Portal:Weather
The weather portal
Weather is the state of the Earth's atmosphere at a specific place and time, typically described in terms of temperature, humidity, cloud cover, and stability. 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...)
Selected article
The Evansville Tornado of November 2005 was a powerful tornado that formed early in the morning of November 6, 2005, outside of Evansville, a city in Southwestern Indiana on the Ohio River. It was the first of several significant tornado events in the month of November 2005. The tornado resulted in 25 confirmed fatalities across the region, making it by far the deadliest and most destructive tornado in the United States in 2005, and it was also the deadliest single tornado in the US since 36 died in Oklahoma on May 3, 1999. Significant tornadoes were also reported in western Kentucky on the same day, but none were as damaging or deadly as the Evansville storm.
Recently selected articles: Typhoon Tip, Hurricane Floyd, Hurricane Dean, More...
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Japanese actor Kouhei Higuchi prepared for his role on the television drama adaptation of My Personal Weatherman by learning from a weather forecaster?
- ... that the Quad Cities forecast office of the National Weather Service has been directly struck by both an F1 tornado and a historic derecho?
- ... that Come In was recorded on a hands-free microphone attached to a pair of headphones?
- ... that actress Jennifer Brooke and her colleagues faced severe weather from Storm Imogen while filming her death scene for Hollyoaks?
- ... that state representative Karl Bohnak, referring to his former profession, said that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was one of the most challenging places in the U.S. to forecast the weather?
- ... that Richard Davis made the earliest known continuous land-based weather recordings in New Zealand?
Selected image
Flakes of snow highly magnified by a low-temperature scanning electron microscope (SEM). The colors are called "pseudo colors"; they are computer generated and are a standard technique used with SEM images.
Recently selected pictures: Sun dog,Pyrocumulus clouds, Cloud-to-cloud lightning, More...
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?
Recent and ongoing weather
This week in weather history...
September 29
1915: A major hurricane struck New Orleans area, killing at least 275 people in the city and surrounding area.
September 30
2012: Hurricane Nadine, the fourth-longest-lived tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic Ocean, reached peak intensity west of the Azores.
October 1
2015: Hurricane Joaquin, one of the worst hurricanes to hit the Bahamas on record, sunk the SS El Faro, killing 33 crew aboard.
October 2
1858: A hurricane hit San Diego, California, the only known hurricane ever to strike the Pacific coast of the United States.
October 3
2010: The storm system that would eventually become Hurricane Otto began producing torrential rains in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, eventually bringing more than 20 inches (51 cm) of rain to the US and British Virgin Islands.
October 4
1949: A hurricane made landfall near Freeport, Texas, killing 2 people.
October 5
1948: A hurricane made three landfalls in one day, passing over Havana, Cuba and Miami, Florida in the process.
Selected biography
Robert H. Simpson (November 19, 1912 – December 18, 2014) was an American meteorologist, hurricane specialist, first director of the National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) from 1955 to 1959, and a former director (1967–1974) of the National Hurricane Center (NHC). He was the co-developer of the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale with Herbert Saffir. His wife was Joanne Simpson. (Full article...)
Previously selected biographies: William Ferrel, John Dalton, More...
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Quality content
Other candidates:
- Featured Article Review: 2005 Atlantic hurricane season (Discussion)
- Featured List Removal Candidate: List of storms in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season (Discussion)
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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 Wikipedia'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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