Weather Explained - A Brief Explanation of What You Should Know

People instinctively seem to know how important weather is to their daily lives, especially in areas where it changes often. This is important because an unprotected individual in the face of severe weather can be significantly injured or killed by its effects. Having at least a cursory understanding of what the weather is will mean that you are not only more informed and educated, but will be better able to determine what, if any actions you can take to protect yourself and make wise decisions concerning the weather around you at any given time.
Broadly defined, weather is "a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given atmosphere at a given time." It occurs in the hydrosphere and troposphere. The hydrosphere is any part of the earth or its atmosphere in which water or water vapour is found. The troposphere, on the other hand, is the lowest layer of the atmosphere and contains about 95 percent of the mass of air in the earth's atmosphere. The troposphere extends from the Earth's surface up to about 10 to 15 kilometres. Weather happens because of temperature and moisture differences between one place and another. Differences occur because of variations in the angle of the sun at any particular location. Weather means current activity and climate is related to the average conditions over longer periods of time.

Specialized weather conditions such as hurricanes need to be given attention here because of the significant influence they have over warm areas. Areas of particular concern are the tropics and warm U.S. states where hurricanes and other severe weather phenomena exist regularly. A hurricane is a low pressure zone funnelling surrounding warm air to the ground. A hurricane is the same as a cyclone. The difference comes from the area of the ocean that the storm forms. Cyclones are responsible for a wide variety of different meteorological phenomena such as tropical cyclones and tornadoes. The result is that weather forecasters usually further defines the term with another. A hurricane is itself a commonly cited chaotic phenomenon for it consists of elements that come spontaneously to form complex systems. The elements together are a greater risk than the pieces when considered individually.

Weather might also be defined this way: weather is the short-lived condition of the air. It can be called "short-lived" because it can change rapidly. For example in some places like Melbourne, Australia you could experience three weather patterns in one day. Weather is logical; it is a straight cause and effect situation. The problem is that the cause is often unknown.
As stated earlier, weather can have a significant impact on the environment around us. It is important to accurately predict certain outcomes of particular types of weather. This is the case, for example when dealing with forest and brush fires. Weather is often the most influential variable. People in charge of controlling wildfires must understand how fire may react to an alteration in the weather, such as a wind change. Wind and water conditions, such as water availability are a large determining factor affecting how fire crews respond. Many times aspects of fire control and containment include "controlled burns". A controlled burn refers to" prescribed or controlled burning of a specific area to prevent it spreading further where containment may be far less certain. It is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming and prairie restoration".

It is important to understand weather and because of how it can affect basic tasks that people often take for granted. Such commonplace activities include driving a car. Weather is one environmental risk factor that is known to affect road crash rates around the world. If a person were informed of weather conditions that might significantly impair the safe driving of a vehicle, the prudent driver would pull over until a specific weather condition has passed. Seeking appropriate shelter strong enough to withstand the present conditions is also advised.
It is also good to be aware of common weather terms that are heard everyday like "wind chill". Wind chill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by wind and cold. As the wind increases, it draws heat from the body, driving down skin temperature and, eventually, the internal body temperature. Another significant term used in weather prediction is Zulu time. Meteorologists use Zulu time, which is the standard time in Greenwich, England, in their forecasts, such as for aviation, to avoid confusion with time zones in forecasts for far-away locations. Air traffic controllers use it for the same reason. Standardization is important to avoid confusion in different places. Another common term is "jet stream". Jet stream relates to the strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air. . Because the Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbit, sunlight is at different angles at different times of the year. This results in temperature changes. Temperature differences than cause pressure differences. Higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes.

Lastly it is important to realize how volatile and sensitive the atmospheric system is. Small changes in one part of the system can have a huge impact on the whole. Weather forecasting makes use of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time at a particular location. It is hoped that this brief explanation of weather in general with reference to more specific weather phenomena will help you gain a more clear understanding of it, how it affects you and what certain, common terms used frequently actually mean. Appreciation is hereby expressed to Google for general definitions of specific weather terms. You can learn how to use the define feature with the following syntax to learn meanings for terms you specify this way; "define:term" where term refers to the term you are frying to define. Look for additional articles at the websites given at the end of this article.

