Portal:Weather

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The weather portal

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers to day-to-day temperature, precipitation, and other atmospheric conditions, whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is generally understood to mean the weather of Earth.

Weather is driven by air pressure, temperature, and moisture differences between one place and another. These differences can occur due to the Sun's angle at any particular spot, which varies with latitude. The strong temperature contrast between polar and tropical air gives rise to the largest scale atmospheric circulations: the Hadley cell, the Ferrel cell, the polar cell, and the jet stream. Weather systems in the middle latitudes, such as extratropical cyclones, are caused by instabilities of the jet streamflow. Because Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane (called the ecliptic), sunlight is incident at different angles at different times of the year. On Earth's surface, temperatures usually range ±40 °C (−40 °F to 104 °F) annually. Over thousands of years, changes in Earth's orbit can affect the amount and distribution of solar energy received by Earth, thus influencing long-term climate and global climate change.

Surface temperature differences in turn cause pressure differences. Higher altitudes are cooler than lower altitudes, as most atmospheric heating is due to contact with the Earth's surface while radiative losses to space are mostly constant. Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. Earth's weather system is a chaotic system; as a result, small changes to one part of the system can grow to have large effects on the system as a whole. Human attempts to control the weather have occurred throughout history, and there is evidence that human activities such as agriculture and industry have modified weather patterns.

Studying how the weather works on other planets has been helpful in understanding how weather works on Earth. A famous landmark in the Solar System, Jupiter's Great Red Spot, is an anticyclonic storm known to have existed for at least 300 years. However, the weather is not limited to planetary bodies. A star's corona is constantly being lost to space, creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the Solar System. The movement of mass ejected from the Sun is known as the solar wind. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

Severe Tropical Cyclone Orson was the fourth most intense cyclone ever recorded in the Australian region. Forming out of a tropical low on 17 April 1989, Orson gradually intensified as it tracked towards the west. After attaining Category 5 intensity on 20 April, the storm began to track southward and accelerated. The following day, the cyclone reached its peak intensity with winds of 250 km/h (155 mph 10-minute sustained) and a barometric pressure of 904 hPa (mbar). Orson maintained this intensity for nearly two days before making landfall near Dampier. The cyclone rapidly weakened after landfall as it accelerated to the southeast. After moving into the Great Australian Bight on 24 April, the storm dissipated.

Despite Orson's extreme intensity, damage was relatively minimal as it struck a sparsely populated region of Western Australia. Five people were killed offshore and damages amounted to A$20 million (US$16.8 million). The storm damaged a new gas platform that explored a possible oil field, believed to contain nearly 200 million gallons of oil. The damage delayed the project for nearly two weeks. The most severe impacts took place in Pannawonica, where 70 homes were damaged. Following the storm, clean up costs reached A$5 million (US$4.1 million). Due to the severity of the storm, the name Orson was retired in 1990 and later replaced by Olga.

Recently selected articles: Christmas 1994 nor'easter, Evansville tornado of November 2005, Typhoon Tip, More...

More selected articles

Did you know (auto-generated) - show different entries

... that Japanese actor Kouhei Higuchi prepared for his role on the television drama adaptation of My Personal Weatherman by learning from a weather forecaster?
... that Eric Berger wrote about weather for the Houston Chronicle even before he became a certified meteorologist?
... that after Irish post office clerk Maureen Flavin Sweeney reported worsening weather conditions, Dwight D. Eisenhower agreed to postpone D-Day by 24 hours?
... that extreme event attribution estimates how much climate change causes weather events, such as the 2021 Western North America heat wave?
... that the weather forecast for HD 189733 b is "Westerly winds at 2000 m/s, with molten glass showers"?
... that weather whiplash is the phenomenon of rapid swings between extremes of weather conditions?

edit

Selected image

A bolt of lightning struck just behind this hill, near Swifts Creek, Victoria, Australia. Lightning kills more people than any other thunderstorm phenomenon (including tornadoes), and strikes approximately 100 times per second across the world.

