WEATHER AND CLIMATE Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella. ~Pepper Giardino

WEATHER IS THE COLLECTION OF FACTORS THAT DESCRIBE THE ATMOSPHERE AT ANY GIVEN TIME. THESE INCLUDE TEMPERATURE, BAROMETRIC PRESSURE, WIND DIRECTION, WIND VELOCITY, PRECIPITATION, RELATIVE HUMIDITY, WIND CHILL, CLOUD TYPE, CLOUD COVER, SUNSHINE, ETC. CLIMATE IS WEATHER AVERAGED OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME IN A GIVEN REGION. IT’S WHAT WE WOULD EXPECT THE WEATHER TO BE LIKE FROM YEAR TO YEAR.

HUMANS HAVE BEEN INTERESTED IN THE WEATHER SINCE THERE WERE HUMANS. BEFORE WE KNEW MUCH ABOUT THE WEATHER, IT PLAYED A PART IN RELEGION. ZEUS WAS THE GREEK GOD OF LIGHTNING. INDRA WAS THE HINDU GODDESS OF THUNDERSTORMS. THE PRIESTS WERE THE SCIENTISTS OF THEIR DAY, AND PEOPLE LOOKED TO THEM FOR HELP WITH THE WEATHER.

HUMANS BEGAN TO SEE PATTERNS IN THE WEATHER BY OBSERVING IT DAILY OVER LONG PERIODS OF TIME. SAILORS AND FARMERS BEGAN TO LOOK FOR SIGNS THAT WOULD HELP TELL THEM WHAT THE WEATHER WOULD BE. IN THE 17TH CENTURY, SEVERAL INSTRUMENTS WERE INVENTED THAT WOULD HELP - THE THERMOMETER, THE BAROMETER, AND THE HYGROMETER.

THOMAS JEFFERSON STARTED MAKING DAILY WEATHER OBSERVATONS FROM THE TIME OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENCENCE IN 1776 UNTIL HIS DEATH 50 YEARS LATER. HE THOUGHT THAT THE LARGE NUMBER OF NEW SETTLERS IN AMERICA MIGHT BE CHANGING THE CLIMATE AND URGED THAT A NETWORK OF WEATHER OBSERVATORIES BE SET UP. IN THE 1850’S WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEGRAPH NETWORKS, WEATHER DATA COULD BE COLLECTED FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY.

BY THE 1880’S THE U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS OPERATED 154 WEATHER STATIONS NATIONWIDE AND SENT WEATHER DATA TO WASHINGTON, DC THREE TIMES A DAY BY TELEGRAPH. SOME OF THE STATIONS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR SENDING WEATHER INDICATORS OUT TO THE SURROUNDING AREAS. FOR EXAMPLE, THE STATION AT ST. PAUL, MN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR SENDING OUT WARNINGS OF COLD WAVES AND BLIZZARDS TO THE NORTHERN PLAINS. HOWEVER, THIS INFORMATION WAS TRANSMITTED BY TELEGRAPH, SO ONLY PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN COMMUNITIES ALONG RAILROAD TRACKS WOULD GET THE INFORMATION. OFTEN, THIS WOULD BE IN THE NEXT DAY’S PAPER.

ON JANUARY 12, 1888 A MAJOR BLIZZARD HIT THE PLAINS. WARM, MOIST AIR HAD MOVED UP FROM THE GULF, AND IT COLLIDED WITH AN ARTIC COLD FRONT MOVING DOWN FROM THE NORTH. THE DAY HAD STARTED OFF RELATIVELY WARM, SO PEOPLE WERE OUTSIDE WORKING THEIR FARMS, AND CHILDREN WERE IN SCHOOL. WHEN THE STORM HIT, TEMPERATURES DROPPED BY AROUND 40 o F. WINDS BLEW AT 40 MPH, AND THE SNOW DROPPED VISIBILITY TO A FEW FEET. THE STORM HIT NEBRASKA BETWEEN 2 AND 3 PM. BETWEEN 250 AND 500 PEOPLE DIED – MANY OF THEM WERE CHILDREN. THE STORM IS KNOWN AS “THE CHILDREN’S BLIZZARD.”

TRAIN STALLED AS A RESULT OF THE BLIZZARD

ANOTHER BIG BLIZZARD TOOK PLACE THAT SAME YEAR – MARCH, A HUGE NORTHEASTER MOVED UP THE COAST HITTING NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND WITH HEAVY SNOW AND HIGH WINDS.

SINCE THE STORM MOVED UP OFF SHORE, NO ONE WAS ABLE TO PREDICT IT. AN ESTIMATED 300 PEOPLE IN NYC LOST THEIR LIVES. ABOUT 200 SHIPS WERE SUNK AND NEARLY 100 LIVES WERE LOST AT SEA. ANOTHER UNFORSEEN WEATHER EVENT WE WILL DISCUSS LATER IS THE 1900 GALVESTON HURRICANE IN WHICH 6,000 PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES.

RADIO IMPROVED THIS. RADAR WAS INTRODUCED DURING WORLD WAR 2, AND THIS ALLOWED METEOROLOGISTS TO WATCH THE DEVELOPMENT OF WEATHER. IN THE 1970’S WEATHER SATELLITES ADDED TO THE TOOLS, AND WEATHER COULD BE INSTANTLY OBSERVED OVER LARGE AREAS. SUPER COMPUTERS ADDED TO THE ABILITY TO MAKE MORE ACCURATE PREDICTIONS.

WEATHER IS THE MOVEMENT OF AIR MASSES DRIVEN BY THE SUN. EACH OF THESE AIR MASSES ARE AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES AND CONTAIN DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF MOISTURE. ONE AIR MASS WILL INFLUENCE AND BE INFLUENCED BY OTHER AIR MASSES. IT IS A VERY COMPLEX SYSTEM. SO COMPLEX THAT CHAOS THEORY TALKS ABOUT THE “BUTTERFLY EFFECT.”

ALL WEATHER TAKES PLACE IN THE TROPOSPHERE. THE TROPOSPHERE IS 10 TO 14 KM HIGH. IT CONTAINS ABOUT 75% OF THE MASS OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND 99% OF THE WATER VAPOR.

THIS ENERGY IS NOT EQUALLY DISTRIBUTED OVER THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. THE EARTH’S AXIS IS TILTED AT 23.5 o RELATIVE TO OUR ORBIT ABOUT THE SUN.

THIS GIVES US OUR SEASONS.

DIFFERENTIAL HEATING ALSO LEADS TO WINDS AND WIND PATTERNS ON BOTH A LOCAL AND A GLOBAL LEVEL.

CORIOLIS EFFECT CAUSES WINDS TO BEND TO THE RIGHT IN THE NORTHEN HEMISPHERE AND TO THE LEFT IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.