Making Rain, Weather Control and Predicting Wind Patterns

Wind is a sophisticated pattern and in linear mathematics appears to be a complex system, however the patterns of wind within an atmosphere while taking into consideration ambient temperatures and land formations, may not be as complex as we believe. As a matter of fact we have knowledge of many patterns in nature, which start from very simplistic formulas. It appears that simplicity breeds complexity and that complexity can reverse the same process in many instances where those systems have tendencies and characteristics which promote change or chaos.

As we learned how to unlock the mathematics, which can solve the factoring of prime numbers within computational complexity of algorithms in systems of cryptonics, we may find that this is in fact relatively easy using multiple level equations in a slight modification of our current understanding and usage of mathematics. Soon, we will then discover how simple such patterns in nature actually are.

The patterns of wind are interesting and take on the appearance of being so complex that they many simply throw up their hands give up in trying to mathematically predict it. Yet, we can predict it since we have formulas for much of what we know as fluid dynamics physics, we have laws and rules which are taught in higher math and physics classes through linear sets of equations, yet when we add additional variables and stack the data sets, somehow our minds having been taught a certain methodology of problem solving, rendering us to a conclusion that it is impossible to predict. Not so, since currently with the use of computers, XML data bases, ESRI software and a better understanding of other complex systems and patterns which we have broken through, we now know it is not only possible, but known that we can predict wind patterns and depending on the number of variables taken into consideration we can be so accurate that we would know wind.

If you are to break down the wind within each three-dimensional grid in virtual space (in an atmosphere) signifying a cubic dimensions (or any 3-D shape) and you know the characteristics that are pre-existing within the next volume set of cubic observation, before which time the wind passes through it (such as barometric pressure, temperature, etc. and you know the speed of the wind, its velocity and the air mass behind it), predicting the wind passing through the next grid or volume of space is rather simple. Although the problem seems quite complex adding up all the different volumes of virtual cubic boxes within next space and knowing the flow and direction the way and is completely predictable.

We now have supercomputers, smart dust with mems, ESRI software, as well as a pretty good understanding of wind aloft and a database from the National Weather Service. Predicting patterns of wind, directions of fire, and understanding what occurs win any one condition is changed you seen the sophisticated software of a virtual wind tunnel we know what the weather will do, where it will go, what effect will have on our overall environment and which conditions we will need to change to slow down a storm, stop a storm or have a deliver water onto a fire or into a lake for water supply. Such modeling can help us understand the effects of an asteroid or god, forbid a comet hitting the earth and what will be the most likely outcome of such.

We can use such modeling to predict pollution coming from Fires in CA or China and how they effect the entire Earth Atmosphere Grid and what they will most likely do to the current and near future weather patterns and what such a chain reaction will do to our surface plants and animals long term. We can also understand the global warming effect of burps of Earth through volcanic activity and the extent that space weather, solar flares and our own pollution contribute or take away from the whole of the atmospheric earth system.

Controlling the weather patterns will require some skill, some talent, large collected databases, supercomputer number crunching and lots of trial and error. We will also need to let lose of some of the current mathematics we use to track weather in trade for multi-stacked equational computational analysis or a different type of math based on a new type of science. Which may lead us to the grand unification we seek.

As scientists and researchers will learn there will be places where weather is easily studied and relatively easily controllable using very little energy and using the actual wind currents with minor changes in certain situations which are made possible by the terrain itself. This brings us to another topic at topic is the patterns of erosion. Anyone was the pilot who has flown over the desert, over a mountain range or even in a glider using the addressing downdrafts understands that the fluid dynamics used by water, pressure or heat, which slowly over time brings mountain into river, into silt.

Some of the best farmland in the world will appear at the bottom of a mountain range where the water has washed the sediment into a valley. Or where a glacier has grinded away rock into fine sand, where a volcano has spread itself out over large area and overtime makes with the dust, dirt and other factors mentioned into a flat plain.

Ocean currents with any crevasse of the ocean may be very simple to study as the earth spins in the water flows it is relatively constant in certain places. Near the surface of the ocean where the water is less dense and more obvious and numerous factors play a part in the direction and flow it will be more difficult to predict, as more factors exist.

However once all those factors are known it will not be as difficult as it once appeared. Now let's take the atmosphere which can change rapidly and has to take into consideration the ocean flow, temperature, height of the waves along with the heat of the land mass which could include; Urban heat, clouds, barometric pressure, precipitation, static electricity, wind, land formations, man-made pollution, man-made structures and many other non suspecting conditions and in many variations. This however should not scare away the scientists, the dreamer or the funds of those with the imagination to take this species to the next step. Controlling our weather is possible once we fully understand how it works. And we are well on our way. Unlike the Federal Reserve Bank's options for controlling the flow of money, in the Earth System there are countless levers which can be used in the control of the weather.

