Portal:Weather

The weather portal

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers to day-to-day temperature, precipitation, and other atmospheric conditions, whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is generally understood to mean the weather of Earth.

Weather is driven by air pressure, temperature, and moisture differences between one place and another. These differences can occur due to the Sun's angle at any particular spot, which varies with latitude. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the largest scale atmospheric circulations: the Hadley cell, the Ferrel cell, the polar cell, and the jet stream. Weather systems in the middle latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet streamflow. Because Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane (called the ecliptic), sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year. On Earth's surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C (−40 °F to 104 °F) annually. Over thousands of years, changes in Earth's orbit can affect the amount and distribution of solar energy received by Earth, thus influencing long-term climate and global climate change.

Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences. Higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes, as most atmospheric heating is due to contact with the Earth's surface while radiative losses to space are mostly constant. Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. Earth's weather system is a chaotic system; as a result, small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as a whole. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout history, and there is evidence that human activities such as agriculture and industry have modified weather patterns.

Studying how the weather works on other planets has been helpful in understanding how weather works on Earth. A famous landmark in the Solar System, Jupiter's Great Red Spot, is an anticyclonic storm known to have existed for at least 300 years. However, the weather is not limited to planetary bodies. A star's corona is constantly being lost to space, creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the Solar System. The movement of mass ejected from the Sun is known as the solar wind. (Full article...)

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Hurricane Vince was an unusual hurricane which developed in the northeastern Atlantic basin. Forming in October during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, the waters over which it developed were considered too cold for tropical development. Vince was the 20th named tropical cyclone and 12th hurricane of the extremely active season. Vince developed from a non-tropical system on October 8, becoming a subtropical storm southeast of the Azores. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) did not officially name the storm until the next day, shortly before Vince became a hurricane. The storm weakened at sea and, on October 11, made landfall on the Iberian Peninsula as a tropical depression. Vince was the first tropical system to do so since the 1842 Spain hurricane. It dissipated over Spain, bringing much needed rain to the region, and its remnants passed into the Mediterranean Sea...

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... that state representative Karl Bohnak, referring to his former profession, said that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was one of the most challenging places in the U.S. to forecast the weather?
... that the apricot dress of Jacqueline Kennedy kept its shape in India's hot weather?
... that Come In was recorded on a hands-free microphone attached to a pair of headphones?
... that weather whiplash is the phenomenon of rapid swings between extremes of weather conditions?
... that in the 1980s, "Sherman Bonner, The Human Thermometer" presented the weather on an Arkansas TV station?
... that MyRadar uses a custom satellite constellation to help forecast the weather?

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This dust storm occurred around Spearman, Texas on April 14, 1935. This was in the heart of the Dust Bowl, a period of severe dust storms and drought, which contributed to the Great Depression in the United States.

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...that the Flying river is the name given to the transport of water vapor from the Amazon rainforest to southern Brazil?

...that hurricane shutters are required for all homes in Florida unless impact-resistant glass is used?

...that the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research is a combined weather and ocean research institute with the cooperation of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the University of Hawaiʻi?

...that the SS Central America was sunk by a hurricane while carrying more than 30,000 pounds (13,600 kg) of gold, contributing to the Panic of 1857?

...that a hurricane force wind warning is issued by the United States National Weather Service for storms that are not tropical cyclones but are expected to produce hurricane-force winds (65 knots (75 mph; 120 km/h) or higher)?

...that the Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System is a software package for tropical cyclone forecasting developed in 1988 that is still used today by meteorologists in various branches of the US Government?

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Recent and ongoing weather

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This week in weather history...

March 29

1998: A supercell dropped 13 tornadoes across southern Minnesota, killing two people in the state's earliest tornado outbreak on record.

March 30

1915: Herbert Riehl, a meteorologist known for his work on the importance of hot towers in tropical meteorology, was born in Munich, Germany.

March 31

2007: Major flooding reached its peak in Argentina's coastal region. Five people were killed in the week-long flood.

April 1

1945: The Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai, India, was formed.

April 2

2006: A tornado outbreak killed 28 people in the Central United States.

April 3

1974: The Super Outbreak, one of the most severe tornado outbreaks in world history, spawned 148 tornadoes, including 30 violent tornadoes, in the east-central United States and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. More than 300 people were killed, and $3.5 billion (2005 USD) in damage was reported.

April 4

1981: A violent tornado formed from an unusually weak storm in West Bend, Wisconsin. No tornado warning was issued due to the seemingly weak nature of the storm, and three people were killed.

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Johannes Peter Letzmann (19 July 1885 – 21 May 1971) was an Estonian meteorologist, and a pioneering tornado researcher. His prolific output related to severe storms concepts included: developing tornado damage studies, atmospheric vortices, theoretical studies and laboratory simulations, tornado case studies, and observation programs. It generated extensive analysis techniques and insights on tornadoes at a time when there was still very little research on the subject in the United States. (Full article...)

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Tropical Storm Ileana (2018) (Discussion)

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Featured Article Review: 2005 Atlantic hurricane season (Discussion)
Featured List Removal Candidate: List of storms in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season (Discussion)

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WikiProjects

The scope of WikiProject Weather is to have a single location for all weather-related articles on Wikipedia.

WikiProject Meteorology is a collaborative effort by dozens of Wikipedians to improve the quality of meteorology- and weather-related articles. If you would like to help, visit the project talk page, and see what needs doing.

WikiProject Severe weather is a similar project specific to articles about severe weather. Their talk page is located here.

WikiProject Tropical cyclones is a daughter project of WikiProject meteorology. The dozens of semi-active members and several full-time members focus on improving Wikipedia's coverage of tropical cyclones.

WikiProject Non-tropical storms is a collaborative project to improve articles related to winter storms, wind storms, and extratropical cyclones.

Wikipedia is a fully collaborative effort by volunteers. So if you see something you think you can improve, be bold and get to editing! We appreciate any help you can provide!