This past weekend marked the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s deadly landfall on the Gulf Coast. The storm topped New Orleans’ levees, wiped out large swaths of the city, and ignited debate about severe weather preparedness as well as racism in modern America.
Though the floodwater has long since receded, the storm will continue to be of sociological, political, and meteorological interest for decades to come. And if the anniversary—not to mention the new storms swirling in the oceans—has you curious about how hurricanes form, travel, and destroy, The AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America’s Weather is your one-stop shop for information about our country’s occasionally violent weather.
Esteemed science journalist and former USA Today weather editor Jack Williams overs everything from daily weather patterns, air pollution, and global warming to the stories of people coping with severe weather and those who devote their lives to understanding the atmosphere, oceans, and climate. Words alone, of course, are not adequate to explain many meteorological concepts, so The AMS Weather Book is filled with engaging full-color graphics that explain such concepts as why winds blow in a particular direction, how Doppler weather radar works, what happens inside hurricanes, how clouds create wind and snow, and what’s really affecting the earth’s climate.
For Weather Channel junkies, amateur meteorologists, and storm chasers alike, The AMS Weather Book is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to better understand how weather works and how it affects our lives.
Check out amsweatherbook.com and weatherjackwilliams.com for more information about the book and its author. And don’t forget to follow both on Twitter:@amsweatherbook and @weatherjackwill