Product Description

The ultimate guide to the ultimate storms, Hurricane Watch is a fascinating blend of science and history from one of the world's foremost meteorologists and an award-winning science journalist. This in-depth look at these awe-inspiring acts of nature covers everything from the earliest efforts by seafarers at predicting storms to the way satellite imaging is revolutionizing hurricane forecasting. It reveals the latest information on hurricanes: their effects on ocean waves, the causes of the variable wind speeds in different parts of the storm, and the origins of the super-cooled shafts of water that vent at high altitudes. Hurricane Watch is a compelling history of man's relationship with the deadliest storms on earth.

Includes:

- The story of the nineteenth-century Cuban Jesuit whose success at predicting the great cyclones was considered almost mystical.

- A new look at Isaac Cline, whose infamous failure to predict the Galveston Hurricane left him obsessed with the devastating effects of storm surge.

- The story of the Hurricane Hunters, including the first man ever to deliberately fly into a hurricane.

- A complete account of how computer modeling has changed hurricane tracking.

- A history of Project Stormfury: the only significant, organized effort to reduce the damaging strength of severe hurricanes.

- A unique firsthand account of Hurricane Andrew by both authors, who were at the National Hurricane Center when Andrew struck.

- A listing of the deadliest storms in history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #438645 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-31
• Released on: 2001-07-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The powerful winds of the famous Galveston hurricane of 1900 drove mountains of surging water inland with little warning, and met with little understanding. Hurricanes are no different today, but thanks to advances in meteorology conceived by people like Sheets, the former director of the National Hurricane Center and the wide dissemination of information by news media particularly journalists like USA Today weather page founder Williams the United States public is much better prepared than in the past. While thousands died amid massive destruction at the turn of the century, monstrous Andrew destroyed billions of dollars in property in 1992, but took few lives. Sheets and Williams deliver an accessible history of how meteorologists have learned to understand and predict the course of these fearsome atmospheric giants. Except for a basic blunder in the description of satellite orbital mechanics, in which the authors describe a fictitious centrifugal force instead of inertia, the technical writing is clear and accurate. Complementing the discussion of science and technology are stories of human tragedy and triumph and of the risks that still lurk along our coastlines. Readers will easily and eagerly follow the authors' step-by-step look at advances in both meteorology and emergency response from the first known successful hurricane prediction in the 16th century on Columbus's fourth voyage to the New World through advances in instrumentation, satellite imagery, aircraft reconnaissance and computer modeling in the 20th century to the unresolved problems and the uncertainties of changing climate in the 21st.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A thoroughly satisfying, chronological investigation of the history and science of hurricanes. Early chapters set the stage with a discussion of 15th-18th-century understandings of atmospheric phenomena, from which point the authors coach readers through 19th- and 20th-century advances in knowledge and technology. They employ vivid accounts of monumental storms and of the people who pioneered groundbreaking techniques to improve the process of forecasting in the interest of saving lives. With its dozen appendixes of facts on deadliest storms, as well as a glossary and valuable index, the book is structured in a way that would accommodate quick research by students. However, its greater value lies in a reading of the entirety as a fascinating exploration of the complex weather patterns that induce hurricanes and of the dedication of those who track them. This volume would be equally viable for its science or its career perspectives.

Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Sheets and Williams, on the other hand, are experts in their fields. Sheets is a former director of the National Hurricane Center and a noted authority on hurricanes. Williams is the founder of the USA Today weather page and author of The Weather Book. Their book is both a comprehensive history of U.S. hurricane forecasting and a clear explanation of the science of hurricanes. Anyone who lives in hurricane-prone areas or is interested in hurricanes or science history will appreciate this clearly written work. Lay readers will grasp how hurricanes form, strengthen, and travel, and experts will take much from Sheets's personal accounts of Hurricane Andrew, the history of hurricane hunter aircraft in forecasting, and the explanation of how technological advances have greatly improved the science of hurricane forecasting. Storms will continue to strike, but the authors show that we are much better prepared. Highly recommended for all libraries, especially those in hurricane-prone areas. Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado Lib., Denver
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Wealth of information and still readable!
Dr. Bob Sheets is a previous director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Jack Williams helped found the USA TODAY Weather Page. Together these two well respected men combine their unique talents, introspection , scientific facts with intriguing anecdotal tales. The result may well be one of the ultimate books about hurricanes from their formation to the evolution of man's ability to understand and predict their path and power. They blend the lines of scientific fact and human experience yielding an accessible guide to a more in-depth understanding of hurricanes. The book covers the early days of meteorology, when it was perceived as almost a mythical ability to the more current up to the moment technological advances at the forefront of climatology and prediction. Also included are tables listing the deadliest hurricanes, strongest hurricanes and costliest storms. The Saffir-Simpson scale is explained and laid out along with a table detailing the strike possibilities by region. There is a section that deals with the computer models utilized by the National Hurricane Center, both the statistical and dynamic forecast models, from CLIPER to SHIPS, from GFDL to NOGAPS. Each model is detailed and it's purpose and focus are explained.
Finally there is the most important section, on how to prepare for a hurricane, from things to do before you buy or build your home, preparing ahead of time for hurricane season and what to do from the time a watch is issued, the hurricane arrives and after the hurricane has passed. This book is a wealth of information for those whose lives may depend upon an understanding of hurricane predictions and the ability to prepare themselves and their families for the possible onslaught of the hurricane season.

