Weather DK

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On cold nights, plants may get
so cold that moisture in the air
freezes onto them instantly,
instead of forming liquid dew.
This is called hoar frost.
Lightning flashes
between the bottom
of the thundercloud
and the ground.
Sun
Igloos are dome-shaped

houses built of solid
blocks of snow.
“Wet” snow makes

good snowballs.

We at h e r
Written by John Farndon
Consultant: John Woodward

Senior editor Gill Pitts Picture researcher Aditya Katyal
Editor Olivia Stanford Producer, pre-production Nadine King
Assistant editor Kritika Gupta Producer Isabell Schart
Editorial assistance Cécile Landau Managing editors Soma B. Chowdhury,
US Senior editor Margaret Parrish Laura Gilbert, Monica Saigal
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Project art editor Yamini Panwar Diane Peyton Jones
Illustrators Abby Cook, Dan Crisp, Shahid Mahmood Art director Martin Wilson
Jacket co-ordinator Francesca Young Publisher Sarah Larter
Jacket designers Dheeraj Arora, Amy Keast, Faith Nelson Publishing director Sophie Mitchell
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Original edition
Project editor Christine Webb
Art editors Thomas Keenes, Carol Orbel
Senior editor Susan McKeever
Senior art editor Jacquie Gulliver
Production Catherine Semark
Editorial consultant Ron Lobeck
Illustrators John Bendall-Brunello, Julia Cobbold,
Louis Mackay, Richard Ward
First American Edition, 1992
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Contents
8 What is weather? 36 Hot weather
10 The seasons 38 Dry weather
12 The three clouds 40 Monsoon
14 Cloudspotting 42 A warm front
16 Wet air 44 A cold front
18 Rain and drizzle 46 Thunder and lightning
20 Raindrops 48 Colors in the sky
22 Fog and mist 50 Changing weather
24 Frost and ice 52 Pollution
26 Snowy weather 54 Weather lore
28 From breeze to gale 56 Weather forecasting
30 Under pressure 58 The day
32 Superwinds 60 Index
34 Twisters 61 Acknowledgments

What is weather?
Weather is just the way the air around you changes all
the time. It can be still, moving, hot, cold, wet, or dry.
Most importantly, weather is the way water changes in
the air. Without water, there would be no clouds, rain,
snow, thunder, or fog. The weather plays a big part in
our lives and affects many of the things that we do.
Snow
Fog
Ice
Sun
Clouds
Tornado
Hurricane
Wind
Thunderstorm
Weather places
Weather is different in different parts of the world. In deserts, for
instance, it very rarely rains, while in tropical jungles, it is hot and
steamy. Climate is the usual kind of weather that a place has over
a long period. For example, the Arctic has a cold climate.
8
The atmosphere
Our planet is surrounded by a thin blanket
of gases called the atmosphere. Weather only
happens in the very lowest layer, the troposphere.
Satellites are stationed

in the exosphere, 600
to 300 miles (1,000 to
500 km) from Earth.
The thermosphere
is between 300 and
55 miles (500 and 85 km)
from Earth. Here, you’ll
find the aurora lights
and the International
Space Station.
Weather forecasts
The mesosphere is
Weather experts use
between 55 and 30 miles satellites to help them make
(85 and 50 km) from more accurate forecasts. This
Earth. Some of the ozone satellite photograph shows
layer and meteorites are a hurricane over an ocean.
found here.
The stratosphere is between 30 and 7 miles
(50 and 12 km) from Earth. Nacreous clouds
sometimes appear in the lower level, and
passenger planes often fly this high.
reeks used to
All our weather The ancient G h
happens in the k tha t w ind was the Eart
thin we
troposphere. a thing in a nd out. Now
bre move.
ply air on the
know it is sim
9
The seasons
You can expect a certain kind of weather at certain
times of the year. Winter days are often bitterly cold
or stormy, while summer days may be warm and
sunny. It all depends on the season. Some
places have just two seasons, a wet one
and a dry one. Other places have four:
spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Spring
Once winter is over, the Sun climbs
higher in the sky, and the days get
longer. Nights are cold but days
can be warm.
Winter
Winter is the coldest time of year.
The days are so short and the Sun
hangs so low in the sky that the air
barely warms up.
Hot Christmas
Because of the way
the seasons work,
winter happens in the
United States when
it is summer on the
opposite side of the
world, in Australia. Cold winters
10 bring snow.
n
Summer Su
Winter Sun
Flowers grow in
summer sunshine.
w
High and oloccur because the amountr,
of
The season
s me
in g y o u va ries. In sum
ach h higher
sunlight re t h e Sun is muc
h a t rt
you will see
t
is m e a n s t hat your pa
ter. Th un.
than in win il t in g t o ward the S
h is t
of the Eart
Summer
The Sun is high in the sky at noon, and
days are long and warm. Hot weather
may be broken by thunderstorms.
Fall
During fall, the nights get longer and
cooler again. Mornings are often misty.
Sometimes they are frosty.
Fall usually
brings mists.
Winter sleep
Many animals, such
as dormice, sleep away
the winter to save energy.
This is called hibernation.

