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Eyewitness (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. Eyewitness Hurricane & Tornado (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. Cyclone shelter Spots on the Sun Sunset at Stonehenge, England 19th-century reproduction of Galileo’s original thermoscope Lighthouse at the George Washington Bridge in New York Saturn Wind-eroded rocks in Utah (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. Ice Pinecone crystal Eyewitness with open scales, indicating dry weather Hurricane & Tornado Written by JACK CHALLONER Simultaneous waterspout and lightning bolt DK Publishing, Inc. (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. Doppler-radar Storm dome system on Earth viewed from space Avalanche-warning sign London, new York, MeLbourne, Munich, and deLhi Project editor Melanie Halton Art editor Ann Cannings Managing editor Sue Grabham Senior managing art editor Julia Harris Editorial consultant Lesley Newson Picture research Mollie Gillard, Samantha Nunn DTP designers Andrew O’Brien, Georgia Bryer Production Kate Oliver Revised Edition Managing editor Andrew Macintyre Managing art editor Jane Thomas Senior editor Kitty Blount Editor and reference compiler Sarah Phillips Art editor Andrew Nash Production Jenny Jacoby Picture research Bridget Tilly DTP Designer Siu Yin Ho Consultant David Glover U.S. editor Elizabeth Hester Senior editor Beth Sutinis Art director Dirk Kaufman Venetian U.S. production Chris Avgherinos blind twisted U.S. DTP designer Milos Orlovic by a tornado This Eyewitness ® Guide has been conceived by Dorling Kindersley Limited and Editions Gallimard This edition published in the United States in 2004 Storm by DK Publishing, Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 erupting on the Sun 08 10 9 8 7 Copyright © 2000, © 2004 Dorling Kindersley Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the Hurricane- prior written permission of the copyright owner. warning flags Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-13: 978-0-7566-0690-9 (PLC) ISBN-13: 978-0-7566-0689-3 (ALB) Color reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore Printed in China by Toppan Printing Co. (Shenzhen), Ltd. Discover more at Italian thermometer (1657) (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. Contents Icicle formation in Arizona 8 Weather folklore 10 Early forecasts 12 What is extreme weather? 14 Causes of extreme weather 16 Severe winds 18 44 Thunderous storms Polar extremes 20 46 Twisting tornadoes Weather watch 22 48 Tornado force Disaster relief 24 50 Lightning strikes Nature’s survivors 26 52 Hailstorms Climate change 28 54 Hurricane alert El Niño phenomenon 30 56 Hurricane horror Freaky conditions 32 58 Fog and smog Weather beyond Earth 34 60 High seas Did you know? 36 62 Snowstorms Timeline 38 64 Avalanche Find out more 40 66 Floods and landslides Glossary 42 72 Deadly droughts Index (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. Weather folklore I n ancient times, people had very little idea how the weather worked. Some realized that clouds were made of water, but they could not figure out where the wind came from, and did not understand the sun. Many believed that the gods made the weather, so weather mythology is often associated with religion. Others relied on guesses based on simple observations of plants, animals, or the sky to make forecasts. CONE WATCH Ideas and observations were handed down from generation to No one knows when people first noticed that pinecones open their generation, as sayings or stories, and some are very reliable. scales in dry air and close them when the air is humid. But because the air But only when we understand fully how the weather works normally becomes more humid can we predict it with any accuracy. Weather science began before rainfall, pinecones can be used to forecast wet weather. in ancient Greece, when philosophers tried to explain what caused the weather. Some of their ideas were correct, but they PHENOMENAL THINKERS did not test their theories, so Philosophers Aristotle and they were often wrong. Plato were among the first Detail from an Italian people to try to explain fresco showing Plato scientifically how the weather and Aristotle (1511) works. They lived about 2,400 years ago in ancient Greece, and wrote about cloud, hail, storm, and snow formation, and more unusual phenomena, such as sun haloes. Their ideas were very influential and were not challenged until about 2,000 years later. CRY FOR RAIN These Yali tribes members of New Guinea are performing a dance to call for rain. Without rain there will be no harvest. During part of this ritual, dancers carry grass, which is believed to pierce the eye of the sun, making it cry tears of rain. ANIMAL FORECASTS Many animals respond to changes in temperature, humidity, or atmospheric pressure. Roosters, for example, often crow, and mistlethrushes sing, just before a thunderstorm. Observing animal behavior can therefore be a useful way of making weather forecasts. (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. SUN WORSHIP Since the beginning of recorded history, many cultures have worshiped the sun. Stonehenge, in England, is one of many ancient sites thought to have been a place of sun worship. Some of the stones line up to the point where the sun rises on the summer solstice (the day the sun is at its highest in the sky). Stonehenge was built between WATCHING THE SKY An ancient Maori myth about 3000 bc and 1500 bc describes how the god of thunder and lightning, Tawhaki, went up to the sky disguised as a kite. Maori priests believed they could predict the weather by watching how kites, which they flew in Tawhaki’s honor, moved across the sky. Maori kite MAGIC CHARMS made of This figurehead from the Solomon Islands canvas would have been attached to the front of a and twigs canoe to ward off dangerous storms at sea. Many lucky charms, used by people to protect themselves against bad weather, are linked to gods or spirits. The charms may be hung from ceilings, placed in fireplaces, or worn as jewelery. STORMY TALE In the Shinto religion that originated in