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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular! I wish I had written it, January 27, 2005
This review is from: Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book (Paperback)
This is the book a weather nut like me wished he had thought to write first. Great maps and photos, tables of data, and he asks for corrections, publishing them, with updates, at www.extremeweatherguide.com .
The photos, such as Lincoln, NE, summer 1936, are spectacular, as are his colored maps of everything (wettest and driest spots by state is one example).
He even has NYC data from the mid 19th Century, with "the day that never got above zero" Now that takes some hunting to dig up.
A great gift, as well as a wonderful resource. All libraries, as well as anyone interested in the weather should have a copy.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A terrific reference, September 1, 2005
This review is from: Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book (Paperback)
This is a wonderful book on weather. And the extreme values it gives are actually fairly interesting and fun to read about. Besides, we all like to know if we're in the middle of truly unusual weather.
The book starts with heat records for every state, both absolute maximums and July averages. As well as maps showing number of days with 90-degree (Fahrenheit) or higher temperatures. We learn about temperature-humidity indexes, heat waves, and even heat bursts. As well as extremes in temperature ranges. There's information about heat extremes in foreign countries as well.
Next we get to cold weather! Heat records for every state, both absolute minimums and January averages. Cold waves. Wind chill. And international extremes. Did you know that near Lake Vostok, in Antarctica, the temperature once reached minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit? Brrrr!
We learn about the snowiest cities. And then we get to rainfall records for a big bunch of American cities. There are also records for varying amounts of time. What's the record for rainfall in 30 minutes? It's over 11 inches! And it fell in Sikeshugou, China. And there's material about floods, thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes. As well as wind and fog!
There is a fascinating chapter on hurricanes. I vividly remember Hurricane Carol, which struck in August of 1954. And there's a picture of Providence, Rhode Island, after it was hit by the storm surge from that hurricane. There is also an excellent map of the American Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean coasts, with probabilities per year of being hit by a hurricane, as well as probabilities of being hit by 125 mile-per-hour winds or greater. The five areas that in 2004 that were "overdue" for a hurricane are listed. Of course, as any technical person knows, being "overdue" for a storm does not increase the chance of being hit, if anything, it decreases it. But it does imply that one may be less prepared for one when it does hit. New Orleans is listed as one of the five areas (it was hit by Betsy in 1965 and not hit again until Katrina in 2005). The book explains that the dikes protecting downtown New Orleans, including the French Quarter, from the water in Lake Pontchartrain would almost certainly be overwhelmed by a Category 4 or 5 storm surge. And that if they were, much of that area could be swamped under 20 feet of water. I wish that more people with the responsibility for protecting the city of New Orleans (or voting for its protection) had been more aware of this, so that some of the damage caused by Katrina might have been lessened.
I highly recommend this book.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Extreme Weather Reference Book, October 18, 2004
This review is from: Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book (Paperback)
This is well written with a wealth of easy-to-understand graphics and tables. It is divided into 8 parts: Heat & Drought, Cold, Snow & Ice, Rain & Floods, Thunderstorms & Hail, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Windstorms, Fog and El Niño-Southern Oscillatiion. Appendices include maps, records and conversion tables.
This is a wealth of information, often shown as very useful maps. The book will have to be updated as information is only presented in pre-1865 inch-pound measuring units and not the US system of measurement, SI or "metric" units. The author presents means and extremes in every category, world wide, complete with anecdotes of luminous snowfall and tornadoes, lightning pranks, heat and cold, storminess, maximum aridity and precipitation. This is not the "end all, be all," but pulls together information that is otherwise scattered in academic texts not normally available to the general public.
Emphasis is on the US and North America. There is no discussion of effective moisture (Index of Moisture, precipitation compared to the climatic demand for moisture, potential and actual evapotranspiration). Recent severe blizzards are chronicled, but a "blizzard" is never defined. Föen or chinook winds are discussed for Colorado and Utah, but ignored for Sierra Nevada and Cascades of WA, OR and CA.
The author points out 1) records will always be broken and 2) unprecedented events do not presage extraordinary explanations. These are two thoughts that should be on the wall of every television, radio, newspaper, magazine and internet weathercaster. This book is a fun read and very handy to have close by.
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