Weather is the result of reaction between the Earth’s atmosphere to the Sun coupled with encounters with other random and limiting factors like the friction with land and the earth’s gravitational force.

The average of the variable weather conditions for over a long period of time is referred to as the Climate. How can the possible weather conditions of a geographical area be predicted? Average conditions of a place considered for a period of more than 30 years along with the prevalent extremities describe the climate of that area.

The description of climate of a particular place should consist of the information related to the rainfall, cloud cover, moisture, direction and speed of wind, prevalent temperatures, time of sunshine and several other factors.

Our desire is to learn the ways of predicting the possible climatic variations in the similar fashion like we wish to predict about the oncoming weather conditions. However, the time periods for climatic changes are much more compared to the time of weather changes.

Climate Zones

It has been a constant endeavor of the mankind to explore and know the world. This is no exception for climate and weather as well. With the increase in our understanding about the different patterns of weather and climate for longer time periods, we have created our unique ways of classifying and summarizing the different zones of global climate.

These climate zones are differentiated based on the Antarctic and Arctic circles, whose latitudes are 66.5 degrees south and north respectively and the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees north and south respectively.

This area in between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn is known as low latitudes. The climate along this area is characterized by high humidity, heavy rains and minimal temperature variation and is known as tropical climate.

The areas within the tropics and Antarctic and Arctic circles are referred to as the middle latitudes. These areas usually experience moderate climates with four distinct seasons. This type of climate is referred to as the temperate climates that have cold winters and warm summers with a uniform rainfall.

The region between the Antarctic and Arctic circles and the poles is called the high latitudes that experience polar climates. The winters are very long and cold while the summers are a little warmer here. Snowfall is very common in the Polar climate zones.

Though the climate zones provide with a broad overview of the global weather, each zone experience some variations in the local weathers. These climate zones are further sub-classified based on maritime and continental places. The maritime places are the areas along the coasts that have a very different climate from the continental or inland places. However the sub-classifications cannot justify the variations due to the ocean currents and mountain ranges.

It is obvious that the global zones of climate vary locally to some extent. In some cases, these variations may persist for a long time and result in anomalies in the climatic conditions. Still the classifications of global zones of climate are useful in providing with an idea of the weather patterns across the globe and the expected weather for an area.

The very first thing you should do when playing in the wind is to throw up grass to see which way the wind is blowing where you are. Next, have a look at the trees around where your ball is going to be going to see what way the wind is blowing there. If there are no trees in that area, look at the flag. Lastly use your ears to hear the wind and this will help you to tell how strong it is. Once you’ve assessed the situation you should then follow the pointers below.

Into the Wind:

When playing into the wind you should take one, two or even three clubs more than usual and swing normally. Also grip down on the grip so your swing will be automatically shorter. Because the shorter your swing the lower the ball will go (generally).

Plus to help you keep the ball lower you should play the ball further back in your stance. And over all shots into a wind, widen your stance because this helps to create better balance and it also lowers your center of gravity, which can only help.

Side Winds:

You have two options in this situation. You can play your natural ball flight and either ride or fight the wind or you can purposely curve the ball to either go with the wind or go into it. There is no right or wrongs here so you must see what works best for you.

With the Wind:

In these situations you should use the wind and get the ball up as soon as possible. If you don’t hit your driver particularly high then use a 3 or 5 wood instead. Let the loft of your club get your ball up in the air but by all means tee the ball higher. Lastly, have fun with these shots and see how far you can hit it.

One last point. Remember everyone finds it more difficult in the wind so don’t beat yourself up if a few shots, or even more than a few, go astray because the same thing is going to happen to everyone else. Expect the scores to be higher and go out on the day with a positive attitude. One of fun and experimentation. Good luck!

Traveling around the country one notes how different people drive during various weather conditions. In fact, it is so different than when adverse weather hits, such as a hail storm, black ice on the road, Monsoon, heavy rain, blizzard, Hurricane, dust storm or micro-burst - the mixing of different age groups, sizes of cars and trucks, and regions where people are from can be deadly. Let’s discuss two very serious accidents on California highways recently.

The first on involved over 30-tractor trailer, 18-wheeler trucks and at least 10 automobiles- it was in I-5 an interstate freeway that stretches all the way from Mexico to Canada. The truck drivers were from all over the country, with different levels of weather knowledge. One truck crashed another stopped, but was hit from behind and the pile up ensued for a good ten minutes. It was the first real rainstorm of the season and the tunnel they were driving thru was a blind curve - many deaths and a 100s of millions of dollars needed in repairs now.

The second crash in the same region happened a week later, when a giant dust storm dropped the visibility. A Canadian driver and one from Washington State died, because Californian’s did not stop, they tried to Bonzai thru. “Dude, speed up this is sooo cool, radical dude!”

It is known that the mixing of trucks and four-wheelers (cars) with speed gaps 55 mph VS. 70 mph is a recipe for disaster. It is also known that old drivers and young drivers do not mix. Ask any tow truck driver, older drivers have back bumper damage and younger drivers have front bumper and front quarter-panel damage. Young drivers, drive too fast and older drivers often drive slower than the average speed of traffic

We know that if the atmosphere did not exist, the earth would go without weather. Imagine for a moment for argument’s sake that the earth has an atmosphere indeed, as it is today, though the sun is absent. Absence of sun would mean absence of weather and that is not only because a frozen solid form the atmosphere will take. Actually the interaction between heat of the sun and our atmosphere builds air masses, while circulation patterns appear due to that. Pressure differences motivate air movements and wind is the end result of the same.

