The latest version of the FAQ & Glossary have now been uploaded to my
site ....
Date of FAQ: Christmas / New Year 2006/2007

-------------------------------------------

Issue: 48

The uk.sci.weather FAQ/Glossary available at:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm

( includes access to other meteorology related FAQ's: there is also an
alphabetical index for the whole of my site here )

This article may be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes only,
provided that this notice is not removed. Parts may also be used, as
long as some appropriate acknowledgement is made.

================================================== ======================

Index:

1. General introduction.

1.1 About this FAQ

1.2 About uk.sci.weather

1.3 About the author, and his relationship to this FAQ.

1.4 About the units used in this FAQ.

2. Questions relating to general meteorology.

2A: Basic information and definitions.

2A.1 What are 'jetstreams'?

2A.2 Where are the principal jetstreams in the atmosphere, and what

are their characteristics?

2A.3 Why is the Polar Front Jet so called, and why is it important to

us in NW Europe?

2A.4 Stable and unstable airmasses - what does all this mean?

2A.5 Thickness: what is it?

2A.6 What are the names for the various levels of the atmosphere and

of what significance are they?

2A.7 What are the heights corresponding to the pressure levels in the

atmosphere?

2A.8 What are the various types of satellite imagery available?

2A.9 What height are the clouds?

2A.10 Why do some high flying aircraft leave white trails in their

wake?

2A.11 There are other 'trails' visible from aircraft - what are they?

2A.12 What is an 'inversion'?

2A.13 What's the difference between a 'shower' and an 'outbreak of

rain'?

2A.14 What's the difference between an air frost and a ground frost?

2A.15 When do maximum and minimum temperatures occur?

2A.16 What is the dew point?

2A.17 What's the difference between Humidity and Relative Humidity?

2A.18 Does the dew point temperature have to be above a certain value

for a thunderstorm?

2A.19 Why does the weather sometimes get 'stuck in a rut'?

2A.20 What is a trough?

2A.21 How do I use a geostrophic wind scale?

2A.22 What are some typical and extreme values of thickness?

2A.23 How does a single-cell shower differ from a multi-cell

thunderstorm, or even a 'supercell'?

2A.24 What is 'helicity'?

2A.25 Snow situations at lowland locations are often marginal in

maritime NW Europe. Why is this so, and why do forecasters find

it so difficult to get it right?

2A.26 So, what are the factors that can modify the temperature

structure in the lowest few hundred metres in marginal snow

situations?

2A.27 How do I convert millibars to inches etc?

2A.28 What is the 'Dew Point Depression'?

2A.29 How do I tell how far away a thunderstorm is?

2A.30 Why does the wind "blow", and what factors are involved?

2B: Background and special topics.

2B.1 The October 1987 storm - a 'hurricane', or not?

2B.2 What does the terminology in the Shipping Forecast mean?

2B.3 Can I go anywhere to look at archived weather data, monthly

summaries etc?

2B.4 When was the concept of an "air mass" proposed?

2B.5 So, how is an 'air mass' defined?

2B.6 How will 'global warming' affect rainfall patterns over north-

western regions of Europe?

2B.7 Is there a system of classifying synoptic weather types over the

British Isles?

2B.8 How can I obtain details about periodicals/magazines that are

published in the British Isles which deal with meteorology?

2B.9 Would anyone be interested in my weather observations?

2B.10 What is the North Atlantic Oscillation?

2B.11 What is the Central England Temperature series?

2B.12 What impact does 'El Nino' have on the weather over Europe?

2B.13 What are 'sferics', and how are they obtained?

2B.14 How do I set my barometer?

2B.15 Why does some rainfall leave a coloured dust on my car?

2B.16 What is the history behind lettering Bracknell fronts/centres?

2B.17 Can I have a guided tour of Met Office 'FAX' charts?

2B.18 What is an "Indian Summer", and why is it so-named?

2B.19 What is a 'Polar low'?

2B.20 I want to learn more about 'the weather' - how do I go about it?

