Chapter 4 – Atmospheric Moisture and Precipitation
A brief introduction to the hydrological cycle - from Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University.
Humidity from Meteorology On-line. A review of humidity with practical background information.
Humidity Calculator. Use this calculator to estimate and convert atmospheric humidities.
Lapse rates, moisture, clouds and thunderstorms – a lecture by Martin Visbeck at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.
The Extreme Weather Sourcebook. This provides a lot of background information concerning the formation and impacts of severe weather.
Snow Crystals. Find out here about the ever-varied and intricate patterns of snow crystals and how they form.
The Aurora Page. Although the textbook does not cover aurora, they are also an interesting phenomena to look at. Often people don’t notice the Northern Lights because they don’t know what to look for – find out about them here.
Cloud Boutique from the Plymouth State College Meteorology Program. This provides an extensive collection of cloud images.
Clouds and Precipitation from the On-line Weather Guide. This reviews the different concepts associated with clouds and precipitation.
Cloudman – a web site devoted to observing clouds including a cloud atlas, cloud gallery and tips on photographing clouds
International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). A global project to provide synchronous estimates of cloud cover for the entire Earth
Lightning and Atmospheric Electricity Research at NASA’s Global Hydrology and Climate Center at Huntsville Alabama.
NOAA’s Drought Site - of course rainfall is not always reliable. This site monitors and evaluates drought conditions and includes the Drought Calculator which can assess how much rain would be required in a region to end a drought.
Clean Air Mapping and Analysis Program. Often we don’t consider the spatial nature of air pollution. This site examines the reasons for spatial variation, and how this is analyzed.
Storm Prediction from the National Weather Service. Provides real-time data on current weather watches, thunderstorms and fire risk
The Disaster Center Lightning page – Find out more about current research on lightning including technologies to protect properties and some amazing images.
National Weather Warnings for Extreme Weather Events – USA. Examine the system that categorizes the various forms of extreme weather warnings – something everyone should know about.