 2007
geez who turned on the storm switch??
sorry, that was me...Thought I was hitting the Staples easy button...
why am I picturing that commercial with the baby wacking the crap out of the button and knocking the guy off the ladder??
:o)
I dont rember the last time every model held the same storms. Only diffrence seems to be strength and track this year.
GFS- usually the most potent w/ average temp
UKM- weaker, farthest west, warmest
ECM- slightly weaker then GFS, farthest east, coldest
NGM- jumps all over, usually has the I-95 under the gun
Average JFM storm track frequency difference for (top panel) strong El Nino (ONI greater than or equal to 1.5) minus Neutral conditions and (bottom panel) strong La Nina (ONI less than or equal to -1.5) minus Neutral conditions.
National Weather Service New Orleans la
452 am CST Wednesday Dec 19 2007 Link
This is in the Indian Ocean about 83E/17S
Link
Link
31.2 °F
Light Snow
Humidity: 97%
Dew Point: 30 °F
Wind: 1.6 mph Variable
Wind Gust: 32.9 mph
Pressure: 30.09 in (Steady)
Visibility: 1.2 miles
UV: 0 out of 16
Clouds: Overcast 1400 ft
(Above Ground Level)
You all having boring weather? Have a look at southern Europe (Portugal radar). Our first real rain in several months.
Ummm,last week when it took me 3hrs to drive home in a blinding snowstorm, boring was not one of the words that came to mind.
35 °F / 2 °C
Light Drizzle
Humidity: 85%
Dew Point: 31 °F / -1 °C
Wind: 12 mph / 18 km/h / 5.1 m/s from the WSW
Pressure: 29.96 in / 1014 hPa (Rising)
Windchill: 27 °F / -3 °C
Visibility: 8.0 miles / 12.9 kilometers
UV: 0 out of 16
Clouds: Few 1300 ft / 396 m
Overcast 4000 ft / 1219 m
(Above Ground Level)
Snow Depth: 7.0 in / 17.78 cm
thin line running eastward?
Segal at Harry Lee's Funeral here.
where would the smoke come from?
chemical plant explosion in Jaxsonville
Image derived from full disk image of METEOSAT
Airmass Product ffrom Emusat
Current Obs
MONTE, Pitcairn Island (LPMR) - Light Rain
VIGO PEINADOR, Spain (LEVX) - N/A
ALVERCA, Pitcairn Island (LPAR) - Light Rain
Oh, yeah I know! Just that someone mentioned earlier about today being boring. We had sunny, warm weather for about 5 months straight. Today a few inches of rain and strong wind gusts. Good surf, too. Most exciting weather in a long time. For us, anyway!
Oh yeah! I´m right under it! (Lisbon)
Link
GULF OF MEXICO/NORTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN WEST OF 50W....
Visible satellite loops and surface observations indicated that a weak anticyclonic circulation across the Gulf of Mexico is providing moist onshore flow across Eastern Mexico, Texas and Louisiana. This flow is combining with the effects of a warm front across the area and the energy of the upper level westerlies to produce a swath of scattered to broken cloudiness and showers extending from Northern Mexico across the Deep South into the Southeast United Sates. Over the Gulf, a weak surface pressure pattern exist and thus the winds remain light and variable. The atmosphere is also convectively stable across the region with patches of low clouds and fog clearly seen across Gulf waters and the coastal areas of Mainland Mexico. Fair weather clouds is seen elsewhere.
A cold front extends from a surface trough at 24N/70W 27N/60W 30N/50W and beyond. Upper level winds continues drive multilayer cloudiness and showers within 150 nm either side of the frontal boundary. Meanwhile, extensive cloud air stratiform clouds are scattered across the Atlantic west of the front.
By W456
An earlier visible image...
A surface trough extending from an Atlantic cold front at 24N/70W enters the region across Central Cuba near 22N/79W and extends across the Northwest Caribbean through 20N/81W to Honduras at 13N/86W. Scattered cloudiness and showers are across Cuba, the Northwest Caribbean and Gulf of Honduras west of 82W south of 20N, and along the Maya Mountains of Belize, Guatemala and Western Honduras. As for the remainder of the Western and Central Caribbean...a surge of tradewind moisture extending south of 15N from 70W to Central America.
Most of the Eastern Caribbean is experiencing fair weather due substantial mid-upper level dry air. The exception lies across the Southeast where upper level diffluent flow is producing showers across the Windward Islands and Tropical Atlantic.
by W456
2200 UTC DEC 19 2007
Pattern: Curve Band 0.60 arc
Current Intensity: CI 3.0
Adjustments: None
Dvorak Trends:
0030 UTC DEC 17 - CI 1.5
1030 UTC DEC 17 - CI 1.7
1500 UTC DEC 17 - CI 2.2
2300 UTC DEC 17 - CI 2.5
1030 UTC DEC 18 - CI 2.5
1430 UTC DEC 18 - CI 2.5
1955 UTC DEC 18 - CI 2.5
0100 UTC DEC 19 - CI 2.7
0830 UTC DEC 19 - CI 3.0
1630 UTC DEC 19 - CI 3.5
2200 UTC DEC 19 - CI 3.0
Thanks man. I hope that I did not come across as impatient or rude in any way. You are helping me out so much in learning this complex technique.
No..not at all
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