The three clouds
Clouds come in all kinds of shapes and sizes,
but they are all made of billions of tiny water
droplets or even ice crystals floating in the sky.
There are three basic types—wispy “cirrus”
clouds, fluffy white “cumulus” clouds, and
huge blankets of “stratus” clouds.
Cirrus clouds
Feathery cirrus clouds
form very high up in
the sky. It is so cold
up there that they are
made not of water
droplets, but of tiny
ice crystals.
Cirrus clouds high up

in the sky often signal
bad weather.
Mare’s tails
Cirrus clouds are often called ma
re’s tails,
because strong winds high in the air
blo w them
into wispy curls—just like the tail
of a horse.
12
What makes a
fluffy cloud?
Cumulus clouds form when
sunshine warms up bubbles This cloud’s fluffy shape
of moist air and causes shows how the bubble of
them to rise quickly. As warm, moist air billows out.
they get higher, they swell
and are cooled so that the
moisture turns into a mist Cumulus clouds
of water droplets. Fluffy cumulus clouds are the
clouds you usually see in clear
weather, when the sky is blue.
They look like heaps of cotton
balls and are always changing
shape. They are about 1,650 ft
(500 m) above you.
Stratus clouds build up when

warm, moist air rides up slowly
over a bank of colder air.
Stratus clouds
The word “stratus” means
“layers” in Latin, but you
rarely see the layers in a
stratus cloud. You just see
a huge gray sheet of low
cloud that can stretch for
hundreds of miles.

Cloudspotting
Clouds come in many shapes and
sizes—some large and fluffy, some
Cirrostratus
small and wispy. It all depends on Clouds that form very
whether they are formed from high in the sky always
start with the word
water droplets or ice crystals. “cirro.” Cirrostratus
Weather experts identify clouds clouds are made of
by how high they are in the sky, ice crystals.
and whether they are
Altostratus
layered (stratus) Medium-height clouds
or in heaps start with the word
(cumulus). “alto.” Altostratus is
a layer of cloud made
of water droplets.
Nimbostratus
These thick layers of cloud
start near the ground and
can be very tall. They can
bring hours of rain or snow.
Stratus
Thick layers of stratus cloud
hang close to the ground.
Sometimes the Sun can
be seen through them,
looking like a silver disk.
14
Cirrocumulus Cirrus
These tiny balls of icy Cirrus tend to be the
cloud often form what highest clouds of all. They
is called a “mackerel form streaks across the sky
sky,” because they that tell of strong winds
look like the scales of a blowing. They are a sign
mackerel fish. of unsettled weather.
Cumulonimbus
These are the towering
Altocumulus clouds that give us
These are medium-height cumulus thunderstorms and
clouds. They look like flattened balls of even tornadoes. A big
cotton that are almost joined together. one may be taller than
Mount Everest!
Cumulus
Fluffy cumulus clouds are easy to spot.
These low-level clouds sometimes
develop during the day and
get bigger, giving showers.
Stratocumulus
If you see long rolls of these medium-height clouds,
this usually means fair weather is on the way. They
are made by cumulus clouds spreading out in layers.
15
Wet air
You might not know it, but you’re sitting in
a sea of water. Like a sponge, air soaks up invisible
water vapor. All air contains water vapor, but
how much it holds—the air’s “humidity”—
depends on how hot and dry it is where you are.
Wet breath
When you breathe out,
you fill the air with water
vapor. If the air is very
cold, the vapor turns
into millions of tiny
water droplets and your
breath looks “steamy.”
Dew wonder
If air cools down, it can hold less
water. After a cool night, leaves
and grass are often covered in
drops of water, or dew, that
the air could not hold.
Dew drops
16
THE WATER CYCLE
Rain is the same water going
around and around
in a never-ending circle calle
d the water cycle.
Big clouds are so full of

High up, water
water that some falls to
vapor turns into
the ground as rain.
drops of water.
This is called
“condensation.”
Some rainwater seeps through

the ground before reaching
rivers.
1. Damp air 2. Falling rain
Water gets into the air 3. R unning away
When some clouds get Som
because the Sun heats e rain falls
big, the droplets of straight into the sea.
up oceans and lakes. water in them bump
Millions of gallons of Rain falling on the
into each other and ground fills up rivers
water then rise into gro w. They get so big
the air as invisible and streams, which
that they fall to the run back to the sea,
water vapor. This is ground as rain. This is
called “evaporation.” then the cycle begins
called “precipitation.” all
over again.

Rain and drizzle
Without clouds, it wouldn’t rain. Rain is simply water
falling from clouds of tiny water droplets. Clouds form
because air currents carry air up until it cools, and the
water vapor turns into drops of water, which fall as rain.
When the raindrops are very fine, they fall as drizzle.
Record rainfall
The wettest place
in the world is
Mawsynram village
in India, where up
to 467 in (11,872 mm)
of rain falls every year.
Raining ice
Sometimes rain falls as solid chunks of ice,
called hailstones. These are made when
raindrops are tossed high up in huge
clouds, and freeze into ice. As they are
bounced up and down inside the
cloud, they grow into big hailstones.
See how the ice builds up in layers,

like the layers of an onion.

