Meteorology Today: An Introduction to Weather, Climate, and the Environment

The first textbook of its type written specifically with the needs of the Canadian market and its unique meteorological environment in mind. This first Canadian edition builds upon the tried and tested strengths of the Ahrens Meteorology series and provides a more relevant resource for Canadian students and instructors by ensuring that Canadian content, practices, conventions, and examples are used throughout. An Earth Systems feature — the first of its kind in Ahrens — has been developed for this edition, presenting the interconnectedness of elements, and providing a peek at the chapter content. This "visual table of contents" highlights the Earth system components reflected in each chapter (the atmosphere; hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, biosphere and anthrosphere). The relationships between the chapter's content and Earth systems are further expanded upon in the introduction of each chapter. Unique Canadian content in this first edition includes: • Canadian Air Mass/Front model and descriptions of the Canadian forecast system • North American weather and climate maps • Canadian weather facts, major weather events, and records set in a global context • Special topics such as How do weather broadcasters do it?, Why are Canada's coastal regions so foggy?, and Measuring snow depth are covered in many new Focus on ... boxes with expert guest writers such as Claire Martin from CBC News • Tephigrams used to assess stability are explained • Inclusion of Canadian examples from coast to coast • Marine influences/climates • British Columbia's temperate rainforest • Alberta's Chinook • Prairies as a breeding ground for thunderstorms • Summer heat in southern Ontario and eastern Quebec • Delayed spring in the Maritimes due to thermal lag • Hurricanes that have impacted Canada • Canadian practices and Canadian examples such as Arctic observations, recent work on regional-scale weather forecasting, and weather and climate change research