Making Sense of Weather and Climate

The Science Behind the Forecasts

Why did it rain today when the forecast said sun? Why do thunderstorms happen? 
What is a weather front? If weather is seasonal, why isn't the weather always the 
same on my birthday? At the other extreme, if weather is so variable then why 
doesn't the temperature ever go to -100 or + 200? Why can I see through rain but 
not fog? I answer these and many other questions about weather dynamics, but also 
a few about weather's slower sibling, climate. Writing about climate is tricky 
because it arouses strong views that are not always rational. Will the climate be 
the same for my grandchildren as it is for me? (Spoiler alert: no). Many of the 
extreme weather phenomena are increasing in frequency. I show how thunderstorms, 
work, and how hurricanes and tornadoes arise. The dynamics that underpin weather 
are brought out in a math-lite way; this has been the most challenging book so 
for, from my point of view, because weather physics is so very complex and its 
understanding by weather scientists is so mathematical and yet I need to explain 
it to readers with curiosity and intelligence but who are not usually into math.

Making Sense of Weather and Climate (2017) is published by Columbia University 
Press. It has been nominated for the Science Book and Film prize of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science.