Although the study of weather is obviously a science, there are still some underlying questions as to why we have to study the weather, what causes “weather” and why are some people so passionate about learning more about the weather. These being my essential questions for this quarter, this blog’s purpose is to share my opinions on the above questions after investigating the topic through various means of literature.

The weather that this world throws at us is different all around the world. It directly controls the climate of every place on the map. Hot, dry weather: you get a desert. Hot, wet weather: you get a rainforest. Varying weather: (like where we live in New England) you get a temperate forest, covered in species of both plants and animals that have adapted to the ecosystem around them, all shaped by the weather. It is not only in the natural world where the impacts of climate affect life, but also the lifestyle of humans pertaining to a specific region vary. Although we have created ways of avoiding weather actions like rain, cold, snow and heat, there are some things we as humans just cannot stop. Examples: hurricanes, tornadoes, avalanches, floods, violent snow storms, shore pounding waves and baseball size hail. Wouldn’t it be nice to know a hurricane is headed your way? Yes, it would be, and that is why it is necessary for us humans to study the weather.

The study of weather causes no harm to our planet. No metrological instruments are put into place that can cause any damage what so ever. Without the study of the weather, we would not be able to predict not only the upcoming storm, but the upcoming time period when all of the toxins we release into the air start to affect us as if it hasn’t already.

There are millions of factors that can affect the weather, humans being one. Besides our own impacts, basic rules of physics, convection, absorption and even elasticity play major roles in the development of weather. Convection is the main catalyst for the weather we forecast. Heat expands, cold contracts. The colder the air, the more dense it is, and the world is constantly trying to reach equilibrium by cold air (cold front or high pressure system) attempting to permeate into warmer less dense air; vice versa. If the world wasn’t rapidly spinning, heating up and cooling down the farther it drifts back and forth toward the sun, the world would reach equilibrium in a few hours, violently. See notes on the last ice age. Adding physics into the equation, the constant rotating of the earth plays a massive role in the development of massive storms. If timed and fueled correctly, the surface air movement caused by the rotation of earth and the direction of the jet stream pertaining to the location causes rotational winds up to 300 mph which we call either hurricanes or tornadoes.