Reeds Weather Handbook 3rd edition

Frank Singleton is a former Senior Forecaster with the Met Office and is an RYA Yachtmaster with over 60,000 miles under his keel. His weather website for sailors (weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather) is known worldwide as an extensive and informative resource for all sea-goers. He has given many lectures to sailors, including at the Cruising Association and the Royal Yachting Association.

• Introduction Air masses -Understanding air masses-Air directly from polar regions -Air indirectly from polar regions -Air from the subtropics-Tropical air-Air mass with a land track -Fog-Sea fog areas-Other causes of sea fog -Showers and thunderstorms -Lightning-Lightning protection -Avoiding the risk-Other dangers of thunderstormsFronts and depressions -Frontal lows and their formation -What you may see at sea level-Occluded fronts -Non-frontal lows-Relationship of wind to isobars-Use of synoptic charts-Forecasting windsSea and land effects -How breezes are formed -The sea breeze front-What affects the sea breeze? -Land breezes-Sea/land breeze cycles-How strong? How far out to sea? How far inland?-Cliffs, straits and headlands-SummaryWaves and swell -Understanding sea state -Wind waves-Swell-Water depth and tidal stream -Reflection and refraction-Sea state – general advice -Lagoon, bay and seiche effects -TsunamisWeather forecasting – the background -Why weather prediction is so difficult-Before computers-Numerical weather prediction (NWP)-Limitations to NWP -Ensembles and probability forecasts -Grid spacing-Small-scale NWP -Computers-SummaryUsing forecasts – and your experience -Planning-Weather and whether to go? -Day sailing and coastal passages -Passage making-Examples-Learning by experience -Ocean crossings -SummarySources of weather information-Types of marine forecast available-The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)-Forecast areas and schedules -Forecast texts-GRIB files and products-Accessing GRIB data-Processed, pre-selected GRIB data-Model comparisons-Sea state-Location specific forecasts-Fine-scale GRIB data-On prepayment-Consultants-Actual weather reportsGetting forecasts -Communications-Radio -NAVTEX-The internet-Internet access – coastal and ashore-Internet access – long rangeObserving – learning by experience-Weather lore and rules of thumb -Nowcasting-Examples of unusual cloud patterns-Mountain waves -Bora cloud -Mammatus cloud-Climate changeAppendix -The Coriolis effect and Buys Ballot's law-Factors affecting the pressure-wind relationship-Acronyms and abbreviations -Meteorological terms-Terms used in marine weather forecasts-Beaufort wind scale -Douglas sea state -Gale and strong wind warnings -Wind direction -Visibility-Terms used in UK Met Office forecasts-Gale warning timings -Movement of pressure systems-Pressure tendency in station reports-Sources of marine weather information-Sources of (mainly free) GRIB data and productsIndex

...an excellent series of handbooks on various aspects of weather