A Week With the Scientists at Penn State University

The destructive power of nature has always been a source of fear and fascination, and never more so than now, when climate change and extreme weather conditions are constantly in the news. Across the central United States, the infamous storms of Tornado Alley are fueled by the collision of cold fronts from Canada and warm fronts from the Gulf of Mexico. People have been chasing these storms for decades in pursuit of thrilling experiences, but now a new generation of storm chasers is combining scientific knowledge with powerful images.

With help from Penn State experts, start at the beginning and go deep. This primer, intended for both serious enthusiasts and new meteorology students, will leave you with both refined observation skills and an understanding of the complex science behind the weather: the ingredients for making reliable predictions of your own. It is currently possible to access the weather maps, satellite photographs, and radar displays and learn forecasts up to ten days or more in advance online. Available data are generated by powerful computers that use banks of differential equations and mounds of data to make their predictions. And yet knowing what the atmosphere has in store can be a much more simple, intimate, and rewarding experience: simply look at the sky. This informative and accessible guide walks readers through the process of making weather predictions through understanding cloud types and sky formations. It connects fundamental meteorological concepts with the processes that shape weather patterns, and will make a potential expert of any dedicated student or reader.

Weather--it's all around us, but sometimes we don't notice it: other times, it's all we can talk about. With an in-depth look at the way weather works, an exploration of the power of storms and extreme weather, and an investigation into how we make forecasts, Weather Explained provides the answers behind what we experience when we walk outdoors.

Weather: The Ultimate Book of Meteorological Events is a comprehensive volume that combines dozens of essays from more than 20 meteorology and climate change experts. Adapted from over 20 years of material from the bestselling Weather Guide calendar, it is a compilation of some of the most spectacular weather photography and writing in the world. In order to fully appreciate the weather's majestic beauty, more than 100 photographers have contributed their awe-inspiring images, expertly portraying some of the most dramatic weather events of the past two decades.