Base of large gray
thundercloud, full of water
Rain approaching
This picture shows a heavy rainstorm over the Grand
Canyon in the United States. Short, heavy showers like
this are common in warm places, because the warmth
can make air rise rapidly to create big rainclouds.
Weather clue
country
According to some
is on
folk, you know rain
are
its way when co ws
ld.
all lying do wn in a fie
co ws
Unfortunately, the
rong!
sometimes get it w
19
Raindrops
Every cloud holds millions of water droplets and ice
crystals. They are so tiny that they are held up by air
alone. Some big clouds have water droplets at the
bottom and ice crystals at the top. Before rain falls, the
droplets grow much bigger. Some grow by bumping
into one another and joining together.
Others grow by condensation.
See how they grow

In clouds forming high in the sky, water
vapor freezes onto ice crystals, and
they grow into snowflakes. Then they
fall from the cloud. As they fall through
warmer air, they melt into raindrops.
Tiny water droplets bump into each

other and cling together as they fall.
Drop by drop
As a raindrop falls, it gathers up Raindrops send up a splash of
smaller ones below, growing all water. However, drizzle does
the time. The biggest raindrops not make splashes on water.
are about 1/5 in (5 mm) across.
But drizzle measures less than
0.02 in (0.5 mm) across.
20
MAKE A RAIN GAUGE
If you want to keep a re
cord of ho w much rain
make yourself a simple falls, you can
rain gauge like this. You
large plastic soft-drink will need a
bottle, scissors, tape, a me
cup, a heavy flo wer pot, asuring
a notepad, and a pencil.
1. With an adult present,

use a pair of scissors 2. Use the measuring cu
p to pour
to cut the neck off the ½ cup (100 ml) of wate
r into the
bottle. Set the neck to bottle. Mark the level wi
th tape
one side, but don’t throw and then pour in more wa
ter,
it away! marking each ½ cup (10
0 ml)
until it is full.
4. Set your gauge

outside in a heavy
flo werpot (to stop it
from blo wing over).
Every day, or week,
3. Empty the water out if you prefer, make
and attach the neck of a note of ho w much
the bottle upside do wn water there is in the
to the bottom with tape bottle, using the
.
marks to help you.
sure
Every time you mea
n plot the
the water, you ca
result on a graph.
21
Fog and mist
On a clear day, you can see for miles if you are high
enough. But at other times the air may be so thick
with fog that you can barely see across the road. Fog
and mist look like smoke, but they are just tiny drops
of water floating in the air. In fact, they are clouds that
have formed at ground level.
Morning mist
Mist is made in the same way as fog, but is not as thick as fog.
It clings close to the ground, and you can see over the top of it.
Long, clear fall nights often bring misty mornings—especially
in valleys, because cold air drains down into a valley during the night.
Mist is thickest just above the ground,

because it is the ground that cools the air.

Golden mist
San Francisco’s
Golden Gate Bridge
is often wrapped in
mist because the
warm California air
is chilled by cold
ocean currents.
Night fog
It gets foggy when the air is too
cool to hold all its moisture, or
water vapor. At night when the
sky is clear, the ground gets cold.
It cools the air close to it, making
water droplets form in the air.
The thickest fogs form when the
air holds a lot of moisture.
Fog cuts visibility (the distance you

can see) to less than 3,300 ft (1,000 m).
Souper fog
Dust and smoke make
fog much worse. Before
coal fires were banned
in London in the 1950s,
the city had some of the
world’s worst fogs, called
“pea-soupers” because
they were so thick and
yellow-green!
23
Frost and ice
In winter, the days are short and the Sun
hangs low in the sky, so we barely feel its
warming rays. On clear nights, there is no blanket
of clouds to keep in even this warmth. In some
countries, it gets so cold that moisture in the air
freezes, covering the ground with sparkling frost.
Pretty cold!
If you live in a country where it
gets very cold, you may see lovely
patterns of fern frost on your
windows. This is made when tiny
water drops on the glass turn into
ice. As more moisture freezes on
top of these icy drops, feathery
fingers of frost begin to grow.
When moisture in the air

freezes, it becomes frost.
Frosty nights
On cold nights, plants may get
so cold that moisture in the air
freezes onto them instantly,
instead of forming liquid dew.
This is called hoar frost.
24
Rime frost only
forms on one side.
Ice needles
If fog forms in very cold air, the tiny
water droplets that make up the fog
freeze onto anything they touch.
The ice builds up in thick layers
called rime. This is often swept
into strange shapes by the wind.
Winter fun ts
s that ice floa
It is lucky for u
n it is really
on water. Whe
kes, and canals
cold, ponds, la
ith a layer of
are co vered w s
, not only lake
ice. If ice sank
s would slo wly
but all the sea Ice is frozen w
ater.
to so li d ic e !
turn in
less an
e ve r w a lk o r skate on ice un fe!
N
a s fi rs t c h ec k ed that it is sa
adult h
Snowy weather
High up where the air is below freezing, clouds are
made up of tiny ice crystals. These crystals grow
into large snowflakes, which drift downward
and melt if the air gets warmer nearer the ground.
However, if it is near or below freezing all the way
down to the ground, we get snow instead.
White blanket
Once snow has covered
the ground, it may not
melt for a while, because
the white snow reflects
warming sunlight. If it
melts and then refreezes,
the crisp blanket will last
even longer.
It snows the most when the

