Portal:Weather

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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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The initial frontal wave (or low pressure area) forms at the location of the red dot on the image. It is usually perpendicular (at a right angle to) the leaf-like cloud formation (baroclinic leaf) seen on satellite during the early stage of cyclogenesis. The location of the axis of the upper level jet stream is in light blue.

Cyclogenesis is the development or strengthening of cyclonic circulation in the atmosphere (a low pressure area). Cyclogenesis is an umbrella term for several different processes, all of which result in the development of some sort of cyclone. It can occur at various scales, from the microscale to the synoptic scale. Extratropical cyclones form as waves along weather fronts before occluding later in their life cycle as cold core cyclones. Tropical cyclones form due to latent heat driven by significant thunderstorm activity, and are warm core. Mesocyclones form as warm core cyclones over land, and can lead to tornado formation. Waterspouts can also form from mesocyclones, but more often develop from environments of high instability and low vertical wind shear. Cyclogenesis is the opposite of cyclolysis, and has an anticyclonic (high pressure system) equivalent which deals with the formation of high-pressure areas—Anticyclogenesis.

Recently selected articles: 1933 Atlantic hurricane season, Jet stream, More...

Did you know (auto-generated) - show different entries

... that although used as the weather vane of a church, the Söderala vane was probably originally made for a Viking ship?
... that Eric Berger wrote about weather for the Houston Chronicle even before he became a certified meteorologist?
... that extreme event attribution estimates how much climate change causes weather events, such as the 2021 Western North America heat wave?
... that an attempted British-Norwegian attack on the German battleship Tirpitz was abandoned after two Chariot manned torpedoes were lost due to bad weather?
... that astrophysicist and space-weather specialist Professor Peter T. Gallagher led the building of Ireland's first serious radio telescope, the 3,000-antenna I-LOFAR, at Birr Castle?
... that WILS-TV in Lansing, Michigan, featured a singing weather girl and pianist dressed appropriately for the next day's forecast?

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An animation of changing snow cover across the Earth over the period of a year. Snow cover is much more abundant in the Northern Hemisphere, which is not surprising considering that the large majority of land in the colder latitudes is in the Northern Hemisphere. Antarctica is perennially covered by snow or ice cap, except for a few places in the Antarctic Peninsula and the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

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More did you know...

...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...

May 26

1972: Subtropical Storm Alpha reached peak intensity east of Savannah, Georgia, where it would make landfall the next day.

May 27

1774: Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort scale for measuring wind force, was born in Ireland.

May 28

1941: After searching for several hours, the German weather ship Sachsenwald recovered two survivors from the sinking of the battleship Bismarck

May 29

1995: A destructive tornado struck western Massachusetts, killing three people in the town of Great Barrington.

May 30

1959: Tropical Storm Arlene made landfall near Lafayette, Louisiana, bringing more than 10 inches (25 cm) of rain to parts of the northern Gulf Coast of the United States.

May 31

1889: The Johnstown Flood, caused by days of heavy rains which led to the failure of the South Fork Dam, killed more than 2,000 people in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

June 1: Start of the Central Pacific and Atlantic hurricane seasons

2011: An EF3 tornado killed 3 people in south-central Massachusetts.

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Wladimir Petrovich Köppen (German pronunciation: [vlaˈdiːmiːɐ̯ ˈkœpn̩, ˈvlaːdimiːɐ̯ -]; Russian: Влади́мир Петро́вич Кёппен, romanized: Vladimir Petrovich Kyoppen; 25 September 1846 – 22 June 1940) was a Russian-German geographer, meteorologist, climatologist and botanist. After studies in St. Petersburg, he spent the bulk of his life and professional career in Germany and Austria. His most notable contribution to science was the development of the Köppen climate classification system, which, with some modifications, is still commonly used. Köppen made significant contributions to several branches of science, and coined the name aerology for the science of measuring the upper air/atmosphere. (Full article...)

Previously selected biographies: John Park Finley, Edward Norton Lorenz, More...

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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 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 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!