As scientists, we're exposed to the weather more than usual as we travel in the field. Most of the time, we can do our work on either a cloudy or sunny day. Or we can endure a warm rain as we explore. But an ice storm can also mean a canceled flight, or a string of hot days can cause the trains to be late.

Of course, we're not the only ones.Everyoneis affected by weather. For most people, weather, the local atmospheric changes we experience every day, is usually viewed with joy or disgust. We praise weather when it treats us to a sunny and warm day for a family picnic, and curse it when sleet falls on the day we chose to travel. Weather is also a matter of debate, some preferring hot-weather beachcombing to cold-weather skiing. We tend to criticize the weather forecasters for not predicting or controlling the weather, as if they really had a say in the matter. And of course, many of us are addicted to the weather channels, on television and the Internet, places that give us on-the-spot pictures of what weather is coming our way, eliminating the surprise of the "coming-out-of-nowhere" weather events our ancestors had to endure.

But even with all our warnings and colorful weather maps, the weather continues to awe and amaze us with its power and weirdness. One reason arises from the very nature of weather: Unlike other physical events on Earth, such as the lava flow from a volcano or the shaking of an earthquake, we can't really "touch" weather. We can't see or touch the air rising to build a thunderstorm, and we have no way of watching how positive and negative charges meet to form a lightning bolt. The atmosphere becomes the playground for nature's magicians. And we are the passive observers of their demonstrations -- from calming rainbows to skies of fury.

Whether you are traveling the Rocky Mountains of the United States, the deserts of Australia, the Caribbean islands, or the windblown ice sheets of the South Pole, there are always weather sights particular to a region. This book starts out by explaining the better-known weather events and some of the weirder facts about these common phenomena. It then swings its way through the many "sky shows" that develop in other parts of the world, revealing the tricks of light and optical illusions of these weather events. We explain some of the stranger weather phenomena and patterns that often pop up in geographically diverse regions, and even give you a few Internet weather sites to explore for more information.

Weather is important to us all. It has been for thousands of years, and it will continue to be so in the twenty-first century and beyond. Intuitively, we all know that without weather and its connection to the Earth's natural cycles, such as precipitation, evaporation, and condensation, life would cease to exist. Maybe our need to know the weather and explain its many forms is based on one fundamental idea: The weather we see truly represents not only the events driving the Earth and its cycles, but life as we know it.

Copyright © 1999 by Patricia Barnes Svarney and Thomas E. Svarney

---

Excerpted from Skies of Fury: Weather Weirdness Around the World by Patricia L. Barnes-Svarney
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.