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WeatherShop's TOP PICK
The USA TODAY Weather Book by Jack Williams. Explains
the basics of meteorology with text and the kind of colorful
graphics that have become USA TODAY's trademark. The American
Meteorological Society (AMS) awarded Williams its Louis J. Battan
Author's Award for the book in January 1994. The AMS and many
scientists have commented on the book's scientific accuracy and the
AMS is using it in its education program. It is an easy to read book
with lots of colorful 3D illustrations that have no equal anywhere.
Suitable for ages 8 through adults.
If you only buy one book about weather in your lifetime, buy this
one! You won't be disappointed.
List Price: $20.00
Our Price: $14.28
Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours. |
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Basic
and Beginner Meteorology |
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The Audubon Society Field Guide to North
American Weather by David M. Ludlum can be used to
identify clouds and other sky phenomena in much the way a field
guide to birds is used. A key, using symbols representative of
phenomena such as cumulus clouds or rainbows, guides readers through
the book's 378 photographs. The pages to turn to for textual
information are listed with each photo. The Guide would
make a good supplement to any of the other general interest books
listed here. List
Price: $19.95
Our Price: $13.97
Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours. |
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The Handy Weather Answer Book
by Dr. Walter A. Lyons Dr. Lyons and I (Anthony
Watts) go back a few years. He's always been a very practical
guy, and he did a wonderful job as an on-air TV meteorologist in
Minneapolis explaining weather to his viewers. This book is much
like that, simple, sensible answers to sometimes hard to explain
weather and meteorological phenomena. Perhaps a bit light on
illustrations, but certainly a good reference to have when you just
want to get a few questions answered in a short time.
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $13.97
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Paperback - 397 pages (October 1996) |
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Weather-
Facts on File Series |
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Blizzards (Facts on File
Dangerous Weather Series) by
Michael Allaby A pictorial book for young adults and adults
who prefer light reading, this book examines the hows and whys of
some of the worst winter weather, historical storms of the past,
plus has nicely illustrated diagrams showing how storms form, lake
effect snows cause heavy snowfall downwind, and how ice storms form.
Lots of photographs and drawings.
Our Price: $35.00
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Hardcover - 128 pages (December 1997) |
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A Chronology of Weather
(Facts on File Dangerous Weather
Series) by Michael
Allaby A pictorial book for young adults and
adults who prefer light reading, this book examines the hows and
whys of weather,climate, forecasting, and severe weather plus has
nicely illustrated diagrams showing how storms form, weather is
measured and forecasted and also how severe weather is tracked with
Doppler radar. Lots of photographs and drawings.
Our Price: $35.00
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Hardcover - 128 pages (December 1997) |
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Droughts (Facts
on File Dangerous Weather Series) by
Michael Allaby A pictorial book for young adults
and adults who prefer light reading, this book tells why geography
and climate conspire to create droughts and deserts. It also
explores weather cycles like El Nino and La Nina and their
contribution to periodic droughts. Lots of photographs and
drawings.
Our Price: $35.00
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Hardcover - 128 pages (March 1998) |
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Hurricanes
(Facts on File Dangerous Weather
Series) by Michael
Allaby A pictorial book for young adults and
adults who prefer light reading, this book explores the high drama
world of hurricane chasing in hurricane hunter planes, the science
behind hurricane forecasting, and the human toll left by these
storms. Also includes info on the "big ones" like Andrew
and Camille plus hurricane tracks through history. Lots of
photographs and drawings.
Our Price: $35.00
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Hardcover - 128 pages (June 1997) |
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Tornadoes (Facts on
File Dangerous Weather Series) by
Michael Allaby A book for young adults and adults
who prefer light reading. If you've ever watched the evening news
and seen tornado damage in amazement. you'll want to read this book.
Everything from making your own twister in a bottle to tracking
tornadoes with NEXRAD Doppler Radar. Learn about Tornado Chasers and
how they find twisters. Some science facts can be a bit over younger
readers.
Our Price: $35.00
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Hardcover - 128 pages June 1997) |
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Tornadoes Can Make It Rain Crabs
: Weird Facts About the World's Worst Disasters : A Weird-But-True
Book (Strange World)
by Melvin
Berger, Gilda
Berger (Contributor), Robert
Roper (Illustrator) A collection of bizarre facts about
natural disasters includes lesser-known tidbits about tidal waves,
earthquakes, volcanoes, lightning strikes, and the sinking of the Titanic.
A fun book for children that like science and weather- the low
price makes it a great birthday or holiday gift.