temperature is at freezing
point, which is 32°F (0°C).
Winter sports
Snowy weather can have
its benefits! Skiing and
sledding down a snow-
covered slope are
popular winter sports.
26
NDER ce and loo
k
SNOW WO es on a co lo r ed su r fa
You will
o wflak gnifying gla
ss.
Put some sn d e r a m a ever,
carefully a
t them u n
x - p o in ted shape. Ho w
a si o t wo
ey all have the same, n
see that th ar e e x a c t ly
wo people
just as no t ic al.
o w fla k e s are ident
sn
to work
You’ll have elt!
u ic k ly be fore they m
q
Actual size e.
lak
of a sno wf s look
Sno wflake
te lace.
like delica
Igloos are dome-shaped

houses built of solid
All sorts of snow blocks of snow.
When it is below freezing,
snow is powdery and “dry”
and is useless for making
snowballs! However, when the
temperature is just about freezing,
the snow is “wet” and easily
crushed into heavy snowballs.
“Wet” snow makes

good snowballs.
From breeze to gale
Winds are simply the air around us moving.
Sometimes the air moves so slowly that the wind
is too weak to lift a feather. At other times, it moves
so fast that trees and walls are blown down. Strong
winds can be very dangerous. The Beaufort wind
scale divides winds into 13 “forces.” On the Beaufort
wind scale, 0 is calm and 12 is a hurricane.
Clouds sweep
across the sky
Force 2: Light breeze Force 5: Fresh breeze

When a light breeze blows, During a fresh breeze,
the weather is usually clear. clouds often start to drift
You can feel air on your face, across the sky, and small
hear leaves rustle, and see trees sway. Crested waves
plumes of smoke gently drifting. form on lakes.
28
Force 7: Near gale Force 9: Strong gale
During a near gale, the sky may When the wind blows at strong
be dark and stormy. Large trees gale force, the sky may be
sway and it becomes hard to covered in thick cloud. Large
walk against the wind. branches snap and chimneys
and roof tiles can be blown off.
Wind power
Windmills were once
used to grind grain. Now
they are used to make
electricity. Forests of
windmills like these can
make enough electricity
to light a whole town.
29
Under pressure
You can’t feel it, but the air is pushing down on
you all the time. This push is called air pressure.
Sometimes pressure is high; sometimes it is
low. Changes in air pressure bring changes
in the weather and make winds blow.
Ups and downs

Changes in air pressure are
measured on an instrument
called a barometer. When
pressure is low, the
weather is often wet
and cloudy. When it
is high, the weather is
usually dry and clear.
When the air

pressure drops,
stormy weather mmHg
is on the way.
hPa
easures pressure in When air pressure

This barometer m
ascals (hPa), which stays high, the
units called hectop
of millibars (mb). weather is likely
are the equivalent to stay clear.
30
MAKE A BAROMETER
This barometer will help you predict the weather. Make it on a rainy day
when the air pressure is low, or it will not work. You will need a jam jar or
straight-sided glass, a long-necked bottle, water mixed with food
coloring, and a marker.
1. Set the bottle 2. Take the bottle out and

upside down in pour enough colored water
the jar so that it into the jar so that it just
rests on the rim. covers the neck of the
The top of the bottle when it is in place.
bottle should not On the jar, mark the level
quite touch the of the water in the bottle.
bottom of the jar.
When the water is high in

3. Set your barometer in a the bottle, pressure is high
place where the temperature and it should stay clear.
is fairly constant. Mark any When the water is low in
changes in the water level the bottle, pressure is low
over the next few weeks. and you can expect storms.
Right windy
Because the world is spinning,
winds spin, too—out of high and
into low-pressure areas. Try standing
with your back to the wind. If you
live north of the equator, high
pressure will be on your right. South
of the equator, it will be on your left.
31
Superwinds
In summer, tropical places are hot and sunny.
During the fall, the skies darken and storms sweep
in from the sea, bringing fierce winds and lashing
rain. These storms are called hurricanes, typhoons,
or tropical cyclones, depending on where you live.
Tropical revolving storm

A hurricane starts when hot tropical
sunshine stirs up moist air over the sea.
It then whirls over the ocean in a giant
spinning wheel of cloud, wind, and rain.
Picture of a hurricane taken

from a satellite in space
Blown away
Howling hurricane
winds can do terrible
damage. On the
coast, huge waves
raised by the winds
can swamp the shore.

Hurricane slice
What goes on inside a hurricane? Fierce winds hurtle around
the bottom of the storm, but the center is dead calm. The air
that spirals up around the center builds up tall rain clouds.
Hurricanes may be 900 miles (1,500 km) across
Warm, damp air and 7 miles (12 km) or more high. Hurricane
spirals up around the winds in the Northern Hemisphere spin in the
center of the storm, opposite direction of the hurricane winds in
making huge clouds. the Southern Hemisphere.
Hurricane winds blow The air in the very center, or “eye,”

around the base of the storm of the storm is clear and calm.
at 185 mph (300 kph) or more.
’ names such as
Every hurricane is given a name. Once, only girls
are used, too.
Jane and Diana were used, but now boys’ names
33
Twisters
Twisters, or tornadoes, are whirling funnels of
air. They hang down from thunderstorm clouds,
which form in very hot and humid weather.
Twisters usually last about 15 minutes, but if
the bottom of a funnel touches the ground,
it will smash everything in its path instantly.
Twisters are
like the funnel
that forms
when water
is sucked
down a
drain.
Twister alert
If you see thunderclouds with small,
rounded “lumps” beneath them,
they are a good sign that a tornado
is on the way. These bulging clouds
are called mammatus clouds.
White column
Inside a tornado, air is sucked upward and
starts to spin at enormous speed. An approaching
tornado is white, because it has not yet touched
the ground and picked up dust and debris.
34
Waterspout
When a tornado
develops over calm
seas, it is called a
waterspout. Mist,
spray, and water
are sucked up into
the twisting funnel.
es.
Tornadoes are most common in the United Stat
On target
A tornado makes a
deafening roar as it
passes by. As the bottom
of a tornado touches the
ground, it sucks dust and
debris high into the sky. It
can also lift heavy objects
before hurling them back
to the ground.
At the center of a tornado, wind speeds can reach

