The Complete Book of Weather Author:Michael Carr The accuracy of weathermen may be a joke to many, but weather forecasting and predictions are based on serious scientific methodology. And while weather forecasting has come a long way since Italian mathematician Evangelista Torricelli invented the barometer in 1644, few people know how to read a barometer, much less identify the 36 cloud types ... more »and 100 classes of hydrometeors. Using barometers to quantify air pressure, and observing hydrometeors (such as humidity, fog, hail, dew, and frost) to determine how much water there is in the air, there are only two ways in which the weather can be predicted and analyzed. In addition to using instruments (barometers, thermometers, hygrometers) and simply observing the natural shifts in the atmosphere, there are several technical methods of forecasting (long-range, statistical, numerical), and many of these methods can be practiced at home with a personal computer and some weather charts. The Computer Book of Weather provides an in-depth introduction to these (and many more) essential of weather forecasting, as well as a thorough exploration of the science behind the weather, answering the questions of how and why the weather does what it does. Reading charts, maps, and instruments is only one part of a complete understanding of what the weather is. Combining those technical aspects of forecasting, with the knowledge of how the Earth moves through space and the changing of the seasons throughout the hemispheres, is the other side. To that end, this book provides a unique coming-together of the fascinating science of meteorology and the global nature of weather.« less