Weather Books

Amazing photos. The nature can be just peacefull and complex at the same time.

I thought this book was so cute, perfect to read to children on a winter day. I bought 4 books to give to all my Grandchildren. I especially loved the illustrations, they are so cute, it makes you want to be there.

A charming book with loveable characters, a fun and amusing way for my grandchildren to learn and fast becoming another favourite.

I bought this book so that I had something winter-timeish to read to my 2 year old. It's excellent. She asks for it again and again. Milbourne even describes how snow forms at an appropriate age-level and in an appropriate way. It is a very good book and I highly recommend it! I would say that this book is for 2-6 or so. I'm not sure on that high end, maybe higher depending upon if they are reading it themselves. But, it's definately something for a 2 year old to grow with/into.

"Soggy Saturday" is a powerful and challenging piece of polemic, in which the author and renowned weather forecaster Phyllis Root shatters our perceptions of meteorology and leaves us questioning our faith and self-belief.
The reader is grabbed by the attention to detail and reasoned arguments displayed by Root as she points out that "sometimes on Saturdays the sun comes out". The hilarious anecdote about "that Saturday two Decembers ago when it snowed" will have you laughing out loud, and the touching third chapter - "one Saturday it got a bit foggy" - left this reviewer reaching for the Kleenex.
Fans of Root's previous work will not be disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed her last two books, "Saturated Sunday" and "Muggy Monday". "Soggy Saturday" is, essentially, more of the same, but when Root's compelling prose is as enjoyable as it is captivating, that really is no bad thing.
I hear she's already planning a sequel - "Wet Wednesday". I, for one, will be pre-ordering it as soon as possible.
Not to be missed.

Divided equally between Space Weather and Telecommunications, the author presents a non-mathematical view of the solar-terrestrial environment known as space weather and how it impacts radio communications of various types. This relationship is examined essentially for predicting and forecasting variability in communication outcomes. Emphasis throughout is on interpreting the numerous published scientific studies to better understand this impact.

The author writes chronologically and often describes his professional experiences as if recording a scientific journal or diary. Thus it is easy to follow the complex threads of physical science inquiry as he travels from meeting to meeting where other scientists also present their findings. One need not be a mathematician to interpret the meaning of a few dozen equations. A Bachelor's degree in Physics, a related science, or engineering will suffice to comprehend fully the concepts.

In the first part, attention is given to the Sun, the Magnetosphere and Geomagnetic storms, and the Ionosphere. There is an excellent summary of recent work in modeling and prediction and the author makes a point that "...we are now unfortunately faced with the job of predicting outcomes from models driven by parameters that also need to be predicted..." and continues on to address the uncertainty in this process. Readers engaged in the space weather field will find an excellent overview of the topic, which includes storm and ionospheric modeling, but few surprises. Attention is given to ionospheric layers, sporadic-E, solar flares, European Union COST Action models, and scintillation models. A significant feature of the first part is that the names and organizations of researchers are cited. This allows the reader to reach into the literature for additional technical details of this research most of which is recent or current.

The second part is devoted to studying propagation in the bands from ELF (<3 kHz) through EHF (30-300 GHz) which is essentially the entire real-world telecommunications spectrum. The growth in technology, including the extensive use of Global Positioning (GPS), suggests that this part has many innovations, particularly in the HF spectrum, in which the author makes the connection to space weather. Such well-known topics as waveguide, wave-hop, skywave, groundwave, skip and skip distance, ducting, scatter, OTH radar, MUF and LUF, scintillation in earth-space, Doppler shift, Faraday rotation, and absorption are examined. Attention is given to modeling of the scintillation channel along with mitigation schemes.

There are discussions of HF system performance models including: IONCAP, VOACAP, ICEPAC, ASAPS, and REC533. Because satellite communications is expanding, the author explores refraction, path delay errors, radiowave trajectory, phase and group path variation, Doppler shift, Faraday rotation, dispersion, Total Electron Content (TEC), diurnal variation of scintillation, and the global morphology of scintillation.

In the section entitled, "Space Weather Support for Systems," the focus shifts to military Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) requirements. Attention is given to such significant systems as: GLOBALink/HF, HFDL, FAA WAAS, and the benefits of space weather information. Considerable space is devoted to forecasting and prediction services and systems including NOAA, RWC Canada, RWC Australia, JPL, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Oxfordshire, England, RWC Warsaw & IDCE, RWC Brussels & SIDC, and military systems such as the Air Force Weather Agency at Scott AFB. Commercial services as NWRA, RPSI, and STD-Canada are also described.

Considerable space is devoted to research activities including the National Space Weather Program, Military Space Weather Involvement, and the international involvement of COST Actions, the European Space Agency, Sweden, France, Japan, Canada, and Australia. Also discussed is the work of URSI, COSPAR, SCOSTEP, ITU-R, NCEP, and CSWIG. Finally, the activities of CEDAR, GEM, SHINE, CISM, and CAWSES are outlined. Sufficient information is provided to give the reader a good understanding of each project without exhaustive explanations of the technical details.

The Epilogue consists mainly of a lengthy dialog between Dr.Ernest Hildner, Director of the NOAA Space Environment Center at Boulder, CO, and Dr. Goodman (author) worthy of analysis. It closes with an 11-page list of acronyms which is very valuable in cutting through the terminology fog.

The volume includes a number of reference lists which identify the most recent studies supported by many tables and figures which illustrate the text.

The author has drawn heavily on his more than three decades of research (1960-1991) at the Naval Research Laboratory in Anacostia for this volume. The reviewer was stationed at NRL during 1945 and is aware of the significance of the experiments conducted there during its long history.

Dr. Goodman has produced a book which is readable and presents a comprehensive up-to-date overview of the relationship of space weather and the telecommunications field. Written primarily for physical science specialists and engineers it also will be useful to licensed amateur radio operators engaged in voice, CW, and data communications who must deal with the practical impact of propagation every time they are on the air.

Leonard C. Silvern
Systems Engineering Laboratories
Clarkdale, AZ

This is Spring for the eyes! Ms Stead captures the vibrancy of the season in her richly saturated color pallet, the break-free energy of the first outdoor days of Spring in the faces of the kids and her charming creatures. A delight for any reader.

"Spring's Promise" contains four short inspirational romance stories. Gloria Brandt's "E-Love" combines love and the Internet. "The Garden Plot" by Rebecca Germany deals with gardens and relationships. Tracie's Peterson's "Stormy Weather" bursts with not only lightening but also with electricity. "Bride to Be" by Debra White Smith takes the reader down the aisle with the question of Mr. Right. All four stories take place during the season of Spring. You will not be disappointed with this book. I have read and re-read all stories over and over. All stories embrace Christian faith, love and marriage, but without losing the romance of the stories. If you like this book, you will also enjoy "Spring's Memory"; it also contains four inspirational romances. I highly recommend this book!

This is a instant SRV classic. Most of the songs are in E flat or 1/2 step down tuning. Both Guitar tab and notation are used on every song in the book. There are also four black and white pictures of Stevie playing guitar live.

There have been enormous number of books with dynamic and/or statistical approach to climate variations. This book is the first scientific monograph where climate variability is being viewed through stochastic theory.

The author starts with the very basic things of stochastic theory processes in climate applications so that I can recommend this book for a reader of any background. If you are really curious about different approach to how climatic system might work - this book is a must to read. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, you can discover many new things about climate variability, as I did. It's not an easy reading (it's not supposed to be!) and I found numerous figures and graphs to be really helpful.

My recommendation: whethere you deal with climate as professional, or you are just curious about it - read this book carefully and you'll appreciate it.