literary descriptions of, 50–53
orographic rainfall, 117
scent of, 52–53
total absence of, 65
world record holder for, 66
See also freezing rain
rain derrick, 57
“Rain Mill,” 55–56
rainbands, 100–101
raindrops, 48–49
rainmakers, 55–56, 60–61
Ramsay, Bertram, 213–214
Rankin, William, 44–46, 82, 84, 89
Reich, Wilhelm, 60–61
Rex, Daniel, 64
Richardson, F.A., 164
Richardson, Lewis Fry, 141, 148–149, 151
Robbins, Tom, on rain, 51–52
Romney, George, 221
Rossby, Carl-Gustaf, 126
Rossby waves, 126–127
Rossetti, Christina
on wind, 108
on winter, 175
Royal McBee (computer), 153–155
Ruddiman, William, 201
Rundstedt, Gerd von, 213–214
Ruskin, John, on weather, 1
Russian winter, 211–212, 215–217
S
Saffir, Herbert, 102
Saffir-Simpson scale, 102–103
Sangamonian interglacial, 176, 192, 201
Santa Ana winds, 118–119
Saussure, Horace Bénédict de, 137
Schaefer, Vincent, 62
Schrag, Daniel, 184–185
scientific prematurity, 149
Scott, Robert Falcon, 179
seasonal affective disorder, 50
seasons
Earth’s tilt and, 156–157, 196
latitude and, 158
See also specific season, e.g. autumn
Seilkopf, Heinrich, 124, 126
seismic waves, 223–224
self-encapsulated proteins, 12
self-reproducing organisms, 9–11
Seneca
on Domus Aurea, 68
on weather and clouds, 38–39
Sentman, Davis, 81
serotinal season, 159, 167
sferics, 84
shear boundary, 127
sheet lightning, 78
Shelley, Percy Bysshe
on autumn, 166
on Viscount Castlereagh, 138
on wind, 112
Shepard, Alan, 29
Shukla, Jagadish, 155
silver iodide, 63, 65
Simpson, Robert, 102
sirocco, 113, 117, 119–120
skating, 177
snow, 36, 48, 117, 170–173, 189–190, 198
snow sleds, 176
Snowball Earth, 179, 182, 184–187, 235
snowsnakes, 176
solar activity, climate change and, 178, 183
Solberg, Halvor, 145
soothsaying, 130
Southern Oscillation, 234
spider lightning, 79
See also lightning
Spitsbergen, 180–181
spring (vernal season), 159–161
sprites, 80–82
squall lines, 75–76
stadials, 176
Stalin, Joseph, 215–216
Stalingrad, 216–217
Steve (strong thermal emission velocity enhancement), 31–32
Stokes, Pringle, 138
storm clouds, 37, 79, 81, 84, 91
storm surges, 102–104, 107
storms. See hurricanes; ice storms; thunderstorms
Strabo, on wind, 119
stratocumulus clouds, 42, 44
stratosphere
characteristics of, 27
ozone layer and, 27–28
in spring, 160
sprites and blue jets in, 80
thickness of, 28
winds of, 37
stratus clouds, 41–44
stromatolites, 14–15, 230
Sturtian glaciation, 187
subduction zones, 224
summer (aestival season), 159, 161–164
Summer of Love, 217–219
sun
in Arctic winter, 157
brightening of, 32
color of in weather forecasting, 131
sun (continued)
early strength of, 13
Goldilocks Zone and, 11–12
sunspots, 178
Super Outbreak (1974), 88
supercell cumulonimbus incus (cloud), 91
supercell thunderstorms, 85
See also thunderstorms
supercell updrafts, 85
See also updrafts
superhurricanes, 103
supertroposphere, 234
surface tension, 12, 36
Swisher Rain Company, 56
Symons, Arthur, on approach of autumn, 167
T
tectonic plates, 224, 232
temperate zones, 158–159
temperature inversion, 164
Tennyson, Alfred, on the end of summer, 168
terpenes, 53
terraformers, 14
terrestrial albedo effect, 182–183
Themistocles, 206–208
Theophrastus, 37, 132
thermoclines, 68
thermosphere, 29–32, 84, 100, 223, 227
Thomas, Richard Grenfell, 52
Thoreau, Henry David, on summer, 163
thunder, 75–77, 85
thunderstorms
formation of, 73–74
frequency of, 72, 78
rainbands and, 100–101
supercell updrafts and, 85
tillites, 180
Topuzovich, Kristina, 195
Tornado Alley, 90
tornadoes
birth of, 89–90
destruction caused by, 68–69
families of, 88
ghost tornadoes, 90
research into, 86–89
Super Outbreak (1974), 88
wind speeds in, 93
Torricelli, Evangelista, 133, 135–136
Tower of the Winds, 113–114, 116
trade winds, 95–98, 125, 234
Trajan, Emperor, 210
Travis, David, 200
Trento, Francesco, 115–116
trilobites, 8
Trinity test, 150
TRMM (tropical rainfall measuring mission), 97, 100
TROLLS (transient red optical luminous lineaments), 81
tropical depressions, 97–98
tropical disturbances, 97
tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM), 97, 100
tropical waves, 97–98
tropopause, 125
troposphere
clouds and, 37, 44
ozone layer and, 27–28
in spring and summer, 160