Japan, Amaterasu Omikami is the “divine being who lights up heaven.” Her brother is a storm god, and when he causes strong winds and floods, Amaterasu is so disappointed that she hides in a cave. This makes the Statue of world go dark, just as it seems to do during a storm. Mayan rain god, Bushy tailed squirrel Chac, used for FURRY TALE worship Some people believe that the bushier a squirrel’s tail during fall, the harsher the WEATHER SACRIFICE winter will be. According to legend, the Mayan rain god, There is no Chac, sent rain for the crops. But he also scientific evidence sent storms, which destroyed crops and that this idea is correct. flooded villages. People hoped that if they made offerings to Chac, the rains would continue to fall, but the storms would cease. (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. Early forecasts T he modern science of the weather is called meteorology. This science would not have been possible without discovering the Glass bulb behavior of the components – water, heat, and air – that make the weather. It was about 300 years ago that people first began to experiment scientifically with these elements. Through their experiments, they learned about UNDER PRESSURE In 1643, Italian physicist atmospheric pressure, which gases make up Evangelista Torricelli (1608–47) made the first barometer. He the air, and why water disappears as it filled a 3-ft- (1-m-) long glass evaporates. Early meteorologists invented a tube with mercury and placed it upside down in a bowl variety of crude measuring instruments that of mercury. The mercury allowed them to test their theories and devise column dropped to about 30 in (76 cm). Torricelli new ones. Two of the most important realized that it was the developments were the thermometer, weight, or pressure, of air on the mercury in the bowl that for measuring temperatures, and the stopped the mercury in the barometer, which measures atmospheric tube from falling farther. pressure. Another vital device is the MOVING MERCURY The inventor of this hygrometer, which measures humidity mercury barometer was – the concentration of water in the air. meteorologist Robert Fitzroy. His barometer has a Today, using sophisticated equipment, scale in inches to measure meteorologists can predict the arrival of the height of the mercury column. Nice weather is extreme weather conditions, such as forecast when atmospheric hurricanes, with great accuracy. pressure pushes the mercury column above 30 in (76 cm). Unsettled HIGH TEMPERATURE weather is likely when the Italian physicist Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) designed this mercury falls below thermoscope, an early thermometer, about 400 years ago. this measurement. It indicated changes in temperature but was unable to give exact readings. A long tube with a bulb at the end sat in a Fitzroy barometer flask of water. Air in the bulb expanded as the temperature rose causing the water level in the tube to drop. The air contracted as it became cooler, raising the water level. INVISIBLE WATER Air normally becomes very humid before a thunderstorm. The water in the air is an invisible vapor. You may not be able to see Flask would it, but you can measure it. This have been filled hygrometer, designed about 350 years with water ago, does just that. Water is absorbed from the air by the cotton bag, which becomes slightly heavier. The greater the humidity, Cotton bag the more the bag drops down. for absorbing moisture in the air Balancing weight made of glass A 19th-century reproduction of Galileo’s 17th-century original thermoscope balance hygrometer (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. 10 When the water level in the spout is high, air pressure is low, and storms can be expected Scorch marks on card Image of sun is reflected in the glass orb When working, the level of water in the weather glass would have been much higher PUSHING BOTH WAYS This weather glass is a simple Sunshine barometer. recorder Atmospheric FOCUSED pressure pushes MEASUREMENT down on the This glass ball focuses water in the arm of sunlight to a point that the sealed flask. The scorches the paper behind it. As air inside the flask the sun moves across the sky during the pushes in the other day, the trail of scorches record how the direction. As atmospheric amount of sunlight varies. When clouds pressure changes, the level of pass in front of the sun, light is scattered water in the glass arm rises in all directions, so there is not enough and falls. Before a storm, air sunlight to scorch the paper. pressure drops, and the water will rise farther up the arm. Thick needle aligns with the normal path of A QUESTION OF SCALE storms in the region When this thermometer was made, in 1657, there was no Thin needle indicates safe agreed scale for reading course away from the storm measurements. If you want to use a thermometer to take KEEPING AN EYE ON THE STORM accurate temperatures, rather Before radio warnings, sailors used this than just “hot” or “cold,” your clever device, called a barocyclonometer, thermometer needs a scale. to calculate the position of approaching Today, meteorologists use hurricanes. Cyclonic winds spiral at their two main scales to record center, where the atmospheric pressure is temperature – Celsius and very low. By measuring how atmospheric Fahrenheit. Both of these pressure and wind direction change, scales were invented in sailors could work out the general the 18th century. direction in which a hurricane was moving and steer their vessels to safety. Ornate thermometer made in Italy, 1657 HOTTING UP The long, spiraling tube of this glass thermometer is IT’S A GAS designed to save During the 1770s, space. When the French chemist Antoine temperature Lavoisier (1743–94) increases, water in made important the lower bulb discoveries about the expands, filling more atmosphere. He was the space in the spiral tube. first person to discover The higher the water level that the atmosphere is in the tube, the higher the a mixture of gases. temperature. He also found that hydrogen and oxgen combine to make water. (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. 11