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The Weather of Britain

Synopsis:

It is no accident that the weather is a perpetual topic of conversation in Britain. For its range of extreme conditions our climate is quite unusual. Winds of over 130 mph (1976), arctic conditions like those in early 1963 and snowstorms producing 6 feet of undrifted snow in 15 hours (1929), fogs in which you cannot see your own feet (1952), protracted droughts as in 1975-6 and 1995-7 and heatwaves with temperatures reaching 100 F (1868), hailstorms showering down lb hailstones (1925), ice-storms so severe that birds fell to the ground in mid flight, weighed down by coats of ice (1940), and deluges releasing 11 inches of rain in 24 hours (1955) -- Robin Stirling tells us of these and many other equally remarkable phenomena, assessing their significance in relation to average conditions both locally and nationally, and putting all the facts into perspective. A mine of information, The Weather of Britain has proved absorbing for all those with a general interest in the subject and valuable for people whose jobs and even lives depend on having a detailed and accurate knowledge of Britain's weather. It is now appearing in paperback for the first time in this second, extensively revised and completely updated edition

Reviews:

On the second edition: '...the citizen needs no other volume to possess an authoritative account of every aspect of Britain's weather, past, present and future. I can think of no topic in meteorology which he has not covered happily and well.' Ian McCaskill in his foreword to the new edition 'This book deserves to be a success, and I can unhesitatingly recommend it to all readers of this magazine.' Journal of Meteorology '...the bible of weather lore...' Michael Hanlon in the Independent 'Robin Stirling offers a huge banquet to feed the British obsession in his expanded second edition of The Weather of Britain. Full to bursting with tales of extremes -- storms, heat waves and tornadoes -- Stirling also does a great job of breaking down the unpredictable mechanics of climate into its constituent nuts and bolts. Graphs, charts and dramatic photographs [are included]. New Scientist On the first edition: 'A remarkably comprehensive account of what we know about the weather and its causes in these islands...a wealth of excellent and dramatic illustrations' New Scientist 'An encyclopaedia of British weather' BBC Radio 2 '[He] discusses his subject in a way which will delight any reader with an interest in the wide variety of weather that can occur in the British Isles.' World Meteorological Organisation Bulletin, Geneva

Author Biography:

A professional geographer and teacher, Robin Stirling was well known for his meteorological researches, in which he was active throughout his life. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Royal Meteorological Society, and was also the author of Modern Suggestive Geographies, Part II, The World (Wheaton).

Table of Contents:

The Weather and The sea Around us, More About The sea and Air, Highs and Lows, The Elements of The Weather, What Rain can do in a Month, Some Days Bring Deluges, Thunderstorms, Hail and Hailstorms, Twisters, Drought, Temperature, Jack Frost, Sensational Months and Seasons, Sensational Days, Snow, Some Notable Snowfalls, Glaze, Sunshine and Shade, Breezes and Gales, Some Local Winds, Visibility - Sparkling Days and Sombre Fogs, City Weather, our European Neighbours' Weather, is our Climate Changing?

Additional Information:

Illustrations: 44 halftone ill.,149 line ill.,100 maps, 49 tables Related subjects: Meteorology Great Britain Meteorology