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Coriolis, Gaspard-Gustave de, 95
Coriolis effect
described, 95–96
impact on weather of, 140
ocean currents and, 233
rotation of weather systems and, 126–127, 146–147
trade winds and, 95–97, 125
Coupland, Douglas, on rain, 52
Coxwell, Henry, 24–27
Cretaceous period, 20
crinoids, 8
Crowley, Aleister, on ball lightning, 82–83
crust of the Earth, 9, 223–225, 227
cumulonimbus clouds
characteristics of, 35–37
classification of, 42, 44
hurricanes and, 63–64
thunderstorms and, 73–75, 161
tornadoes and, 90–91
updrafts and downdrafts in, 45–46
cumulonimbus incus (cloud), 37, 44, 91
cumulus clouds
characteristics of, 43–44
storms and, 73
tornadoes and, 90
types of, 41–42
as typical clouds, 34–35
cumulus congestus (cloud), 73, 90
cumulus fractus (cloud), 90
cumulus humilis (cloud), 90
cumulus mediocris (cloud), 90
Cunningham, Michael, on June, 161
Curry, John Steuart, 75
cyanobacteria, 13–16, 186
cyclones, 96, 103–104, 146–147
D
D layer, 228
da Vinci, Leonardo, hygrometer invented by, 133, 137
Dacia, fall of, 209–210
Dangerfield, Rodney, on rain and short people, 47
Darius, King, 205–206, 210
Darwin, Charles, 41, 138–140
de Rozier, Jean-François Pilâtre, 24
Debussy, Claude, on wind, 108
decompression, 24, 45–46
Deep Sea Drilling Project, 230–231
Democritus, 37–39
Descartes, René
on clouds, 39
on the weight of air, 135
Devonian period, 180
dew, 33, 36, 132
dew point, 25, 34, 36, 38
Dickens, Charles, on prevernal season, 159–160
Dirty Thirties, 59
dog days of summer, 163–164
Domitian, 209–210
Domus Aurea (palace), 67–68
Donne, John, on autumn, 166
Doppler effect, 127
Dorn, Ed, on autumn, 167
downbursts, 88–89
downdrafts
clouds and, 47
in cumulonimbus clouds, 46
hail and, 84
storms and, 73
tornadoes and, 88–89
dropstones, 180–181, 185
drought, 54–55, 57–60, 204, 234
dry ice, 62–64
Dunkirk evacuation, weather and, 213–215
dust, clouds and, 34
Dust Bowl, 58–59
dust storms, 59–60
Dwyer, Joseph, 74
E
Earth
climatological history of, 195
color of, 16
creation of, 7–9
default climate of, 188
early weather on, 13
mantle of, 227–231
orbital path of, 157–158
source of magnetism of, 228
tilting of axis of, 157–158, 195–197
Earth’s core
attempts to drill to, 224–225
characteristics of, 227–228
composition of, 229
temperature of, 228–229
ecliptic plane, 158
El Niño, 233–234
electrical storms, 72, 77–78
electronic numerical integrator and computer (ENIAC), 151
Eliot, T.S.
on fog, 6
on spring, 160
ELVES, 81
ENIAC (electronic numerical integrator and computer), 151
Environmental Modification Convention, 64
Eocene Optimum, 188–190
Estor, Johann Georg, 81
Eurasian plate, 232
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, 155
Eurus, 112
evolution, 13–14, 41, 189
exosphere, 32, 84, 229
extratropical storms, 107
extremophiles, 15
eyewall clouds, 100
F
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, 30
Ferragosto, 163
Ferrel cells, 125–127, 162, 167
FitzRoy, Robert, 138–141
Flanders offensive, weather and, 212–213
fluid dynamics, 126–127, 153–155
fog, 6, 34
föhn, 117–119
freezing line, 36
freezing rain, 68–70
See also rain
fronts (weather), 145, 147–148
Fujita, Tetsuya, 86–89
Fujita scale, 88
fulgurites, 74
Fulke, William, on wind, 110
funnel clouds, 85
See also tornadoes
G
Gagarin, Yuri, 29
Gaia Hypothesis, 234–236
Galilei, Galileo, 130, 133–135
galloping glaciers, 180
Galton, Francis, 140–141, 146
Gay-Lussac, Joseph-Louis, 24
ghost tornadoes, 90
glaciers, 180–183, 190–193
Glaisher, James, 24–27
global cooling, 200–201
global ice age, 180–184
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, on Linnaeus, 41–42
Goldilocks Zone, 11–12
Gondwana supercontinent, 232
