Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book

by Christopher C. Burt

Overview

The ultimate weather book for the weather enthusiast or anyone interested in the oddities and extremes of nature.

Is the climate really becoming more extreme as a result of climate change? We often hear on the news that the day was the hottest, coldest, wettest, or snowiest on record. Recent evidence suggests that aspects of the climate are indeed becoming more extreme. Will the extraordinary hurricane season of 2005 and the record heat waves of 2006 become more common? The facts are in this book, including a detailed analysis of extreme weather trends in the United States going back to the nineteenth century. Also included are historical examples of some of the more bizarre weather events observed: heat bursts, electrified dust storms, snow rollers, pink snowstorms, luminous tornadoes, falls of fish and toads, ball lighting, super bolts, and other strange meteorological events.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393330151
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/17/2007
Edition description:	Revised and Updated
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Christopher C. Burt was co-founder and publisher of the acclaimed Compass American Guides series. His articles have appeared in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, among others. He lives in Oakland, California.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	11
	Heat & Drought	14
Chapter 1
	Hottest Cities & Hot Spots	15
	In the United States	15
	Around the World	24
	Death Valley: Hottest Place in the World?	18
	Real Heat: The Humidity Factor	27
	Historic Heat Waves in the United States	29
	Heat Bursts	36
	Droughts & Dust Storms	38
	Remarkable High Plains Dust Storms	41
	Global Warming	42
	Weather Service Forecasts End of the World	43
	Cold	44
Chapter 2
	Coldest Cities & Cold Spots	45
	In the United States	45
	Around the World	56
	Makeshift Alaskan Thermometers	50
	Coldest Place in the Lower	48
	Embarrass, Minnesota	51
	What's it Like at -80[degree]?	59
	Historic Cold Waves in the United States	60
	January 10, 1859: New York City's Coldest Daylight Ever	61
	Temperature Antics in the Black Hills and High Plains	68
	Snow & Ice	70
Chapter 3
	Snowiest Cities in The United States	71
	Snowy Places	73
	In the United States	73
	Around the World	86
	Snow in the Sierra Nevada	79
	Snow in New England	82
	Historic Snowstorms in the United States	90
	A Luminous Snowstorm in New England	91
	Strange Snowfalls	98
	Ice Storms	96
	Rain & Floods	102
Chapter 4
	Rainiest & Driest Cities & Places	103
	In the United States	103
	Around the World	112
	It Rains Sometimes in Seattle	105
	Extreme Rainstorms	116
	Phenomenal Cloudbursts: Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania	118
	Greatest Rainstorms in the World: Reunion Island	120
	Floods	123
	Mud Showers Over New York	133
	Thunderstorms & Hail	134
Chapter 5
	Stormiest Places	135
	In the United States	139
	Around the World	146
	Extreme Sport: Parachuting Into a Thunderstorm	143
	Lighting	147
	Superbolts	149
	Apocryphal Lightning Pranks	152
	Remarkable Storm of Ball Lightning in Mount Desert, Maine	155
	Hailstorms	157
	In the United States	157
	Around the World	161
	Tornadoes	164
Chapter 6
	Typical Tornadoes	165
	In the United States	171
	Around the World	183
	Eyewitness to the Center of a Tornado	170
	Historic Twisters	194
	Luminous Tornadoes	192
	Waterspouts	196
	Animal Falls	199
	Hurricanes	200
Chapter 7
	Hurricanes and Their Intensity	201
	In the United States	204
	Historic Hurricanes	209
	Dedicated Weather Observer	215
	Hurricane Flooding: The Storm Surge & Rainfalls	217
	Tropical Storms Around the World	221
	Greatest Storm on Earth	224
	Tropical Storm Superlatives	227
	Windstorms & Fog	232
Chapter 8
	Extra-tropical storms	233
	The Perfect Storm	243
	Great Cyclones of Europe	246
	Extreme Winds	248
	Highest Measured Wind Speed in the World	249
	Extreme Santa Ana	254
	Fog	257
	El Nino and La Nina	260
	Appendices	264
	Maps, Records & Conversion Tables
	Bibliography	293
	Index	299

Editorial Reviews

Christopher C. Burt, the author of the excellent and addictive Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book, strives to put all this in context.
— The New York Times

Tim Cahill

Weather-watchers will rejoice in this lavishly illustrated compendium of the hottest, coldest, wettest, driest, windiest, snowiest, wildest and weirdest weather on the planet. Burt, an amateur meteorologist and publisher of the Compass American Guidebook series, explores extreme weather phenomena in digestible mini-essays complemented by sidebars on such oddities as colored snow and luminous tornadoes. The whole is supplemented by maps, lists of destructive storms, and photos of towering thunderheads, raging floodwaters and the devastated remains of human settlement. The focus is on the United States, thunderstorm and tornado capital of the world thanks to the Great Plains collision between warm, moist Gulf air and cool, dry Canadian air. But Burt also looks at meteorological problem areas abroad, such as Bangladesh, where cyclonic storm surges killed 300,000-500,000 people in 1970 and a further 139,000 in 1991. In addition to regaling readers with prodigies, Burt exhaustively tabulates weather records for each state and for hundreds of U.S. cities. Although his discussion of the science behind the weather tends toward the cursory, this eminently browsable blizzard of sensational facts will delight budding meteorologists and barroom wagerers alike. (Oct.) Forecast: The dramatic photos, colorful charts and juicy graphs not to mention the large font and accessible vocabulary should make this a hit with weather-heads of all ages. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Adult/High School-This book has enough information packed within its pages to keep the most ardent weather watchers busy. Chapters are arranged by such phenomena as thunderstorms and hail, snow and ice, windstorms and fog, etc., and liberally illustrated with beautiful black-and-white and color photographs, charts, and maps. True "junkies" will pore over the appendixes that include a map of weather stations and state and city precipitation records. In the course of discussing each type of occurrence, Burt offers numerous items of interest. For example, Key West has only one foggy day each year, while the "foggiest of the foggy" towns in the U.S. is Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia River. Mysteries such as why most other countries in the world, with the possible exception of India and Bangladesh, do not experience as many severe thunderstorms as the United States does are clearly explained. Discussions of scales such as the Fujita, used to measure the strength of a tornado, and the Saffir-Simpson, used to measure hurricanes, are included. Eyewitness accounts are scattered throughout. This book will captivate weather lovers and make converts of others.-Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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