Books

Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth is a book that discusses the historical aspects of forecasting hurricanes and tropical storms.  The book goes into some pretty good detail about how forecasters used to predict hurricanes before the age of weather satellite and radar.  Written by former National Hurricane Center Directory Bob Sheets and USA Today’s Jack Williams, the book is primarily geared towards those more technical-minded as myself in wanting to understand forecasting techniques better.  Especially for you beginner weather enthusiasts, this should be a good book for you to pick up.

The book discusses in detail such topics as hurricane reconnaissance and how Army Corps pilot Joseph Duckworth flew the first ever mission of an AT-6 into a hurricane – an unnamed hurricane that struck Galveston, TX in July, 1943.

Sheets and Williams also talk about the ideas of hurricane seeding and the disasters behind that idea.

There’s also a section that details the various computer forecast models used – though, since the book hasn’t been revised since 2001 may be slightly outdated.

Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth has 12 reviews so far with five 5-star ratings and six 4-star ratings.  Raves have included the chapter focusing on Hurricane Andrew, one of the last storms Sheets would witness from the Director’s chair.

“Hurricane Watch gracefully details the past, present and future casualties and catastrophic economic losses that hurricanes have created and will unleash in the not-so-distant future.”

JG in Jacksonville, Florida

Get Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth from Amazon.com today!

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