Goodland Artificial Rain Company, 56
Göring, Hermann, 214
Gort, General, 213
gravity, 8, 39, 47–48, 68
Great Oxygenation Event, 15–16, 49
greenhouse warming, 184
Groves, Leslie, 202–203
gulf stream, 233
Guthrie, Woody, on dust storms, 59
H
Hadley cells, 96, 125–126
Haig, Earl, 212
hail, 84–85
Harland, W. Brian, 180–181
Hatfield, Charles, 56–58
heat island effect, 220
heat lightning, 79
See also lightning
heat waves, 58, 79, 163–165, 185
Heidegger, Martin, on moods, 49
Heinlein, Robert A., on climate vs weather, 203
helium, 8, 17
Hertz, Heinrich, 143–144
hibernal season (winter). See winter (hibernal season)
high-pressure cells, 146, 161, 219
high-pressure systems, 96, 160, 217
Hitler, Adolf, 214–215
HMS Beagle, 138
Hoffman, Paul, 184–185
Holocene interglacial, 193–194, 201
Homo sapiens, 41, 176, 190–192
hot air balloons, 23–27, 35
hot lightning, 79
See also lightning
Howard, Luke, 40–42, 148, 152
Human Be-in, 217–218
Humboldt current, 65, 233–234
humidex, 164–165, 220
humidity, 34–35, 113–114, 133, 164–165
Huronian glaciation, 16–17, 187
Hurricane Alley, 98–102
Hurricane Hunters, 106–107
/> hurricanes
Andrew, 103
Cape Sable hurricane, 63–64
Cape Verde and, 97
Cirrus Project and, 63–64
Coriolis effect and, 96
eyes of, 100–101, 105
as indigenous to the tropics, 204
John, 101
Katrina, 94–107
measurement system for, 102
naming of, 101
North Africa and, 97
season of, 102
superhurricanes, 103
vs typhoons, 101
updrafts and, 101
Wilma, 101
Huxtable, Ada Louise, on summer, 162
hydrodynamical turbulence, 150–151
hydrodynamics, 144
hydrogen, 8, 17, 32
hydrogen sulfide, 9
hydrogen tempests, 9
hygrometers, 133, 137
hypothermia, 172–173
I
Ibn Wahshiyya, on rain, 133
ice ages
as abnormal, 188
current ice age, 175
global ice age, 180–184
origin of, 194–198
ice storms, 68–70
Illinoian glaciation, 191–192
Indian monsoon, 233
Indian plate, 232
“Indian summer,” 168–169
Industrial Revolution, 202
International Cloud Atlas, 42, 44
interstadials, 176
Interstate Artificial Rain Company, 56
intertropical convergence zone, 161
inversion layers, 28, 164
Irish Meteorological Service, 149
iron deposits, rusting of, 15–16
isobars, 127–128, 141
J
Jackson, Helen Hunt, on serotinal season, 159
James, Henry, on summer, 161
Jeans, James, 32
Jeans escape, 32
Jefferson, Thomas, 199
jet currents, 124
jet stream
in autumn, 167
discovery of, 124–125
in summer, 162, 164
Jewell, Clayton B., 56
John (hurricane), 101
Johnson, Lyndon, 221
Journey to the Center of the Earth, 224–226
Jupiter, storms on, 72–73
Jurassic period, 20
K
Kármán line, 30
katabatic winds, 118, 165–166, 178–179
Katrina (hurricane), 94–107
Keller, Will, 91–93
Kingsolver, Barbara, on rain, 52
Kirschvink, Joseph, 181–184, 187
krypton, 18
L
La Niña, 234
Langmuir, Irving, 62–63
Laplace, Pierre-Simon, marquis de, 144–145
lapse rate, 35–36
last glacial maximum (LGM), 192–193
Laurent, François, 24
lava, 9–10, 224
lava zone, 227
leaf-opening, 159, 199–200
Leonidas, 207
life
bad weather and, 10
beginning of, 9–12
transformation of atmosphere by, 16
lifting condensation level, 36
lightning
danger of, 77
as electrical phenomenon, 72
ozone and, 27
shapes and sizes of, 78–79
sound of, 83–84
sources of, 74
temperature of, 76
See also specific types, e.g. sheet lightning
lightning stones, 74
limestone, 230
line storms, 75–76
Linnaeus, Carl, 40–41
lithosphere, 227, 232
Little Ice Age, 136, 141–142, 177–178, 204
“long, hot summer” (1967), 220–221
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, on summer, 165
Lorenz, Edward, 152–155
love-ins, 219
Lovelock, James, 235
low-pressure cells, 145–146
low-pressure systems, 50, 96, 215
Lynch, Peter, 149
M
mackerel sky, 43
