Now armchair adventurers can find out about the physical, geological, and climatological conditions of the poles; their unique flora, fauna, and human inhabitants; the history of the greatest polar expeditions, the exciting scientific research being conducted there, and what changing climate conditions might mean to the future of this vast and fascinating realm.
The "AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America's Weather" is Jack Williams' sixth book.
He was the founding editor of the USA TODAY weather page in 1982 and took on additional duties as online weather editor when USATODAY.com was established in 1995. He retired from USA TODAY in 2005 and became the Coordinator of Public Outreach for the American Meteorological Society.
He wrote the "AMS Weather Book" while working for the AMS. He is now a freelance science writer, which includes writing the monthly "The Weather Never Sleeps" for Flight Training Magazine.
Williams' first book was the "USA TODAY Weather Book" with two editions, the first in 1991 and second in 1996.
His other books are: "The USA TODAY Weather Almanac" in 1993, co-author of "Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth" in 2001, with Dr. Bob Sheets, retired director of the National Hurricane Center, "The Complete Idiots Guide to the Arctic and Antarctic," in 2003, and co-author with Stephen Leatherman of "Hurricanes: Causes, Effects, and the Future
in 2008.
The AMS awarded Williams its "Louis J. Battan Author's Award" for the "Weather Book" in January 1994, and Williams and Sheets the same award in 2004 for "Hurricane Watch."
Williams became fascinated with weather in the late 1970s when he earned a private pilots license. At the time, he was a copy editor at the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y. He took courses in meteorology at the State University of New York College at Brockport, and began writing a weekly weather column for the Democrat and Chronicle, which is owned by Gannett Corp., Inc.
When Gannett decided in 1981 to look into publishing a new national newspaper to be known as USA TODAY, Williams was assigned to work with the editors and artists designing the new national newspaper. When the company decided to publish the paper in early 1982 Williams moved to the Washington, D.C. area as a member of the paper's founding staff.
At USA TODAY Williams reported on atmospheric and other sciences, incuding polar science beginning in 1997 when the National Science Foundation selected him to travel to Greenland to report from a research camp on the Ice Sheet. In 1999 he reported from Antarctica, where he became a pioneer blogger from the South Pole and other parts of Antarctica with his daily "trip diary" reports for USATODAY.com. Between 1999 and 2004 Williams made three more reporting trips to Greenland's Ice Sheet, and a research icebreaker sailing the Arctic Ocean. He also reported from flights into hurricanes aboard National Oceanic Administration WP-3 airplanes.