250 mph (400 kph). They are the fastest winds on Earth.
35
Hot weather
In places where the Sun sits
high in the sky at noon,
the days are long and the
weather is hot. Hot weather
often comes with high
pressure areas, because
they bring clear skies and
light winds. High pressure Mirage
Sometimes, on a very hot day, you
can last for a long time, may see a mirage—a pool of water
making hot, sunny weather on the road ahead. Then, as you
approach, it disappears. What you
last for days on end.
are actually seeing is the reflection
of the sky on a layer of hot air just
Thermometer above the ground.
Thermometers help
us to measure the
temperature. Sealed THE POWER OF T
inside a glass tube is
H E SUN
The Sun gives off en
some dyed alcohol. ergy, which
we feel as heat. It
The liquid expands s energy can
be trapped by sola
as the temperature r panels and
made into electric
rises and shrinks as ity.
it gets colder.
Glass tube holding

alcohol dyed blue.
36
If the day starts sunny with few clouds,
the temperature soon starts to rise.
Short trails of
The Sun is high condensation are
in the sky. left by the aircraft.
“Heat-haze” is
made when dust
and pollution are
trapped near
ground level.
A hot, dry day

On a hot day, if the air is dry and calm, there are
no clouds in the sky. Hot, humid weather is
more unpleasant, because water vapor in the air
makes us feel sticky and uncomfortable.
37
Dry weather
Some countries have plenty of water and
shortages are rare. However, in some parts of the
world water is scarce, and people can never be
sure when it will rain next. Droughts happen when
for months—or even years—on end, the Earth’s
surface loses more water than it collects. In some
places, called deserts, rain hardly ever falls at all.
Parched,
cracked land
Drought
If droughts last for a very
long time, animals die of
thirst, crops wither in the
hot Sun, and people have
to go without food—they
may even die of starvation.
Desert scene
You’ll often find deserts inland, next
serts,
In true de to mountain ranges. The mountains
plants and act as a shield and keep rain-bearing
n only
animals ca s, clouds away. Semideserts like this one
ase
live near o in Arizona, in the United States, have
areas
which are a little rainfall—enough to support
ter.
of open wa plants that can store water, like cacti.
38
Death Valley
One of the driest and hottest places
in the world is Death Valley, in the
United States. People have died of
thirst here in the extreme heat.
hot.
Not all deserts are
a is one of
Central Antarctic
Earth.
the driest places on
Dust Bowl
Drought can affect many people’s
lives. In the 1930s, The Great
Plains of North America suffered
from a disastrous drought that
created a “dust bowl.” Terrible
dust storms buried crops and
houses, and many people were
forced to leave their homes.
Large stones Small pebbles MAKE A GARDEN

at corners to weigh do wn MOISTURE TRAP
bo wl in
center Dig a hole and put a
with plastic,
the center. Co ver it
The next
held do wn by stones.
in the bo wl.
day, you’ll see water
e water
This happens becaus
soil and
evaporates from the
tic, running
condenses on the plas
off into the bo wl.

Monsoon
A monsoon is a seasonal wind that blows for about six
months in one direction, then turns around and blows
in the other direction for six months. In summer,
moist winds from the ocean
bring dark, rain-bearing
clouds to the land. In
winter, the cycle is reversed.
Wind blows the air from the
land to the sea, bringing
cool, dry weather.
Asia
North Europe
America
Africa
South
America
Australia
The monsoon areas are colored red. Before the monsoon

During the early summer, the hot Sun
Where the wind blows heats up the dry tropical land, while
The monsoon is best known in Asia, the seas and oceans stay cooler. As
but monsoon winds also bring rain to warm air rises above the land, cool,
other places in the tropics including moist air from the sea rushes in to fill
Africa, South America, the southern its place. The winds blowing the sea
United States, and Australia. air bring heavy rainfall.
Life goes on
The rain is often so heavy that it
washes away crops and floods
the streets. Violent thunderstorms
can also occur, but whatever the
monsoon brings, life goes on.
Monsoon in action After the rain

Monsoons are vital for growing For six months, showers
crops. Once the monsoon sweep across the land.
begins, the wet conditions are Finally, the wind and rain
ideal for rice farmers, who can die down. The cool air
start planting young rice plants flows back toward the sea and
in the flooded fields. the land begins to dry.
41
A warm front
If weather forecasters say a “front” is on the way, then
expect the weather to become wet and windy. A warm
front is where a mass of warm moist air is pushed up
over a mass of colder, drier air creating clouds and rain.
Fronts move along with areas of low pressure, and the
winds blow stronger as they pass by.
Wispy warning Clouding over

When you see wisps of After a while, the sky gets hazy
feathery cirrus clouds in and the clouds thicken. Fluffy
the sky, you can be sure a altocumulus clouds appear,
warm front is on the way. looking like streaks of cotton
balls. The wind grows stronger,
making the sea very choppy.
42
Nimbostratus clouds
Wet and windy