2B.21 Maps, diagrams, leaflets, books, posters, videos etc., etc....

how can I get hold of these?

2B.22 What is the Shapiro-Keyser cyclone model?

2B.23 How are the seasons defined?

2B.24 "Thunder heard!": rumbles, crackles & bangs - why the difference?

2C: The newsgroup: "uk.sci.weather - it's history, myths & legends"

2C.1 What is a "Bartlett High"?

2C.2 Why does usw come alive at the prospect of snow?

2C.3 How did the newsgroup come to be & when?

2C.4 When did the FAQ series come into being?

2C.5 What's wrong with the phrase "mini-tornado"?

2C.6 Where can I find a complete copy of the newsgroup Charter?

2C.7 How do I use the [WR] and [OBS] prefixes in the newsgroup?

2C.8 How do I determine my location and altitude?


3. Questions relating to sources of information.


Where can I find ......

3.1 ... a map of the BBC Shipping Forecast areas?

3.2 ... sites relating to Severe Local Storms?

3.3 ... information on Climate change?

3.4 ... information about Noctilucent cloud?

3.5 ... information regarding atmospheric remote sensing?

3.6 ... sites relating to the use of computers in meteorology?

3.7 ... more information on dew point, relative humidity etc?

3.8 ... information on using Beaufort wind force estimates,

and use of Beaufort letters for weather reports?

3.9 ... information relating to ozone concerns, both at stratospheric

and near-surface altitudes?

3.10 ... a site relating to Tropical Storms (Hurricanes, Cyclones etc.)?

3.11 ... sites detailing extremes, notable past events etc?

3.12 ... information relating to radar imagery?

3.13 ... sites specifically relating to leisure-marine meteorology?

3.14 ... a site explaining atmospheric halo phenomena?

3.15 ... sites explaining upper air soundings?

3.16 ... a site explaining NWP model output?

3.17 ... a site for decoded SYNOP data as daily summaries?

3.18 ... sites for past weather & climatological summaries?

3.19 ... sites to follow Tropical Storm activity?

3.20 ... a site explaining radio ducting phenomena?

3.21 ... sites for archived SYNOP, METAR, TAF data etc?

3.22 ... sites for archived satellite imagery?

4. Pointers to other sources of information.

4.1 SCI.GEO.METEOROLOGY NEWSGROUP FAQs

4.2 TORRO

4.3 ROGER BRUGGE'S WEATHER LINKS SITE

4.4 ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

4.5 UNIV. OF EAST ANGLIA - SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

4.6 BBC WEATHER CENTRE

4.7 UK WEATHER INFORMATION SITE

4.8 UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE (SITE FOR PLOTTED DATA)

4.9 ANT VEAL'S UK WEATHER CENTRE

4.10 WILL HAND'S WEB SITE

4.11 IRISH METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

4.12 PITSFORD HALL WEATHER STATION

4.13 PRODATA ASSOCIATES/AUTOMATIC WEATHER STATIONS

4.14 WEATHER INFORMATION SITE

4.15 FROSTED EARTH WEATHER SITE

4.16 THERMODYNAMIC DIAGRAMS

4.17 JACK HARRISON'S GLIDING AND WEATHER SITE

4.18 MET OFFICE WEB SITE

4.19 WEATHERONLINE

4.20 ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT

4.21 WEATHERPICTURES

4.22 METEOGROUP (was PA WEATHERCENTRE)

4.23 JOHN HOLMES: WEATHER STATION

4.24 MET EIREANN - IRISH METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE

4.25 METBRIEF (JOHN O'ROURKE)

4.26 WEATHER-UK.COM (PHILIP EDEN)

4.27 CLIMATE-UK.COM (PHILIP EDEN)

4.28 EUROTEMPEST

5A: Some books that are worth reading.