Availability: This title usually ships in 1-2 business days.
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback (August 1997) |
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Clouds in a Glass of Beer
and What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks
by Craig F. Bohren are delightful introductions to atmospheric
phenomena and scientific thinking. Bohren uses simple
"experiments" such as sprinkling salt in beer to create
bubbles to explain aspects of how the atmosphere works. Along the
way, he uses experiments and sound scientific thinking to demolish
ideas such as the old saw that humid, cold days are more
uncomfortable than dry, cold days. Borhen goes to the basics of
physics to explain phenomena such as dew on the grass or why car
headlights, unlike other electric lights, don't go out immediately
when you turn them off. (everything in his books isn't directly
related to weather) Both books also offer many simple experiments,
such as measuring the temperature at which water boils to determine
the height of the top of a hill. His introduction to The Doppler
Effect is a good way to begin understanding how Doppler radar works. |
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Skywatch: The Western Weather Guide
by Richard A. Keen is, as the title says, a guide to the weather of
the U.S. West. But, in order to explain the Chinook winds of the
Rockies or the dryness of Death Valley, Calif., Keen first outlines
the basics of meteorology. This he does with an easy style that
illuminates without blinding the reader with details. The book is
one of the few available with information on the rare tropical
storms that have affected the West Coast. |
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Skywatch East: A Weather Guide
by Richard A. Keen followed his book on western weather. While it
has a focus on the East, it also covers the basics of meteorology.
It includes some of the same material as his earlier work but also
has additional information, including a chapter on how to observe
the weather.
Our Price: $19.95
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days. |
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| Advanced
Meteorology |
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Atmospheric Science: An Introductory
Survey by John Wallace and Pater V. Hobbs presents the
basics of meteorology in more detail than texts aimed at non
scientists. A knowledge of calculus and college physics is really
necessary to understand the book. It is a good choice for scientists
or engineers in other fields who want, or need, to learn the basics
of meteorology. The basic formulas in meteorology are derived and
explained.
Our Price: $74.00
Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours. |
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| Climate
and climate change |
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The Changing Atmosphere: A Global
Challenge by John Firor is a good, brief overview of
the questions about climate change and ozone depletion. The American
Meteorological Society awarded Firor its 1993 Louis J. Battan
Author's Award for this book. Firor, who is director of the Advanced
Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, not
only describes aspects of the atmosphere but how scientists use
methods such as computer modeling to understand what's going on. Our
Price: $13.95
Availability: This title usually ships within 3-4 days.
Paperback Reprint edition (August 1992) |
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Riddle of the Ice: A Scientific Adventure
into the Arctic by Myron Arms. Scientists have good
reason to think that the interactions among the Atlantic Ocean, the
Arctic's sea ice, Greenland's ice cap and the atmosphere in the
Labrador Sea and Davis Strait between Greenland and Canada are key
players in the climate of the entire Earth. The author takes us on a
journey to this region in a 50-foot sailboat, blending the events of
the journey with reports of what he's learned from climate
scientists. What would otherwise be abstract climate theory becomes
as real to readers as the icebergs encountered in the Davis Strait.
The book's excellent notes and bibliography are a good guide to
anyone interested in pursuing the topics covered.
Availability:
This title usually ships within 1-2 business days.
Hardcover - 288 pages 1 Anchor edition (February 1998) |
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Currents of Change: El Niño's Impact on
Climate and Society by Michael H. Glantz. This is the
best introduction to El Niño available. Glantz covers the basics of
the science, but the focus is on how scientists built our current
understanding of El Niño by discovering over the years how events
around the Pacific and in other parts of the world were all
connected; how they are all part of what we now call El Niño. The
book is also a good source of information on the consequences of El
Niño and how societies are responding. Since it was published in
1996, it of course does not include the big 1997-98 El Niño. Our
Price: $21.95
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Paperback - 194 pages (October 1996) |
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Storms
and Severe Weather |
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All About Lightning by
Martin A. Uman uses questions such as "Does lightning always
strike the tallest object?" to cover the basics of lightning
and its effects. The book should answer just about any question that
anyone but an advanced student of the topic has about lightning.
And, for those who want more advanced knowledge, Uman offers an
extensive listing of articles and books. This book is probably the
best way to begin learning about lightning.
Our Price: $7.95
Availability: This title usually ships within 24 hours.
Paperback - 167 pages (December 1986) |
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Twister: The Science of Tornadoes and the
Making of an Adventure Movie by Keay Davidson. This
1996 book as a little bit about the making of the movie Twister
and a lot of good, solid information about tornadoes, including the
history of tornadoes and of the scientific understanding of
tornadoes. It's by far the best book available about tornadoes.
