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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In meteorology, precipitation is a term for any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapour that is deposited on the Earth's surface. It occurs when the atmosphere, becomes saturated with water vapour and the water condenses, falling out of solution. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated: cooling the air or adding water vapour to the air. Precipitation forms via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud.
Precipitation that reaches the surface of the earth can occur in many different forms, including rain, freezing rain, drizzle, ice needles, snow, ice pellets or sleet, graupel and hail. While snow and ice pellets require temperatures to be near or below freezing at the surface, hail can occur during much warmer temperature regimes due to the process of its formation. Precipitation also occurs on other celestial bodies—including snow on Mars and a sulfuric acid rain on Venus—though both of these evaporate before reaching the surface.
Moisture overriding associated with weather fronts is a major method of precipitation production. If enough moisture and upward motion is present, precipitation falls from convective clouds such as cumulonimbus and can organize into narrow rainbands. Precipitation can also form due to forced ascent up the windward side of a mountain or mountain range. Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing essentially all of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 (121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year; 398,000 km3 (95,000 cu mi) of it over the oceans.
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... 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 all five components of the climate system—air, water, ice, Earth's crust, and life—help determine Earth's average weather?
- ... that the 1st Weather Squadron, the 2016 Weather Squadron of the Year, reports on future battlefield weather conditions and assists during natural disasters?
- ... that actor Carl Weathers agreed to play Greef Karga on the Star Wars television series The Mandalorian on the condition that he direct future episodes of the show?
- ... that Teikō Shiotani photographed View with Weather Forecast (shown) from his upstairs window, exaggerating the curvature of the horizon by bending the photographic paper under the enlarger?
- ... that although used as the weather vane of a church, the Söderala vane was probably originally made for a Viking ship?
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Cyclone Gafilo was both the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the South-West Indian Ocean and the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2004. This image was take by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on the Terra Earth Observing System satellite on March 6, 2004 as the storm approached northeastern Madagascar. Gafilo would go on to kill more than 300 people in the country.
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More did you know...
...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?
...that a cryoseism is a sudden ground or glacier movement that can occur due to water freezing or ice cracking after drastic temperature changes?
...that BUFR is a binary data format standardized by the World Meteorological Organization for storing observation data from weather stations and weather satellites?
...that the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center issues weather forecasts for conditions that can cause avalanches in the mountains of western Washington and northwestern Oregon?
Recent and ongoing weather
- Wikinews weather portal
- July 25: Heavy monsoon rains kill over 100 in India, many thousands evacuated
- April 23: European Union to reduce carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 2030
- March 26: Tropical moisture ceases to cause severe floods in South East Australia
- February 19: Winter storms hammer Texas, fatalities reported
- December 28: Typhoon Phanfone strikes Philippines
- Weather of 2022
- 2022 Atlantic hurricane season
- 2020–21 North American winter
- 2022 Pacific typhoon season
- Tornadoes of 2022
This week in weather history...
March 10
2007: Cyclone George dissipated over Western Australia.
March 11
2010: Severe flooding led to the failure of the Kyzyl-Agash Dam in Qyzylaghash, Almaty, Kazakhstan, killing at least 43 people.
March 12
1993: What became known as the Storm of the Century began causing major damage across a large portion of the Southeastern United States and Cuba with heavy snows, strong winds, a storm surge, and tornadoes. The storm would eventually go on to have a major impact on the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada, and kill 300 people.
March 13
1979: Alia Royal Jordanian Flight 600 flew into a thunderstorm while attempting to land at Doha International Airport, Qatar, encountering a microburst that forced the plane into the ground, killing 45 of the 64 people onboard.
March 14
1933: A tornado outbreak struck parts of Tennessee, killing dozens of people, including 15 in Nashville.
March 15
2010: Cyclone Tomas made its closest approach to Vanua Levu, causing major damage throughout Fiji.
March 16
1942: An extensive tornado outbreak struck the Midwestern United States, killing 152 people.
Selected biography
Wladimir Peter 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...)
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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!
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