Instant Weather Forecasting: You Can Predict the Weather
By Alan Watts
()
About this ebook
This revised and updated 5th edition takes into account the new ways users can receive professional weather forecasts, factor them into their own cloud observations, and develop an even better understanding of how the weather will change.
This bestselling gem of a book will continue to be invaluable to anyone participating in outdoor activities, from farming, gardening and walking to riding, golfing, flying, sailing, fishing - and of course holidaymakers.
Alan Watts
Alan Watts, one-time professional meteorologist, spent considerable time studying wind changes and short-term alterations in the weather. This, combined with his enthusiasm for sailing which began with the sea scouts, enabled him to assist people to read the weather from the signs in the sky. He died in May 2020.
Related to Instant Weather Forecasting
Related ebooks
The Weather Handbook: The Essential Guide to How Weather is Formed and Develops Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReading the Clouds: How You Can Forecast the Weather Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sailor's Book of Weather Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWeather Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete On-Board Celestial Navigator, 2007-2011 Edition: Everything But the Sextant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinding Your Way Without Map or Compass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celestial Navigation for the Complete Idiot: A Simple Explanation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Celestial Navigation: A Practical Guide to Knowing Where You Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Walking Man: The Secret Life of Colin Fletcher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blue Book of Sailing: The 22 Keys to Sailing Mastery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fish Who Found the Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peter Isler's Little Blue Book of Sailing Secrets Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Zen: A Short Introduction with Illustrations by the Author Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sailing Alone Around the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life: Collected Talks: 1960-1969 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ultimate Navigation Manual Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Singlehanded Sailing: Thoughts, Tips, Techniques & Tactics Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Extracted Wisdom of Alan Watts: 450+ Lessons from a Theologist Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Little Blue Book of Sailing Wisdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Rigger's Apprentice: Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging, Second Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5At the Mercy of the Sea: The True Story of Three Sailors in a Caribbean Hurricane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lectures in Navigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Arts of the Sailor: Knotting, Splicing and Ropework Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meteorology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Modern Cruising Sailboat: A Complete Guide to its Design, Construction, and Outfitting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mingming II & the Impossible Voyage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJust So: Money, Materialism, and the Ineffable, Intelligent Universe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Essential Wilderness Navigator: How to Find Your Way in the Great Outdoors, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Outdoors For You
Bushcraft Illustrated: A Visual Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/552 Prepper Projects: A Project a Week to Help You Prepare for the Unpredictable Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nuclear War Survival Skills: Lifesaving Nuclear Facts and Self-Help Instructions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Survival Hacks: Over 200 Ways to Use Everyday Items for Wilderness Survival Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bushcraft First Aid: A Field Guide to Wilderness Emergency Care Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Survive Off the Grid: From Backyard Homesteads to Bunkers (and Everything in Between) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdvanced Bushcraft: An Expert Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scout's Guide to Wild Edibles: Learn How To Forage, Prepare & Eat 40 Wild Foods Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, and Cooking in the Wild Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pocket Guide to Essential Knots: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Most Important Knots for Everyone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Field Guide to Knots: How to Identify, Tie, and Untie Over 80 Essential Knots for Outdoor Pursuits Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBirth of The Endless Summer: A Surf Odyssey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ultimate Survival Hacks Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5They Shoot Canoes, Don't They? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Useful Knots Book: How to Tie the 25+ Most Practical Rope Knots: Escape, Evasion, and Survival Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sailing For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Survive Anything: From Animal Attacks to the End of the World (and Everything in Between) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ultimate Survival Medicine Guide: Emergency Preparedness for ANY Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emergency Survival Manual: 294 Life-Saving Skills Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Instant Weather Forecasting
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Instant Weather Forecasting - Alan Watts
A 24-colour photograph guide to weather forecasting from the clouds, for use by walkers, farmers, fishermen, yachtsmen, golfers, holidaymakers – in fact for anyone to whom the weather in the near future is of vital importance.
Contents
Preface to the Fifth Edition
How to use this book
General note to the reader
The Crossed Winds Rules
Explanation of terms used in the text
Facts about clouds
Beaufort Scale of wind force
1Jet stream cirrus
2Cirrus and cirrostratus
3Warm front or occlusion approaching
4Altostratus ahead of a warm front or occlusion
5Imminent rain or snow
6A front passes
7Thundery sky
8Thunderstorm
9Warm sector weather
10Sea and coastal fog
11Showers
12Air mass trough
13Cumulonimbus
14Quiet evening
15Red sky at night
16Cirrus foretelling improvement
17Will it thunder?
18Will it rain?
19Fair weather cumulus
20Cirrus revealing no change
21Stratocumulus
22Stratus
23Altocumulus and cirrocumulus
24Coastline clouds
Preface to the Fifth Edition
In the hot summer of 1967 I reluctantly sat down to write Instant Weather Forecasting. It was an idea that I had recently tried out on James Moore, who was then Editor of the Adlard Coles imprint of Granada Publishing. He seemed more than keen that I should write this little book but I was busy putting together a physics textbook and I did not want to be deflected from, what seemed to me, this important work. I soon found that James was right—the physics textbook never saw the light of day but Instant Weather Forecasting has been in continuous print ever since its spectacular launch in 1968.
Up to that point I had only written two books with relatively small print runs, and I was staggered to find my publishers doing an initial printing of 75,000 copies so that they could supply the editions of foreign publishers across Europe as well as in America. Jim even felt confident enough to call a press conference to launch the book. I found myself writing captions to a bevy of my sky pictures for the prestigious Sunday Times Magazine. I found it amazing that my little book was heading the ‘Hidden Best Sellers’ list. It was a heady time for a young author.
The reviews were everywhere excellent. The reviewers seemed to respond to a book about the difficult subject of meteorology which they could immediately relate to, even if they didn’t fully understand how I’d arrived at the inferences quoted in the book.
It is this chance to dive straight in and play the forecasting game as well as the attractiveness of the full-page pictures that explains why Instant Weather Forecasting has been so successful and is now being re-launched after almost half a century. That small beginning has now developed into an extensive library of transparencies covering all aspects of the sky, as well as interesting phenomena like rainbows and sundogs, jack frost patterns, and the fairyland that develops when freezing fog paints trees with hoar frost. However, such otherwise irresistably photogenic pictures are not for this book. Instant Weather Forecasting is an essentially practical book. It does not contain many of my most spectacular pictures simply because they do not properly illustrate the aspects of weather being discussed.
Instant Weather Forecasting cannot be used everywhere in