A Field Guide to the Atmosphere (Peterson Field Guides (R))
by John A. Day, Vincent J. Schaefer

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Book Reviews of A Field Guide to the Atmosphere (Peterson Field Guides (R))

Book Review: Worthwhile for the "Everyday" cloud-watcher
Summary: 4 Stars

There are also useful appendices like the Beaufort scale, and tornado safety rules in the back.

The only drawbacks are, the fact that this isn't a full-color guide: the color plates have been segregated to an insert around the middle of the book, which makes up perhaps an eighth of the book - if that (all other photos - the majority of the book - are in much less detailed and descriptive black and white); also, the illustration of severe weather is rather limited. We don't see features of a severe thunderstorm, or satellite images of a hurricane at its various stages of intensity (or an illustrated discussion of satellite pictures in general - this guide may be from 1981, but satellites existed then!), or the forms a tornado can take, or where one can form - we only have photos of distant, non-severe looking cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) clouds, a view of clouds around a hurricane taken from a plane (which isn't the perspective either a satellite or someone on the groud is going to have), and one photo of a tornado chosen for its historical merit only (it being the "first photo taken of a tornado," near Howard, SD on 8/28/1884 - an older photo, taken near either Garnett or Westphalia, KS on 4/26/1884, has since been found). [Regarding the thunderstorm/tornado images, I realize this isn't supposed to be a NOAA spotter's guide, therefore gospel, but a variety of images helps.]

But if a lack of color doesn't bother you, and you know your severe storms (or they don't bother you, either), this is a good field guide to have.

Summary of A Field Guide to the Atmosphere (Peterson Field Guides (R))

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