How's The Weather?: Find Your Outdoors Comfort Paradise in the U.S. [Paperback]

James L. Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2002

How's The Weather? contains numerous contour (isoline) charts and tables to express "outdoors leisure thermal comfort" data for more than 300 cities within the 50 states. Thermal comfort, referred to throughout the book as "Predicted Mean Vote" (PMV), is computed from up to 50 years of historical dew point and ambient temperature climate data as recorded by the Federal Climate Complex, Asheville, North Carolina. The PMV comfort scale is based on the work of Dr. P.O. Fanger and employs a simple-to-understand index.

Also, the book provides comprehensive tables of average monthly precipitation and snow depth -- these tables, together with thermal comfort information, enable the traveler to plan for optimum weather conditions for virtually any region and time of year.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... book is set up, it is never out of date. That was apparently a major focus of author ... -- The Recreation Advisor, March 1, 2002

... greatest threats to an enjoyable vacation is inclement weather. ... a series of readable tables for a nonscientific audience. -- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, April 2002

The book is designed to use historical climate data, so readers can plan travel with a more complete understanding ... -- Weatherwise, May/June, 2002

This guide is designed to help vacationers, retirees, wedding planners -- anyone planning to travel or spend time outdoors ... -- REFERENCE & RESEARCH BOOK NEWS, May 2002

This resource book enables the reader to conveniently evaluate the comfort conditons at his or her destination site ... -- Western RV News, March 1, 2002

From the Publisher

How's The Weather? is virtually a one-source travel planning guide to enable the vacationer to locate his or her ideal "outdoors thermal comfort paradise" within the United States -- at any time of year.

The book can be used in two modes:

(1) Most significantly, extensive charts and tables representing thermal comfort data (based on up to 50-year averages) for more than 300 cities directly enable advance travel planning.

(2) In addition, instaneously available dew point and air temperature information from radio, TV or the Internet can be converted by table into thermal comfort.

Moreover, tables of historical precipitation and snow depth data supplement the thermal comfort charts and tables; thereby, contributing to an overall picture of the expected weather conditions.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ask Analytic Services Inc (January 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097031230X
• ISBN-13: 978-0970312303
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,979,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating book for meteorology buffs, March 12, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How's The Weather?: Find Your Outdoors Comfort Paradise in the U.S. (Paperback)

How's The Weather?: Find Your Outdoors Comfort Paradise In The U.S. is a handy, practical, guide to selecting the right locale for a picnic, a weekend outing, two week's vacation, or any other recreational getaway so as not to have outdoor entertainment spoiled by a run of bad weather. Historical U.S. climate data is compiled and distilled in a format accessible to the lay reader. Judging weather is an imprecise science and does require some understanding of mathematical analysis, at least if one is using the formulas and data presented here. Overall however, you will not find a guide that takes such a complex subject as meteorology and distills it down into a simpler set of rules and guidelines than this one, at least not without sacrificing accuracy. How's The Weather? is a fascinating book for meteorology buffs as well as the non-specialist general reader trying to plan their vacation anywhere in the U.S.

4.0 out of 5 stars A great guide for planning vacations, April 16, 2011

By 

Joseph L. Bast (Illinois, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How's The Weather?: Find Your Outdoors Comfort Paradise in the U.S. (Paperback)

Those of us from northern states (I'm from Wisconsin) are often only dimly aware of weather patterns in other parts of the country. We assume "the South" is hot most of the time, "the West" is dry, and "the East" is pretty much the same as we are just worse ... hotter in the summer, colder and damper in the winter.

This creates a problem when we plan our vacations. What's the weather like in Florida in March, compared to July? Or Arizona in December compared to May? "How's the Weather" is intended to answer those questions, and it does so with astonishing precision. The author constructs a "comfort index" that takes into account temperature and humidity, sets "perfect" equal to zero, and draws isoline contour maps to show how far from perfect every part of the country is in any given month. Later in the book, tables present average temperature and precipitation for more than 300 cities for every month.

The book ends with some discussion of discussion of some scientific and weather issues that are "off the beaten path," including a very good and precise discussion of climate change. The book itself is oversized, nicely bound so it stays open while in use, and has some clever writing. Anyone who is a weather fanatic will have to have a copy of this book.