Magiotti, Raffaello, 134–135
magma
early Earth and, 9
movement of tectonic plates and, 189, 224, 231–233
oceans of, 228–229
quest for, 224–225
thermal impact of, 223
magnetic field, 228–229
magnetism, 181, 228
Mandelbrot, Benoit, 149, 151
Manhattan Project, 150
Mann, Thomas, on life, 9
mantle, 223, 227–231
mantle plumes, 229, 232
Marean, Curtis W., 191
mares’ tails (clouds), 42–43
Marine Isotope Stage 6, 191
Marinoan glaciation, 187
Mars
plans for terraforming of, 14
storms on, 72
temperatures on, 178–179
tilting of axis of, 158
Masterton, J.M., 164
Maunder, Annie Russell, 178
Maunder, E. Walter, 178
Maunder minimum, 178
McCarthy, Cormac, on sheet lightning, 78
McKay, Chris, 185–186
McKenzie, Scott, 218
medieval warm period, 177
Melbourne, Frank, 55–56
Merton, Thomas, on rain, 51
mesocyclones, 85, 91
mesometeorology, 87
mesosphere, 28–31, 227
Meteorological Office (U.K.), 148
meteorology
as hard science, 124, 140–141
Luke Howard and, 40–41
mesometeorology, 87
military strategy and, 213–215
use of computers in, 154–155
methane, 17, 201
microbursts, 88–89
migraines, 50
Milankovitch, Milutin, 194–195
Milankovitch cycle, 195, 198
Millay, Edna St. Vincent, on rain, 50–51
Miller, Joaquin, on lightning, 71
Miller, Stanley, 10–11
Miocene epoch, 189–190
mistral, 119
Moho discontinuity, 224
Mohorovičić, Andrija, 224
Monterey International Pop Festival, 218
Montgomery, Lucy Maud, on summer, 166
mood, weather and, 49–50
Moore, Thomas, on autumn, 166
Moore, Willis, 57
moraines, 180–181
mountains, effect on weather of, 65–66, 117–119, 165–166, 233
N
Napoleon, 211–212
National Hurricane Center, 97–100, 102
National Weather Service, 142
Neanderthals, 191–192
neon, 17
Nero, 67–68
Neruda, Pablo, on rain, 52
Neuberger, Hans, 177–178
nimbostratus clouds, 42–44
nitrogen, 9, 17–18
nitrous oxide, 18, 40–41
Nivelle, Robert, 212
noctilucent clouds, 30
Nolan, Herbert, 44–45
North American Weather Consultants, 64–65
northern lights, 30–31
nuclear winter, 183
O
ocean currents, 233
Oparin, Alexander, 10
Operation B
arbarossa, 215–217
Operation Popeye, 64
Oppenheimer, Robert, 202–203
orbital aphelion, 197
orbital eccentricity, 197
orbital path of Earth, 157–158
orbital perihelion, 197
Ordovician period, 8
orgone, 60–61
Orgonon, 60–61
orographic rainfall, 117
oxygen
absorption of by iron, 15–16
Great Oxygenation Event, 15–16, 49
oxygen (continued)
at high altitude, 23, 26, 45
lack of in Earth’s first atmosphere, 8, 10
ozone and, 27
prokaryotes and, 15
in today’s atmosphere, 17
as waste product of cyanobacteria, 14–16
ozone layer
degradation of, 28
protection from ultraviolet light and, 17, 27
as thermal barrier, 27–28
troposphere and, 27
P
Palladio, Andrea, 116
parapegmata, 131–132
Pascal, Blaise, 136
passive central air system, 115–116
pathetic fallacy, 50
Paulus, Friedrich, 216
peg almanacs, 132
perihelion, 197
petrichor, 53–54
phenology, 199–200
Phillips, John, 218
photosynthesis, 19, 185–186
planets
rotational axes of, 157–158
See also specific planets, e.g. Mars
Pliny the Elder, on weather, 39, 133
Pliocene epoch, 189–190
Pliocene-Quaternary glaciation, 175, 187, 190–191, 198
Plutarch, on rain, 209
Poincaré, Henri, 143
polar cells, 125–127, 167
precipitation
extremes of, 66
threshold, 36
See also hail; rain; snow
Pre-Illinoian glaciations, 190
prevernal season, 159–160
“primordial soup,” 9–11
probabilities, 142
Procopius, 210–211
Project Cirrus, 63–64
Project Mohole, 224–225
prokaryotes, 12–13, 15
proteins, creation of, 10–12
Proust, Marcel, on weather, 49
Q
Quaker scientists, 40, 140, 148, 180
QuikSCAT satellite, 99
R
radon, 18
rain
experiments to produce, 62–63
Flanders offensive and, 212–213
idiomatic terms for, 66