Soon the sky is dark with thick nimbostratus clouds.
It begins to rain steadily and continues to rain for
several hours. If it is cold enough, it may even snow.
Red line
On weather maps, a warm front is a line
with red bumps on it. The bumps point
the same way as the wind blows.
43
A cold front
Fronts usually come in pairs. Often there is only
a brief gap between one front passing and the
next arriving. The first is a “warm” front because
it brings warmer air. The second is a “cold”
front, and brings colder air and sometimes
even stormier weather than the warm front.
Stratocumulus clouds
bring occasional drizzle.
On the move
On a weather map, a
cold front is a line with
blue spikes. The spikes
show which way the
cold air is moving.
Brief relief
As the warm front moves away, the , the Sun
In summer, inland
rain (or snow) stops and it gets warmer. can get
comes out and it
Near the coast it stays cloudy, and m front
there may be drizzling rain. hot after the war
.
has mo ved a way
44
Storm overhead
You know the cold front
is on its way when the
wind becomes stronger,
giving gusts that rattle
windows. The sky may
fill with huge dark
thunderclouds that lash
the countryside with
rain or even hailstones.
More rain may fall

in the few minutes
a cold front passes
than all the hours
of a warm front!
The sea is very rough.
It’s all over

The worst of the storm
is soon over. It feels
colder as the clouds
clear, leaving a blue
sky with fluffy cumulus
clouds. However, there
may still be more violent
showers to come.
The sea is calmer.

Thunder and lightning
Hot, sticky summer days often end in violent
thunderstorms. Dark, towering thunderclouds
send forks of lightning flashing across the sky,
and booming thunderclaps fill the air. The
electricity from just one bolt of lightning
could light a small town for a whole year!
Flash and crack

Inside a storm cloud, violent winds Lightning flashes
swirl snow, hailstones, and rain up between the
and down. Electricity builds up in bottom of the
the cloud and escapes as a flash thundercloud
of lightning. and the ground.
Lightning and thunder happen at the

same time, but you see the lightning first
because light moves faster than sound.
Thunder is the sound of air bursting as
it is heated rapidly by lightning.
46
Strike
Lightning always takes the quickest path
to the ground. So tall trees and buildings
are most likely to be struck. The world’s
tallest buildings are struck by lightning
hundreds of times each year.
Each fork of lightning is many

lightning flashes running rapidly
up and down the same path.
a way
r e o u t ho w far onds
figu e sec
You can c o u nting th da
a storm
is b y
o f li g htning an
a flash ee
bet ween p. For every thr
c la rm is
thunder u count, the sto
yo
seconds ( 1 k m) a way
.
il e
half a m
Holy thunder
Some Native Americans believed that the
sacred thunderbird made thunder by beating
its enormous wings, and that lightning flashed
from its beak.
47
Colors in the sky
The sky isn’t always blue, even when it’s clear.
Near sunset it can be purple or even red. This is
because sunlight is made up of the seven colors of
the rainbow, all mixed up together. As sunlight
bounces in different ways off dust and other
particles in the air, different colors appear.
Rainbow Snake
Australian Aboriginals worship a spirit
known as the Rainbow Snake. He lives
in water and is the great creator who
has made the features of the Earth.
He can appear as a rainbow.
Rainbows are
curved because of
the way light hits the
round raindrops.
Curving colors
When sunlight passes through
raindrops in the air, the light splits
into seven colors—red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo, and
violet. Many raindrops help to
create the pattern.
48
MAKE A RAINBOW
You can make your ow
n
rainbo w with just a gl
ass
of water and bright
sunlight. Stand the gl
ass
on white paper, facing
the
Sun. The sunlight will
shine
through the glass an
d split
into the seven colors
.
Ring around the Sun
When the Sun shines through
thin icy cloud, a colored halo may
appear. This is caused by ice
crystals in the cloud splitting
sunlight into the seven colors,
just as raindrops do. Never look
directly at the Sun, as it will
damage your eyes!
Sometimes
You always see the there is a
colors in a rainbow in second, outer
the same order, from bow, and its colors
red through to violet. are always the
other way around.
To see a rainbo
w, the Sun
must always be
behind you.
49
Changing weather
The world’s weather has changed many times. About
10,000 years ago, great sheets of ice covered a third of
the Earth. That was the last Ice Age. Today we live in a
much warmer climate. Many scientists think we have
harmed the atmosphere so much that the world is
getting even warmer.
Prehistoric weather
Millions of years ago, when dinosaurs
roamed the land, much of Europe and
North America was covered in forests.
The climate was hotter and more
humid than it is today.
Sun trap Some heat is reflected

Only a small portion of the back into space.
Sun’s heat reachs the Earth.
But the Earth stays warm
because gases, such as
carbon dioxide, trap the
heat—just like the glass
in a greenhouse. Carbon The gases in
dioxide is a greenhouse gas the atmosph
ere
that is made when we burn trap some
heat,
wood, coal, or oil. If we which keeps
produce too much, the the world nice
Earth may get too warm. and warm.