Prophetic
This book is like a Colombo murder mystery. You know "who did it," it's just will he or she be caught in time. The answer to the question, in this case, is "no."

Dr Sheet's book is a very thorough commentary on the history and study of hurricanes. He provides the reader with an interesting background narrative of hurricanes and their destructiveness that dates from the early experiences of Spanish explorers and early European settlers in the Caribbean, the east and southeast coasts of the US and Canada. He also discusses the typhoon or cyclone in the Pacific and the odd phenomenon that dictates that when there are more of these, there are fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic. He also covers the North Atlantic Oscillation and El Niño, though to a lesser degree than Brian Fagan did in one of his weather/climate discussions. Of far greater historical interest-to me anyway-is his discussion of the various personalities involved in researching hurricanes. It's surprising how much solid study was conducted as early as the 19th century.

The author also describes the big name hurricanes. Probably the best is his own experience of Hurricane Andrew in Florida. The story is riveting, especially when, having lived through a very precarious situation himself, he expresses concern over the very real possibility that the storm might move on into the Gulf of Mexico and hit New Orleans. The book was written in the late 1990s, but he is able to thoroughly describe the potential destruction should a hurricane hit the city in full force. As we know, Andrew did not move into the New Orleans area, but Katrina did. The outcome was much as the author had predicted. With so much foresight, it makes one wonder why authorities could have been so lax in taking precautions. It was, in fact, much as many had already said, a case of "not if, but when."

The answer seems to reside in that peculiar sense of probability that dictates that "if it didn't happen in my grandfather's time, and it didn't happen in my father's time, it won't happen mine." Human experience of climate is actually the experience of weather, a relatively short-term phenomenon. While the human life span seems quite long compared to other types of animal, it's infinitesimally short compared to the age of the earth, which is the time frame of climate. It's this grander scale of climatic change that makes the discussions over global warming so contentious, and the appropriate actions to be taken the subject of feud. Everyone has his or her own opinion, and the fact is that we really don't know. The author makes this point when he discusses the possibility that there will be more frequent and more destructive storms with the advent of global warming. Here too, they don't know, but the author is inclined to doubt it. That there will be storms as destructive as Andrew he accepts; that they will be more costly he agrees. But he feels that the latter will be due more to the increasing population of the areas subject to these storms and the unpreparedness of new comers in the face of a phenomenon with which they have no experience.

What is amazing to me is that the areas subject to a force of nature as fierce as a hurricane continue to grow in population and that building continues to be substandard, at least under the circumstances, but then the San Andreas fault system is heavily settled with buildings far too fragile to survive another 1906-style earthquake and the fertile flanks of Vesuvius lure farmers to them irrespective of its reputation for death and destruction. The human capacity to ignore what "might" happen looms ever optimistic.

"Hurricane watch"
"Hurricane Watch Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth" was an excellent book. It had many great facts on hurricanes in it. It gave me more understanding on hurricanes and how they start. This book is very helpful if you are studying meteorology. This book is written by Dr. Bob Sheets former director of the National Hurricane Center. He was in charge of predicting the tracks of hurricanes and sending out warnings to the people of the communities where the hurricane will hit. The book goes through the history on predicting hurricanes. It starts with Christopher Columbus and ends with hurricane Andrew. Since it is a sort of old book some of the "New technology" in the book is out dated. Also it does not have anything about the strong hurricanes of today. I recommend this book for anybody who likes to learn about the history of hurricanes. The book had facts on the history of hurricanes. The book was interesting in many places but had some boring spots. Also the book talked about people flying planes into hurricanes for reconnaissance. It had the history of the reconnaissance planes starting from World War 2 to now. The book was a fairly long book. The end of the book had appendices that had facts from hurricanes in the past. It also has a list of all of the hurricanes from 2001 to 2006. In some parts of the book I could not put it down but in other parts it was boring. The book had many great pictures. Some pictures were about what happened after they hit and others were about radar and what the hurricanes looked like from above. If you like meteorology and hurricanes this book is for you. Also if you need to do some research on hurricanes I would recommend this book to you.