TWC Today Forums
Weather Discussion => General Weather Chat => Topic started by: twcclassics on September 16, 2013, 03:34:02 PM
-
Since there are a few meteorologists and meteorology students here, I thought this would be the best place to ask...what are some good books to learn about meteorology and climatology? I looked at Amazon, but 99% of the results seem to be either textbooks (too expensive for me), geared towards kids, or books I already have.
-
ANYTHING from Tim Vasquez. He's a storm chaser and meteorologist that has books on just about anything you want to know. I have a few of his books. They are relatively inexpensive as well.
Here's the link. The books are all listed near the top of the page: http://www.weathergraphics.com/ (http://www.weathergraphics.com/)
-
Matt, I moved your topic here as it fits well with this board. As you can guess, I have a library of meteorology textbooks. :P Unfortunately, they require knowledge of Calculus and Physics and may not be cheap. You get the real weather books in college as some in this forum will learn soon. But here are my four recommendations that are not so technical, which I got as Christmas gifts while in high school:
1. http://www.amazon.com/The-Weather-Book-Easy-Understand/dp/0679776656/ref=cm_lmf_tit_16/178-8842131-4480424 (http://www.amazon.com/The-Weather-Book-Easy-Understand/dp/0679776656/ref=cm_lmf_tit_16/178-8842131-4480424)
It has tons of nice graphics by Jack Williams of USA Today. It actually is the only book I know that cleanly shows you the difference between various precipitation discriminators such as light rain, moderate drizzle, and heavy snow.
2. http://www.amazon.com/Handy-Weather-Answer-Book-Books/dp/0787610348 (http://www.amazon.com/Handy-Weather-Answer-Book-Books/dp/0787610348)
This book is a straight up Q&A where you see lots of commonly asked weather questions that are answered by experts. One of the most memorable to me is that there really is a difference between "partly cloudy" and "partly sunny."
3. http://www.amazon.com/Weather-Masses-Clouds-Rainfall-Climate/dp/0307240517/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2/175-6708842-1271901 (http://www.amazon.com/Weather-Masses-Clouds-Rainfall-Climate/dp/0307240517/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2/175-6708842-1271901)
I'm pretty sure this one was my first real weather book, so I have to include it here. It does a great job for going beyond just the basics in Meteorology and Climatology without showing any hard math.
4. http://www.amazon.com/National-Audubon-Society-American-Weather/dp/0679408517 (http://www.amazon.com/National-Audubon-Society-American-Weather/dp/0679408517)
This book is perfect when you see something in the sky and want to know what it is and what caused it to occur. It shows you pictures of all the various types of clouds and even rare optical phenomena like sundogs.
Hope I helped you! In case you're wondering, I also have the Everything Weather CD from the Weather Channel when it was released in 1995. It helped me a lot as it's way more interactive and allowed me to understand things beyond the basics until I reached college and took Meteorology classes. B)
-
1. [url]http://www.amazon.com/The-Weather-Book-Easy-Understand/dp/0679776656/ref=cm_lmf_tit_16/178-8842131-4480424[/url] ([url]http://www.amazon.com/The-Weather-Book-Easy-Understand/dp/0679776656/ref=cm_lmf_tit_16/178-8842131-4480424[/url])
It has tons of nice graphics by Jack Williams of USA Today. It actually is the only book I know that cleanly shows you the difference between various precipitation discriminators such as light rain, moderate drizzle, and heavy snow.
I probably recommend this book more than anything else. Have had it for maybe ten years now.
-
Thanks guys. I already have most of the books mentioned, so I decided to purchase one of Tim's books - "Weather Analysis & Forecasting Handbook."