A big umbrella
When volcanoes erupt,
they throw large
amounts of dust and
smoke high into the
atmosphere. This cuts
off sunlight, shading
the ground like a big
umbrella. This can make
temperatures drop all
over the world for a year
or more.
Save the trees Tropical rain forests are

Trees take in carbon dioxide and vital in removing excess
release oxygen and moisture, which is carbon dioxide from the air.
turned to rain. Cutting down the trees But in the Amazon region,
stops them doing this, and burning an area of rain forest the
them releases all the carbon dioxide size of Britain is cut down
they soaked up as they grew, helping ever year for farming.
to raise the Earth’s temperature.
51
Pollution
You may find it hard to believe, but many
things people do every day create pollution.
Too much pollution can cause changes in the
weather. It may get too hot in some places,
and cause floods or drought in others.
Cutting down on pollution now means
a cleaner world tomorrow!
Pollution problems
Smoke and gases from factories pollute the air and
may form smog. This is a mixture of smoke and fog,
which can make people sick. Car exhausts may give
off poisonous gases that not only affect our lungs
but can also block out the sunlight.
Acid rain
Power plants that burn coal or oil to
generate electricity release waste gases
into the air. The gases drift on the wind
until raindrops dissolve them, making
“acid rain.” This eats away at buildings
and kills trees, plants, and life in rivers
and lakes.
Acid rain, carried by wind, can destroy

pine forests thousands of miles away.
52
TEST FOR AC ID RAIN
Here is an experiment you can use to
test for acid in
rain water. You will need two finely cho
pped red cabbage
leaves, distilled water (from a pharma
cy), rainwater, a
bowl, two glass jars, a measuring cup
, and a sieve.
1. Put the leaves into 2. Strain the

the bowl. Have 3. Pour 1 fl oz (20 ml) of
cabbage juice into distilled water into one
an adult pour hot a measuring cup.
distilled water over jar, and 1 fl oz (20 ml) of
The liquid should be rain water, collected from
them. Then let them a dark purple color.
stand for an hour. your yard, into the other.
Rainwater
4. Add the same amount of cabbag
e juice
to each jar. The water will change col
or. Distilled water
Compare the color of the distilled wat
er
(this stays the same) and the rain wat
er. The stronger the acid, the
If the rain water turns red, it is acidic
. redder the water gets.
The Earth’s blanket

The ozone layer of our atmosphere
The blue areas
protects us from the Sun’s harmful
in this satellite
ultraviolet rays. However, some
photograph
chemicals can destroy it. As a
show the
result, holes have appeared in
hole in the
the ozone layer, allowing more
ozone layer
of the harmful rays to reach the
over the
Earth’s surface and damage
Antarctic.
many living things.
53
Weather lore
Today, weather forecasters use
satellites and radar to tell us what the
weather holds. Before this, people
used to look for clues in nature to
predict the weather. They didn’t just
look at the skies—they also watched
how animals and plants acted. Some
of the signs are reliable, but others
aren’t foolproof!
Groundhog forecast
In the United States, people say
that if you can see a groundhog’s
shadow at noon on February 2,
there will be six more weeks
of winter. Fortunately, the
groundhog isn’t always right!
Red sky at night

People used to say a red
sunrise meant bad weather
to come, and that a red sunset
meant good weather to come.
Try to watch the sky at sunrise
and sunset to see if this saying
is always correct.
54
OPEN AND C
LOSE
Pinecones are
traditionally
used to foreca
st the weathe
Put a pinecon r.
e outdoors an
watch what h d
appens. It will
open out in ve
ry dry weathe
and close up w r
hen it is damp.
The pinecone
’s scales Scales are tig
open in dry we htly
ather. shut in wet we
ather.
Flower power
When you want to know what
the weather will be like, look for
the magic carpet flower. It grows
in the wild in South Africa and is
a popular garden plant elsewhere.
The petals stay wide open in clear
weather, but they close up when
the sky grows dark.
Frog-cast
One way to tell if it’s going to rain soon
is to look out for frogs. They love to
come out when it’s damp. Since
the air becomes humid before
it rains, you may see
more frogs
around and you
will know to
expect rain.
55
Weather forecasting
To figure out what weather is on its way,
forecasters take measurements from weather
stations all over the world. They also study
information gathered by satellites in space.
The information is entered
Solar
into powerful computers that
panels
work out how it might affect the
atmosphere. The results are then
used to forecast how the weather
is going to change.
BOLS
WEATHER SYM as a special sym
bol. Weather satellite
eather h
Every type of w a th er for a week,
and Satellites in space are
k o f th e w e
Keep trac nt symbols you
use. controlled by teams
m a n y d iffe re of people on Earth,
see ho w
but they can
perform many
tasks automatically.
Light
Cloudy
Sunny Sunny rain
intervals
Heavy
Hail
Heavy Thundery sno w
sho wers
rain sho wers
Weather map
Information about the weather is often shown on maps.
Places where the atmospheric pressure is the same are joined
by lines called isobars. The isobars form rings around zones of
low pressure and high pressure.
Low-pressure zones contain Isobar
warm and cold fronts.
1008
HIGH
1024 1032
1024
1016
1024
1016 1016
1024 1008
1008
1000
992
LOW
HIGH
1024
1032
1040
HIGH
Cold front Warm front High-pressure zone

57
The day
During the course of each day there are
changes in the weather. On days with good
weather, you can almost tell the time by the
way the weather changes through the day—
from the cool chill of dawn through the heat of
the afternoon to the clear, calm evening.
Sun rise Noon