Recently selected pictures: Moore, Oklahoma tornado damage, Spearman, Texas dust storm, Cordell, Oklahoma tornado, More...

More selected pictures

edit

More did you know...

...that the Flying river is the name given to the transport of water vapor from the Amazon rainforest to southern Brazil?

...that hurricane shutters are required for all homes in Florida unless impact-resistant glass is used?

...that the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research is a combined weather and ocean research institute with the cooperation of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the University of Hawaiʻi?

...that the SS Central America was sunk by a hurricane while carrying more than 30,000 pounds (13,600 kg) of gold, contributing to the Panic of 1857?

...that a hurricane force wind warning is issued by the United States National Weather Service for storms that are not tropical cyclones but are expected to produce hurricane-force winds (65 knots (75 mph; 120 km/h) or higher)?

...that the Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System is a software package for tropical cyclone forecasting developed in 1988 that is still used today by meteorologists in various branches of the US Government?

Archive of previous DYK...

edit

Recent and ongoing weather

edit

This week in weather history...

April 16

1998: A deadly tornado outbreak struck Tennessee and Kentucky, including a rare F5 tornado that killed 3 people, and another tornado that struck downtown Nashville, Tennessee, killing one person.

April 17

1970: A multi-day tornado outbreak began in the southern High Plains of the United States, including 3 F4 tornadoes in the Texas Panhandle that killed 6 people.

April 18

2014: An avalanche killed 16 Sherpa guides working on Mount Everest.

April 19

2008: Typhoon Neoguri made landfall in Guangdong province of southern China, the earliest tropical cyclone to strike the nation in recorded history.

April 20

1996: Two tornadoes caused major damage in Southern Ontario.

April 21

2003: Tropical Storm Ana transformed from a subtropical cyclone to a tropical cyclone, becoming the only such storm ever recorded in the northern Atlantic Ocean in April.

April 22: Earth Day

1992: A subtropical cyclone, the first ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean in the month of April, reached peak intensity far south of Bermuda.

See a new, random set • Other days in history...

edit

Selected biography

Tetsuya Theodore Fujita (/fuːˈdʒiːtɑː/; FOO-jee-tah) (藤田哲也, Fujita Tetsuya, October 23, 1920 – November 19, 1998) was a Japanese American meteorologist whose research primarily focused on severe weather. His research at the University of Chicago on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoons revolutionized the knowledge of each. Although he is best known for creating the Fujita scale of tornado intensity and damage, he also discovered downbursts and microbursts and was an instrumental figure in advancing modern understanding of many severe weather phenomena and how they affect people and communities, especially through his work exploring the relationship between wind speed and damage. (Full article...)

Previously selected biographies: Sakuhei Fujiwhara, Robert Simpson, More...

More selected biographies

Related portals

edit

Quality content

Featured articles

Featured lists

More weather-related Featured Lists...

Featured pictures

Featured topics

Featured candidates update

Feat. article candidates:

Tropical Storm Ileana (2018) (Discussion)

Featured list candidates:

Feat. picture candidates:

Other candidates:

Featured Article Review: 2005 Atlantic hurricane season (Discussion)
Featured List Removal Candidate: List of storms in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season (Discussion)

Good articles

More weather-related Good Articles...

edit

Subcategories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

edit

WikiProjects

The scope of WikiProject Weather is to have a single location for all weather-related articles on Wikipedia.

WikiProject Meteorology is a collaborative effort by dozens of Wikipedians to improve the quality of meteorology- and weather-related articles. If you would like to help, visit the project talk page, and see what needs doing.

WikiProject Severe weather is a similar project specific to articles about severe weather. Their talk page is located here.

WikiProject Tropical cyclones is a daughter project of WikiProject meteorology. The dozens of semi-active members and several full-time members focus on improving Wikipedia's coverage of tropical cyclones.

WikiProject Non-tropical storms is a collaborative project to improve articles related to winter storms, wind storms, and extratropical cyclones.

Wikipedia is a fully collaborative effort by volunteers. So if you see something you think you can improve, be bold and get to editing! We appreciate any help you can provide!