The AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America's Weather

by Jack Williams, Rick Anthes (Foreword), Stephanie Abrams (Foreword)

America has some of the most varied and dynamic weather in the world. Every year, the Gulf Coast is battered by hurricanes, the Great Plains are ravaged by tornados, the Midwest is pummeled by blizzards, and the temperature in the Southwest reaches a sweltering 120 degrees. Extreme weather can be a matter of life and death, but even when it is pleasant—72 degrees and sunny—weather is still central to the lives of all Americans. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine a topic of greater collective interest. Whether we want to know if we should close the storm shutters or just carry an umbrella to work, we turn to forecasts. But few of us really understand the science behind them.

 

All that changes with The AMS Weather Book. The most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to our weather and our atmosphere, it is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to understand how hurricanes form, why tornados twirl, or even why the sky is cerulean blue. Written by esteemed science journalist and former USA Today weather editor Jack Williams, The AMS Weather Book, copublished with the American Meteorological Society, covers everything from daily weather patterns, air pollution, and global warming to the stories of people coping with severe weather and those who devote their lives to understanding the atmosphere, oceans, and climate. Words alone, of course, are not adequate to explain many meteorological concepts, so The AMS Weather Book is filled with engaging full-color graphics that explain such concepts as why winds blow in a particular direction, how Doppler weather radar works, what happens inside hurricanes, how clouds create wind and snow, and what’s really affecting the earth’s climate.

 

For Weather Channel junkies, amateur meteorologists, and storm chasers alike, The AMS Weather Book is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to better understand how weather works and how it affects our lives.

 

Genres: Science, Environment, Nonfiction, Reference

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[ALLEN · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE AMS WEATHER BOOK may not be the absolute ultimate guide to America's weather, but it comes darn close. It's a colorful hardbound volume of coffee-table-book proportions that shows weather and weather systems dramatically. Not a text on meteorology, but helpful in learning about U.S. weather. It found a surprise market abroad, where people would like to better understand the violent propensities of so much North American weather. I think that our middle-schoolers or older would enjoy it, too. Reasonable price. Well worth having, even though the text is going on ten years old. Would probably make a tremendous gift for a motivated young person.

[Ted Roche · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Review of the older version -2009) A laypersons guide to weather, from planetary-wide forces that drive the seasons to local geography that affects whether it rains today, this guide covers a lot of material: the energy engines that drive it all, winds, water, waves, the grand global patterns, medium "mesoscale" effects, cyclones, tornadoes, thunderstorms, and the art and sciences of weather observation and forecasting. Some great historical background on how weather prediction came about, and many sidebars profiling meterologists and other scientists and the projects they are running, from flying through hurricanes to drilling deep ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica. If you're interested in learning more about the weather to better understand the local forecast, or the global climate crisis, this is a good book to study.

[Zhelana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty interesting, but it didn't quite provide what I wanted, which was a look at how come different weather patterns exist. Instead it told me about dramatic weather - hurricanes, tornadoes, even stagnant pollution killing tons of people. I still find myself wanting to know basic things like "how come i don't drown when there is 100% humidity, shouldn't that mean it's just water out there?" but on the other hand I know how hurricanes work, which wasn't even a question I had asked. So basically, I don't know what to tell you about this book. If you're just looking for a little infotainment, it's great. If you want to know why the weather works.... maybe not?

[David Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking to expand my current knowledge as a SKYWARN spotter and storm chaser with this guide. I learned quite a bit from this book so it was very helpful. It didn't get as much into specific severe storm dynamics as I would have liked to see but perhaps I just need a more focused weather book.

I did feel the content jumped around a bit too much for my reading tastes and while I can understand recognizing some of the weather pioneers/figures in this country, it felt excessive at times. The diagrams were all pretty well done and easy to read.

[Prismo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I religiously read this shit when I was like 5 (by read I mean look at the amazing diagrams) and it still holds up even if it is a little out of date

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a very good overview of the weather. It has all sorts of details that many books don't have. It even mentions the ENSO and other weather oscillations that so many people have never heard of. And, in fact, mentions derechos. So if you suddenly feel like you want ot know more about winds, mesocyclones and other fun weather patters, check out this book. It has some really excellent diagrams.