Dawn is usually chilly, as the As the Sun climbs in the sky,
ground loses heat steadily all morning mists fade away and it
night. It is often misty, too, for gets warmer. By noon, a few
the cool of the night makes fluffy cumulus clouds appear,
water condense in the air. made by rising warm, moist air.
58
Toward sunset
As the Sun drops lower toward
sunset, its power to stir up the air
gets less and less. So the end of
the day is often calm and clear,
Midafternoon with barely a cloud in the sky.
Midafternoon is the warmest
time of the day. Often, though,
the morning’s fluffy cumulus
clouds can build up and up until
they interrupt the afternoon with
brief but heavy showers of rain,
or even thunderstorms.
Night
Once the Sun has dropped below
the horizon it gets steadily colder—
especially if there are no clouds to
keep the heat in.
59
Index
cumulonimbus clouds high pressure 30, 31,
15 36, 57
cumulus clouds 13, 15, hoar frost 24
45, 58, 59 hot weather 36–37,
A 38–39
acid rain 52–53
air 8–9
DE humidity 16, 37, 55
deserts 8, 38–39 hurricanes 9, 32–33
air pressure 30–31,
dew 16, 24
57
altocumulus clouds
drizzle 18, 20 IL
drought 38–39, ice 24–25
15, 42
52 Ice Age 50
altostratus clouds 14
dry weather 38–39 isobars 57
atmosphere 9,
dust bowl 39
50–51
lightning 46–47
exosphere 9 low pressure 30, 31, 57
B
barometers 30–31
Beaufort wind scale F MN
28–29 fall 11 mackerel sky 15
breezes 28 floods 41, 52 magic carpet flower
fog 22–23, 25, 55
52 mammatus clouds 34
C
fog and mist 22–23 mare’s tails 12
carbon dioxide 50, 51
forecasts 9, 54–55, mesosphere 9
cirrocumulus clouds
56–57 mirages 36
15
frogs 55 mist 22–23
cirrostratus clouds 14
fronts 42–43, 44–45, moisture trap 39
cirrus clouds 12, 42
57 monsoon 40–41
climate 8
climate change 50–51 frost 24–25
clouds 12–15, 34, 42, 43, nimbostratus clouds
44, 45, 58–59 GH 14, 43
cold fronts 44–45, 34 gales 29
57 greenhouse gases 50 OP
colors, rainbow groundhogs 54 ozone layer 9, 53
48–49
condensation 17, 20, hailstones 18, 45, 46 pinecones 55
58 heat-haze 37 pollution 52–53
60
R 45, 46–47, 59 Acknowledgments
rain 17, 18–19, 20–21, tornadoes 15, 34–35
Dorling Kindersley
56 tropical cyclones 32
would like to thank:
rain gauge 21 troposphere 9
twisters 34–35 Carl Gombrich, Gin von
raindrops 20
typhoons 32 Noorden, and Kate Raworth
rainbows 48–49
for editorial assistance
rain forests 51
and research.
rime frost 25 volcanoes 51
Sharon Grant and Faith Nelson
for design assistance.
S W Ron Lobeck for help with
satellites 9, 56 warm fronts 42–43, writing text.
seasons 10–11 44, 57 Hilary Bird for the index.
showers 19, 45, 56, water 8 Jim Sharp for help with
59 water cycle 17 authenticating text.
smog 52 water vapor 16–17, 18,
snow 20, 26–27, 46 20, 23, 37
solar power 36 waterspouts 35
spring 10 weather maps 43, 44,
storms 45, 46 57
stratocumulus clouds wind 9, 28–29
15, 44 wind power 29
stratosphere 9 winter 10, 11, 24–25,
stratus clouds 13, 26–27
14
summer 11
Sun 10–11, 14, 17, 24,
36–37, 38, 40, 44, 50,
52, 58–59
sunset 48, 54, 59
TV
temperature 36,
50–51
thermometers 36
thermosphere 9
thunderstorms 15, 34,
61

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What are some types of clouds mentioned?

What are some types of clouds mentioned?

What weather phenomena are described in the text?

What weather phenomena are described in the text?

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Igloos are dome-shaped

“Wet” snow makes

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Satellites are stationed

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Cirrus clouds high up

Stratus clouds build up when

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Big clouds are so full of

Some rainwater seeps through

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See how the ice builds up in layers,

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See how they grow

Tiny water droplets bump into each

1. With an adult present,

4. Set your gauge

Mist is thickest just above the ground,

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Fog cuts visibility (the distance you

When moisture in the air

It snows the most when the

Igloos are dome-shaped

“Wet” snow makes

Force 2: Light breeze Force 5: Fresh breeze

Ups and downs

When the air

easures pressure in When air pressure

1. Set the bottle 2. Take the bottle out and

When the water is high in

Tropical revolving storm

Picture of a hurricane taken

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Hurricane winds blow The air in the very center, or “eye,”

At the center of a tornado, wind speeds can reach

Glass tube holding

A hot, dry day

Large stones Small pebbles MAKE A GARDEN

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The monsoon areas are colored red. Before the monsoon

Monsoon in action After the rain

Wispy warning Clouding over

Wet and windy

More rain may fall

The sea is very rough.

It’s all over

The sea is calmer.

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Flash and crack

Lightning and thunder happen at the

Each fork of lightning is many