5A.1 ... Handbook of Aviation Meteorology

5A.2 ... Pilots' Weather

5A.3 ... A course in elementary meteorology

5A.4 ... Guinness Book of Weather Facts and Feats

5A.5 ... Weatherwise

5A.6 ... Observer's Handbook

5A.7 ... Essentials of Meteorology

5A.8 ... Climate, history and the modern world

5A.9 ... Teach yourself weather

5A.10 ... Regional Climates of the British Isles

5A.11 ... Aviation Weather

5A.12 ... Climate and the British Scene

5A.13 ... Images in weather forecasting

5A.14 ... Meteorology and Flight

5A.15 ... Guide to Weather

5A.16 ... Maritime Weather and Climate

5A.17 ... Glossary of Meteorology (AMS/2nd edition)

5A.18 ... Collins Guide to the Weather of Britain and Europe

5A.19 ... Meteorology Today: an introduction to weather, climate (etc.)

5A.20 ... The Daily Telegraph 'Book of the Weather'

5B: Some magazines/periodicals etc.

5B.1 ... The Journal of Meteorology

5B.2 ... Weather

5B.3 ... Meteorological Applications

5B.4 ... Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society

5B.5 ... COL - Monthly Bulletin

5B.6 ... Weather eye

6. Some notes on observing and reporting weather events to the
newsgroup.

6A ... Recording/reporting the event

6B ... The event itself...what to look out for

6C ... Some thoughts on 'non-standard' instrument siting

6D ... Notes regarding times of weather recording etc

6E ... Where to find information on setting-up a weather station

7A: General suppliers of equipment & services.

.... Campbell Scientific Ltd

.... Casella Limited

.... Diplex Ltd.

.... Fairmount Weather Systems

.... Instromet Ltd (was R & D Instromet)

.... McMurdo Ltd (was ICS Electronics)

.... MetCheck

.... Meteorologica Weather Superstore

.... RW Munro Limited (The Munro Group)

.... Prodata Associates Ltd

.... Russell Scientific Instruments

.... Sales and Service Company

.... Skye Instruments Ltd

.... Skyview - The Weather Company

.... Weather Front/The UK Weather Shop

7B: Suppliers of software and associated support services.

.... Richard H. Brockmeier

.... MetOS/Angel Dimitrov/Uni. of Sofia (Bulgaria)

.... Colin Tandy/Weather plotting software

.... Weather Graphics Technologies

8. Codes, coding, plotting etc.

8.1 Meteorological codes (numeric) and coding sites

8.2 METAR decoding sites

8.3 Snow groups in SYNOP & METAR reports

8.4 Rainfall groups in SYNOP reports

8.5 Wind groups in SYNOP reports

8.6 Sunshine groups in SYNOP reports

9. Sites relating to Global Climate Change.

9.1 Met Office / Hadley Centre

9.2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

9.3 Climatic Research Unit (University of East Anglia)

9.4 Tyndall Centre

9.5 BBC Weather Centre information pages

9.6 UK Climate Impacts Programme

9.7 Climate Change FAQ

9.8 MMU Student Guide to Climate Change

9.9 US Global Change Research Information Office

9.10 Evert Wesker's Climate Change site

9.11 Alastair McDonald's site: sea-ice changes



--
FAQ & Glossary for uk.sci.weather at:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm
and
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/metindex.htm

Martin Rowley wrote:
The latest version of the FAQ & Glossary have now been uploaded to my
site ....
Date of FAQ: Christmas / New Year 2006/2007

-------------------------------------------

Issue: 48

The uk.sci.weather FAQ/Glossary available at:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm

( includes access to other meteorology related FAQ's: there is also an
alphabetical index for the whole of my site here )

This article may be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes only,
provided that this notice is not removed. Parts may also be used, as
long as some appropriate acknowledgement is made.

================================================== ======================

Index:

1. General introduction.

1.1 About this FAQ

1.2 About uk.sci.weather



The backup is also in place, everybody.

Les


--
Les Crossan,
Wallsend, Tyne & Wear
54.95N 1.5W
Home of the Wallsend StormCam and the Backup USW FAQ -
www.uksevereweather.org.uk