As in case of other materials, the air in the earth’s atmosphere is built of molecules that move about incessantly. Greater is the air pressure where denser concentration of molecules is found. Since air molecules are governed by gravity, the greatest air pressure is found nearest the earth’s surface and with altitude that decreases. The atmospheric pressure at sea level is about 14 and a half pounds on each square inch about which are normally not much conscious.

If air pressure is measured in hectopascals or millibars, normal air pressure ranges from 980 to 1040 hectopascals while on local conditions that is very much dependent.

At different speeds these molecules incessantly move while the speeds depend on temperature, lower the temperature slower is the peed and for higher temperature faster is the speed. The molecules speed up as a mass of air is heated and that results in expansion of air. The density of the molecules decreases as expansion takes place and thereby the air mass becomes lighter. The air mass that has become lighter starts rising now. Convection is the term for the entire process.

All through the world convection is going on constantly in the atmosphere. However neither regular nor uniform is the process. It depends on many local factors whether convection will take place, and if it does at all, how much that will be.

As air rises it cools. Therefore in due course the rising warm air masses get cooled down and to the ground that its starts sinking back. With the rise of air, low pressure results. High pressure is the result where it is sinking. As equilibrium is the goal of atmosphere, air moves from high pressure areas to low pressure ones. Wind is this very movement of air. More the difference between the high pressure and low pressure zones, more forceful winds would be the result.

An elliptical orbit the earth or the third rock from the sun follows and to complete that the time it takes is one year. The time to complete one orbit marks stretch of the earth’s year. Since elliptical is the earth’s orbit, in certain parts of the year it really comes closer to the sun. However that does not cause seasons even though more solar heat the earth receives then.

The earth’s movement is not limited to its travel through space in its own orbit, but it spins also on its axis like a top. In every 24-hour one spin it completes. Alteration between day and night is caused by the earth’s rotation. Weather conditions differ between day and night as is reflected in high and low temperatures and the effect of that is felt on weather patterns too.

On its axis the planet earth is tilted about 23 degrees and that causes really the change of seasons. Due to tilting different parts of the earth come closer to the sun as around the sun the earth travels in its orbit. Therefore during certain parts of the year different parts of the earth receive different amounts of heat.

In December the Northern Hemisphere receives less light since the North Pole is tilted away from the sun then. Thus the days become shorter there while the temperatures go down.

But as the earth moves on its orbit, North Pole comes close to the sun due to earth’s tilt. Till June 21 it continues to come closer to the sun and then the summer reaches its maximum. On that very day the sun is just above the Tropic of Cancer. Around the sun the earth continues to move until December 21 when the winter reaches its peak and the cycle is complete.

Just opposite are the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere even though the same cycle it experiences. In December the Southern Hemisphere is the closest to the sun and therefore it is summertime there. Quite logically June21 is the date marked for winter peak in the Southern Hemisphere.

The middle and high latitudes only, i.e., above 23.5 degrees north and below 23.5 degrees south, enjoy four seasons precisely. Normally for the tropics only wet and dry seasons are the two seasonal variations.

The ageless, timeless, complicated and forever ongoing interaction between the Earth’s atmosphere and the sun’s heat results in the weather. The awesome, amazing colors that we see in the sky are produced storms and ever-changing weather systems as the atmosphere is without color on its own. Then how does this astounding display of color come about?

Air molecules and dust particles that are present in our atmosphere collide with the light waves from the sun and scatter in various directions as it enters our atmosphere. The waves that have shorter wavelengths like violet and blue waves get more effectively scattered than the orange and red waves having longer wavelengths. As a result varying mixtures of green, violet and blue waves along with small quantity of other colors scattered across the vast expanse of the sky. The blue that we see as our sky is formed due a combination of this mixture. But the exact shade varies depending on how the amount of dust particles and water vapor are present in that portion of the air. The shape of blue will get paler as the amount of particles and droplets increase in the air.

All the colors of the spectrum gets scattered by the water droplets that make up the clouds and thus making the clouds appear white. Meaning reconstitution occurs to the white light originally emitted by the sun. But the clouds appear gray or black if they are thick thus preventing light from passing through.

During sunsets and sunrises, the sky changes color frequently. The phenomena happens due the scattering of orange and red waves that gets though because as the sun is at a lower position in the sky during these times, the light gets to travel further into the Earth’s atmosphere. The orange and red hew gets more enhanced due to the presence of ash, dust and pollution in the atmosphere.

Weather Watcher who are Beginners

An intriguing array of changes in weather pattern is created by Earth’s atmosphere. Constant changes in weather in various parts of the world challenge our lifestyle as we adjust to it. For weather forecasting professional level, quality instruments have been introduction for the use of enthusiasts and amateurs in recent times. Contribute collected data by setting up your own weather station at home to the Internet and local professional forecasters is possible now because of these instruments.

Making distinction between high-level, middle-level and low-level clouds is a good thing to learn. An increase in the high and mid level clouds generally indicates the approach of frontal systems. Snow and rain is always a probability if low-level clouds follow these clouds.

A small chance of precipitation if there is fair weather accompanied by cumulus clouds that’s indicative of stable atmosphere. Although you might be in for heavy rain, gusty winds and can even experience a hailstorm if you observe explosive and rapidly developing cumulus clouds.

Weather can be forecasted by keeping a close watch on the barometric pressure and the direction of wind Winds movement from the southwest and falling pressure on the barometer are often indicators of frontal systems in the Northern Hemisphere.