Any one of those levers will set off a chain reaction since everything effects everything else. All patterns in the earth system running together, similarly all waves from all sources running together. Waves of light, waves containing energy and/or heat, waves of sound, waves of radiation no matter what the origin all run together. By controlling a single factor such as in ELF or VLF of the earth at 8.5 Hz you can control weather. By changing the heat with any of virtual three-dimensional grid in any place within the atmosphere you can control the wind, thus control the weather. By changing the temperature of the surface water of the Pacific Ocean by one degree, you can change the level an altitude and speed of the jetstream, and thus changing the entire flow of weather.

Since everything is a wave you can change to a wave of UV, gamma or very low frequency, which in fact can change the surface of the water in the ocean, or at any altitude up to and beyond the Ionosphere. If you take a spherical fruit out of your refrigerator and placed it in a box and stuck a straw into the middle, the coolness from within the fruit will escape and will change the temperature within that box, a few degrees. But as we have learned and are learning from the global warming effect we are witnessing today which threatens to change the earth system, and somewhat disrupt human life upon the land we can see that we do have options. Different percentages of gas in the atmosphere will act differently under different temperatures. They will interact differently and you'll change weather patterns, a volcanic vent on the floor of the Pacific Ocean will impact the surface temperature of the water and therefore the weather patterns. This could lead to more severe weather, which will appear to us to be unpredictable, but actually it will be more predictable, we may not like the prediction but we can know the outcome.

By modifying our weather and categorizing its anomalies, we may find that we can use certain areas with highly predictable conditions as places to slightly modify those conditions to create desired weather patterns which can deliver water to crops, to help keep the world, to fill up lakes, and to provide clean and safe drinking water to the populations of the world. Let me give you an example of how this can be done. Next paragraph. Let's take Bernoulli's principal and apply it to a mountainous canyon at a higher altitude. In certain times of the year the air will be cold, moist, and the wind will blow through the canyon. If you pick such a location you can provide a chemical laser-beam from the ground and from the canyon, which will superheat the air coming through and make huge thunderclouds, similar out comes can be witnessed by kids blowing bubbles on a micro scale.

Weather Barometer - How To Use It To Forecast Your Local Weather

If you are interested in watching and even predicting the weather and you have a choice of only one single weather instrument, the barometer is the instrument you should choose. The reason is simple. You can tell more about coming changes in the weather by observing this weather instrument than any of the other common, basic weather tools.
A barometer is an instrument that measures the atmospheric or barometric pressure in a particular area. Weather patterns are produced according to what that atmospheric pressure allows. For instance, if the barometric pressure of a region is high, the weather will probably bring lots of sunshine and clear skies. However, if the barometric pressure falls very much or at a specific amount in a specified period of time, it could mean a storm is brewing in the atmosphere.
Using a barometer, one may be able to forecast pretty accurate weather patterns in a local area. You may be wondering how this is done and we'll be giving you that information in this article.
There are a few guidelines that you must follow in order to get a fairly accurate prediction of the weather using the barometer. The following is a list of those particular guidelines. If you use them and learn how to apply them to your barometric observations, your neighbors and friends will be astounded at your weather forecasting skills.
1. As stated above, if a barometric pressure is rising, this is frequently an indication of calm and dry weather.
2. Slowly falling or moderately falling barometric pressure often suggest that there is a low pressure ridge approaching, which means that the area you are in may not actually be affected by weather change.
3. If the atmospheric pressure is falling fairly rapidly, it's a fair indication that rainy weather or stormy weather is approaching and you should prepare accordingly.
4. If the pressure falls rapidly but only a small amount, you could be about to experience a short or brief change in the weather. This will probably mean some rain showers are approaching.
5. If a rapid pressure drop occurs within a short period of time, chances are good that you're going to have a storm in your area sometime within the next 4 to 7 hours.
6. When slowly falling pressure is sustained and this occurs for a longer period of time, there's a real good chance that a longer period of stormy weather might be approaching your area. Should the barometric pressure begin to rise before the big drop, an indication of weather that is more severe or more pronounced is quite probable.
7. If your weather is fair and nice and you notice a rapid rise in atmospheric pressure or should you see an above average pressure occurring, the chances are very good that a low pressure area is approaching rapidly and will often be accompanied by a quick fall in the barometric pressure and foul weather changes are very likely.
8. Should the pressure suddenly rise while you are experiencing a foul weather, low pressure occurrence, it is highly likely that you're going to be experiencing a short period of fair weather.
9. In the case that the weather barometer reading is rising slowly and is sustained, your odds for fair weather are quite good and indications are that this fair weather will likely stick around for a while.