Our Price: $19.95
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-4 days.
Paperback - 202 pages (June 1996) |
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Looking
at the sky |
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Rainbows, Halos, and Glories
by Robert Greenler explains what causes many of the different kinds
of light phenomena in the sky. These include common sights such as
rainbows and rare kinds of arcs and mirages. A high-school level
knowledge of basic geometry would be helpful in understanding the
book. If nothing else, reading this book should encourage readers to
look up and see things such as halos that are relatively common but
that most people never notice.
Availability:
This title usually ships within 1-2 business days. |
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Lightning!
: And Thunderstorms (The Weather Channel)
by Mike
Graf
Lots of easy to understand diagrams and pictures.
OUT OF PRINT -
Limited Availability
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Weather
Forecasting |
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The Essence of Chaos by
Edward N. Lorenz is an introduction to the topic by the scientist
who "discovered" chaos. Lorenz's idea has become key to
theories of weather forecasting and to other sciences. A brief
description of how Lorenz began the chain of thinking that led to
the chaos theory and its implications for weather forecasting is in
the forecasting chapter of The USA TODAY Weather Book. In
his own book, Lorenz describes his work and its implications. The
book is based on a series of lectures Lorenz gave at the University
of Washington. Often it's said that one idea from chaos theory is
"the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil can set off a
tornado in Texas." Lorenz's discussion of what this means, and
doesn't mean, is enlightening. List
Price: $13.37
Our Price: $10.70
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hours. |
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The Weather Revolution by
Jack Fishman and Robert Kalish explains how technologies such as
super computers, satellites and Doppler radar are improving weather
forecasts. While the authors include some explanations of weather,
readers with some meteorological background will have an easier time
reading the book. Still, Weather Revolution is intended for
general readers and no mathematical equations are used. Along with
describing how the new technologies are used, the authors give brief
histories. One of the most interesting of these is the story of how
Lewis F. Richardson developed some of the key concepts used in
computer forecasting during and immediately after World War I, long
before computers were invented. |
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| Winter
Weather |
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The Avalanche Handbook by
David McClung and Peter Schaerer is the guide to avalanches. The
book covers the weather and snow conditions that set the stage for
avalanches. It describes what happens during various kinds of
avalanches and has chapters on forecasting, safety and protection.
The book would be especially useful to anyone who goes skiing in the
back country - away from ski areas. It is also a good introduction
to what happens to snow after it falls and would be of interest to
anyone who likes wintry weather. List
Price: $19.95
Our Price: $13.97
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-4 days. |
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Winter: An Ecological Handbook
by James C. Halfpenny and Roy Douglas Ozanne answers, in detail, how
plants, animals and even insects survive in cold and snow. While the
book goes into scientific detail in places, it doesn't require a
great deal of specialized knowledge to understand. A large section
of "People and Winter" has important information for
anyone who ventures out into cold and snow. This section includes
one of the most extensive discussions of wind chill available
outside highly technical publications. The final chapter
"Experiencing Winter," describes several scientific
experiments that teachers or parents could use to get students
outdoors and into science. List
Price: $16.95
Our Price: $11.87
Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days.
Paperback - 273 pages 1st Ed. edition (December 1989) |
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| Weather
Videos |
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Eyewitness:Weather (1996)
Experiments and fun concepts
Our Price: $12.95
Availability: This title usually ships within 5-6 days. |
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Nova - Hurricane!
Our Price: $19.95
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Nova - Tornado! (1985)
Our Price: $19.95
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Twister (the
movie)
Our Price: $9.94
Widescreen
Availability: This title usually ships within 3-4 days.
Rated: 
Starring: Helen
Hunt, Bill
Paxton, et al.
Director: Jan
De Bont |
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Twister (DVD)
Availability: Usually ships within
1-2 days.
Edition Details:
• NTSC format (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, THX, HiFi Sound,
Surround Sound, Digital Sound
• ASIN: 6304184832
Other Formats: VHS,
VHS
subtitled in Spanish, DVD |
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Killer Twisters
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Nova: Lightning
Our Price: $19.95
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Raging Planet - Flood
Availability: Currently Unavailable. |
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Raging Planet -
Lightning (1998)
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days. |
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Raging Planet -
Hurricane
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Raging Planet -
Tornado
Availability: Currently unavailable. |
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Raging Planet -
Tidal Wave (1997)
Availability: Usually ships within 1-2 business days. |
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