Another book recommendation - The Weather Handbook

these are all of the great references that our users have shared with others.

Moderator: marktownley

Post Reply
SimonM
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 108
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:01 am
Has thanked: 42 times
Been thanked: 49 times

Another book recommendation - The Weather Handbook

Post by SimonM »

Recently there was a good book recommendation for - 15 Million Degrees:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30635#p279997

It was a great book - now all read (finished) and I revisited the Youtube videos as well, as some of the time-lapse videos complement the book very well.

One subject, aside from the Sun, frequently crops up - The Weather. Especially in the UK, where - let's face it, the weather isn't great!

Of course, we all want clear skies when we go out to observe our nearest star and perhaps we see only see clouds as something to be avoided. Rarely do we capture a landscape without some clouds to add to the atmosphere which might otherwise look a bit dull or flat?

For me, I know nothing much about the weather, and my idea of knowing what is likely to happen is to check out a few websites e.g.

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/ou ... ts/seeing/ with astronomical seeing conditions:

This Sunday on MeteoBlue.png
This Sunday on MeteoBlue.png (525.65 KiB) Viewed 1542 times

So rather than be negative about seeing conditions not being great or how I remembered them, I thought it would be good to learn a bit more about how the weather comes about and how I can look at the current conditions and try to understand how they will change (hopefully in a positive way) so that I can get the enthusiasm to venture out a bit later on...

One book that I have been familiar with for a long time has been "Instant Weather Forecasting: You Can Predict the Weather" by Alan Watts. It was a book with 24 pictures and an explanation of what to expect. More recently, I have started to read another of Alan's books which goes into much more detail: "The Weather Handbook: An Essential Guide to How Weather is Formed and Develops", also by Alan Watts. It is an amazing book!

The version of this book that I have is the third edition, published in 2014:

The Weather Handbook.jpg
The Weather Handbook.jpg (39.04 KiB) Viewed 1542 times

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LFO4IRG/

There is now a newer edition, published in 2020:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08JHSDH4L/

The text in the new edition is (mostly) unchanged, but many of the pictures are replaced. I think the pictures in the previous edition are better than in the latest edition and the text was (perhaps a little) easier to read - at least in the paperback versions I have seen. That earlier edition would get my vote.

Overall, I think it is good to have an appreciation (and better understanding) of the weather, especially as it is largely (completely) determined by our Sun. Although there is usually an abundance of information available, what will happen in our locale isn't always known but can be predicted with some certainty with a little know-how (so I like to think).

Most texts on astronomy seem to avoid talking about the weather except to point out that rarely do larger scopes live up to their full potential because of imperfect seeing conditions (aka the weather) and this is especially true for daytime observing.

Simon


User avatar
JochenM
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 2839
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:26 pm
Location: Belgium
Has thanked: 1200 times
Been thanked: 1619 times
Contact:

Re: Another book recommendation - The Weather Handbook

Post by JochenM »

Thanks for the recommendation, Simon. Might check it out after I finish "15 million degrees" (took a long time to arrive here).


Jochen Maes
Belgium
https://www.jochenmaes.com
User avatar
Montana
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 34563
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:25 pm
Location: Cheshire, UK
Has thanked: 17672 times
Been thanked: 8791 times

Re: Another book recommendation - The Weather Handbook

Post by Montana »

That's great Simon, I'll move this to the solar reference library so everyone can find it in the future :)

Alexandra


Post Reply