Wikipedia:Portal:Weather
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Weather is an all-encompassing term used to describe all of the many and varied phenomena that occur in the atmosphere of a planet at a given time. The term usually refers to the activity of these phenomena over short periods of hours or days, as opposed to the term climate, which refers to the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is understood to be the weather of Earth.
Weather most often results from temperature differences from one place to another, caused by the Sun heating areas near the equator more than the poles, or by different areas of the Earth absorbing varying amounts of heat, due to differences in albedo, moisture, and cloud cover. Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences. A hot surface heats the air above it and the air expands, lowering the air pressure. The resulting pressure gradient accelerates the air from high to low pressure, creating wind, and Earth's rotation causes curvature of the flow via the Coriolis effect. These simple systems can interact, producing more complex systems, and thus other weather phenomena.
The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the jet stream. Most weather phenomena in the mid-latitudes are caused by instabilities of the jet stream flow (see baroclinity) or by weather fronts. Weather systems in the tropics are caused by different processes, such as monsoons or organized thunderstorm systems.
Because the Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane, sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year. In June the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, while in December it is tilted away, causing yearly changes in the weather known as seasons. In the mid-latitudes, winter weather often includes snow and sleet, while in both the mid-latitudes and most of the tropics, tropical cyclones form in the summer and autumn. Almost all weather phenomena can occur year-round on different parts of the planet, including snow, rain, lightning, and, more rarely, hail and tornadoes.
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Cloud-to-cloud lightning from a nighttime thunderstorm in Zwickau, Germany.
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Hurricane Dean was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. A Cape Verde-type hurricane that formed on August 13, 2007, Dean took a west-northwest path from the eastern Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lucia Channel and into the Caribbean Sea. It strengthened into a major hurricane, reaching Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale before passing just south of Jamaica on August 20. The storm made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula on August 21 as a powerful Category 5 storm. It crossed the peninsula and emerged into the Bay of Campeche as a weaker storm, but still at hurricane strength. It intensified briefly before making a second landfall near Tecolutla, Mexico, on August 22. Dean drifted northwest, weakening into a remnant low which dissipated over the southwestern United States.
The hurricane's intense winds, waves, rains and storm surge were responsible for at least 45 deaths across ten countries, and caused estimated damages of US$1.5 billion. Dean's path through the Caribbean devastated crops, particularly those of Martinique and Jamaica. Upon reaching Mexico, Hurricane Dean was a Category 5 storm—the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane at landfall in recorded history. However, it missed major population centers, so it caused no deaths and less damage than its passage through the Caribbean islands as a Category 2 storm.
Dean was the first hurricane to make landfall in the Atlantic basin at Category 5 intensity in 15 years; the last storm to do so was Hurricane Andrew on August 24, 1992. Dean's landfall was far less damaging than Andrew's, but its long swath of damage earned its name retirement from the World Meteorological Organization's Atlantic hurricane naming lists.
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...that HURDAT is a database of all known tropical cyclones in the northern Atlantic Ocean since 1851?
...that the 1995 Mayfest Storm was the costliest hailstorm in US history, and injured more than 100 people?
...that the Effects of Hurricane Hazel in Canada included flooding which killed 81 people?
...that the International Cloud Atlas was first published in 1896, yet is still in print?
...that fast ice, as opposed to drift ice, is ocean ice which does not move with the wind or water currents?
...that the remnants of 2001's Tropical Depression Nine eventually organized to form Hurricane Juliette in the Pacific Ocean?
August 28
1983: Hurricane Barry made landfall about 35 miles (56 km) south of the Texas border, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, but no one was killed.
August 29
2005: Hurricane Katrina pushed an incredible storm surge onshore in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, killing almost 2,000 people and causing more than $80 billion in damage. It was the costliest Atlantic hurricane in history, as well as the deadliest in the United States since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane.
August 30
1878: A record flood killed almost 400 people in and around Miskolc, Hungary.
August 31
1971: Hurricane Lily struck western Mexico, causing devastating flooding in Puerto Vallarta.
September 1
1988: Under the name WeatherNow, The Weather Network began broadcasting in Montreal, Quebec.
September 2
1937: A severe typhoon struck Hong Kong with wind gusts over 130 knots (150 mph; 240 km/h), killing 11,000 people.
September 3
1821: A hurricane struck New York City, the only known major Atlantic hurricane in history to do so.
1930: Hurricane San Zenon made landfall near Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, killing more than 2,000 people on Hispaniola
1976: A Venezuelan Air Force flight crashed while attempting to land on Terceira Island, Azores, during Hurricane Emmy, killing all 68 aboard.
William Ferrel (1817 – 1891) was an American meteorologist who developed theories which explained the general mid-latitude atmospheric circulation in detail, now known as the Ferrel cell in his honor. Ferrel improved upon the concept of the Hadley cell by compensating for the Coriolis effect.
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Weather: Meteorology | Atmosphere | Basic meteorological concepts and phenomena | Climate | Clouds | Cyclones | Floods | Precipitation| Seasons | Severe weather and convection | Snow | Storms | Tornadoes | Tropical cyclones | Weather events | Weather lore | Weather hazards | Weather modification | Weather prediction | Weather warnings and advisories| Winds
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 Wikipdia's coverage of tropical cyclones.
WikiProject Non-tropical storms is a collaborative project to improve articles related to winter storms, wind storms, and extratropical weather.
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!
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