supertroposphere, 234
weather and, 27
tsunamis, 13, 103–104
Twain, Mark
on lightning, 74
on New England weather, 151–152
typhoons
Carmen, 101
vs hurricanes, 101
U
ultraviolet radiation, 10, 17, 27
Updike, John, on rain, 52
updrafts
clouds and, 47
in cumulonimbus clouds, 45–46
updrafts (continued)
hail and, 84–85
hurricanes and, 101
storms and, 73
tornadoes and, 90
upper atmosphere, 23–24
Urey, Harold, 10–11
Usher, He
nry, 121
V
Van Allen belt, 229
Verlaine, Paul, on autumn, 168
vernal season (spring). See spring (vernal season)
Verne, Jules, 226
Vidie, Lucien, 137
Villa Trento-Buoni Fanciulli, 116
Vitruvius, on wind, 110, 114
volcanic eruptions, 9–10, 178, 184, 210–211, 232
volcanic winter, 210–211
von Neumann, John, 141, 150–151
Vonnegut, Bernard, 62–63
Vonnegut, Kurt, 62–63
W
warm fronts, 145, 147–148
water
in atmosphere, 20
bipolarity of, 12
as heat reservoir, 196
wind cycles and, 165
water cycle, 38–39
water vapor
clouds and, 34–35
condensation of, 38, 147
cycle of, 39
dew point and, 38–39
in Earth’s atmosphere, 9, 20, 137, 222, 229
weather
12th Street Riot and, 220–221
vs climate, 204
Dunkirk evacuation and, 213–215
fall of Dacia and, 209–210
Flanders offensive and, 212–213
instinctual knowledge of, 131
military strategy and, 208–209, 213–215
mood and, 49–50
Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and, 211–212
Operation Barbarossa and, 215–217
Summer of Love and, 219–220
troposphere and, 27
weaponization of, 63–64
The Weather Book: A Manual of Practical Meteorology, 139–140
weather charts, 139, 149
weather forecasting
ancient methods of, 130
architect of, 137–138
butterfly effect and, 154–155
mathematics and, 131, 141–142, 144–145, 149
use of computers in, 154–155
weather maps, 25, 141, 142, 147
Weather Prediction by Numerical Process, 149, 151
Wescott, Eugene, 81
White, Robert M., 28–30
wildfires, 17, 118–119, 160
William, Wordsworth, on clouds, 34
Wilma (hurricane), 101
wind
anabatic winds, 118
architecture of, 113–115
characteristics of, 108
direction of, 127–128
Greek gods of, 110–113
idiomatic terms using, 109
katabatic winds, 118
passive central air system and, 115–116
Santa Ana winds, 118–119
wind shear, 90
wind speed, measurement system for, 122–123
wind vanes, 113
winter (hibernal season)
activities during, 176–177
art depicting, 177–178
coldness of, 174–178
first winter, 189–190
as migrating climate zone, 159
polar high and, 170
Russian winter, 211–212, 215–217
volcanic winter, 210–211
Winters, Shelley, on cold, 170
Wisconsin glaciation, 176, 192–193
X
xenoliths, 231
xenon, 18
Xerxes, 206, 208
Z
Zephyros, 111–114
Zeus, 73–74, 111, 132, 157
About the Author
Christopher Dewdney is the award-winning, bestselling author of four books of nonfiction and eleven books of poetry. A four-time nominee for the Governor General’s Award, he won the CBC Literary Competition for poetry and has been awarded the Harbourfront Festival Prize. Christopher lives in Toronto, where he teaches writing at York University.
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Copyright
Copyright © Christopher Dewdney, 2018
Published by ECW Press
665 Gerrard Street East
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4M 1Y2
416-694-3348 / [email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Cover design: Michel Vrana
Author photo: © Greig Reekie
Editor: Susan Renouf
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Dewdney, Christopher, 1951–, author
18 miles : the epic drama of our atmosphere and its weather / Christopher Dewdney.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77041-346-7 (softcover).
Also issued as: 978-1-77305-223-6 (ePub),
978-1-77305-224-3 (PDF)
1. Weather—Miscellanea. 2. Weather—Popular works.
I. Title. II. Title: Eighteen miles.
QC981.2.D49 2018 551.6 C2018-902515-8 2018-902516-6
The publication of 18 Miles has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and by the Government of Canada. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. Ce livre est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada. We also acknowledge the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
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