If you found this interesting or intriguing, you're going to absolutely LOVE discovering all the fabulous weather instruments information on our site!

Discover how a digital weather station works.

Home Weather Stations

In this age of digital technology, with instant access to up-to-the-minute data, forecasts, and images from the National Weather Service (NWS) and innumerable other online sources; with timely reports from local broadcasters and cable television networks; with personalized forecasts and storm alerts sent directly to your email, pager, or cell phone; why would anyone need a home weather station? The answer to that question lies right there in your backyard, where the weather conditions you experience at home are often not the same as any of those resources might suggest. We know that all too well living here in southwest Virginia, as weather conditions up on the mountain ridges can be completely different from those down in the valleys. Fortunately, keeping an eye on local weather conditions using your own state-of-the-art weather station has never been easier or more affordable. Whether simple or elaborate, home weather stations will provide you with information that cannot be obtained anywhere else. And having the ability to glance over at your weather station console from the comfort of your couch or armchair is not only convenient, but fascinating as well. Depending on desired features and accessories, electronic weather station prices can range from as little as $30 to as much as $3,000 or more. Available in either wireless or cabled versions, these highly accurate weather instruments monitor a variety of weather conditions: temperature and humidity (both indoors and out), atmospheric pressure, precipitation, wind direction and speed, dew point, wind chill, and heat index - all displayed within the comfort of your home! More advanced weather stations offer enhanced features such as faster sampling rates, extensive data graphing and history, and additional sensors ranging from ultraviolet, solar radiation, and evapotranspiration to soil temperature/moisture and leaf wetness. All electronic weather stations include a clock and many of them are radio controlled, resetting themselves daily to the official U.S. government atomic clock located at Fort Collins, Colorado. Cabled weather stations use a cable to connect their weather sensors to the indoor console. Drawbacks include the risk of lightning (must use lightning arrestors) and having to drill a hole in the wall to link the two, but cabled units are generally less expensive than wireless units. Wireless weather stations use radio signals (typically in the 433 MHz band) to transmit measurements from the weather sensors to the indoor console, eliminating the need to string cable and drill holes. The maximum "unobstructed" (or "line of sight") range between the sensors and indoor console can vary between models, from 80 to 1000 feet. However, their "effective" range is determined by the building materials their signals must penetrate (walls, siding, roof structure, etc.) and by sources of radio interference. As a rule-of-thumb for a typical installation, the effective range is about a third of the rated unobstructed range. Weather station sensors need to be placed or "sited" properly to provide accurate measurements. Once installed, sensors transmit their data to the indoor console, which updates the display and records the readings at an interval set by the manufacturer. This interval may vary depending on the type of measurement (temperature, wind speed, rainfall, etc.) or may be fixed at one interval rate regardless of the type (every minute, every three minutes, etc.). Some home weather stations are capable of interfacing with a computer, either included as part of the package or available as an optional accessory. A computer-linked weather station offers not only real-time display of weather measurements on your computer monitor, but also provides for advanced data collection and graphical weather analysis. And with a dedicated internet connection, you can even post weather data to your own weather web page or become a part of the process by sharing your readings with the Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP), which forwards the information in a format that the National Weather Service can use. Even if your weather station isn't connected to a computer, you can still participate as a volunteer Skywarn "spotter," providing your local NWS weather forecast office with important weather measurements and severe weather reports. Interest in weather is nearly universal and the information that home weather stations provide, combined with additional relevant study, can offer you an opportunity for a rewarding lifelong hobby. Most have discovered that their home weather station has given them a better understanding of weather, which has heightened their interest in other aspects of the natural world. After all, weather observation is not just confined to where you live. Craig Wicks is an amateur meteorologist, Skywarn storm spotter, weather photographer, and General Manager of WeatherShack.com, a leading provider of consumer and professional weather stations. To obtain additional information about the set up and use of home weather stations, please visit the WeatherShack Education Center. You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines with active links are included. Please send us a courtesy copy of your publication to info@weathershack.com.