Skies of Fury

There are no bad boys and the same goes for weather, but that's not to say its behavior isn't often mighty strange, as science writers Barnes-Svarney and Svarney explain. Concisely knit together here are introductions to the grand forces shaping the weather and the sideshow of related hellspawn, dazzlers, and curios. In a light but bell-clear tone, Barnes-Svarney and Svarney lay the foundation stones: the hydrologic cycle, the great prevailing winds, the jet stream and the southern oscillation and high and low pressure systems-the weather shapers. Then they present the odd weather phenomena, the events that keep you wondering: Jacob's Ladder and the Ropes of Maui, sun dogs and moon dogs, the twilight wedge, the specter of Brocken (where, high in the mountains, your shadow penetrates into the encroaching fog, framed by concentric rings of glory), and everybody's favorite, the green flash. These are set within their particular contexts, be they topographic or atmospheric, and are typically accompanied by outrageous stories. One finds a pilot bailing out of his plane at 47,000 feet and falling smack dab into a monster hurricane. He is spun around in the system, the ultimate wash-rinse cycle, for 40 minutes. He almost drowns, but it's the lightning that really gets his attention: 'it appeared mainly as a bluish sheet, several feet thick, sometimes sticking close to me in pairs.' He is hurled to the ground, lands in a tree, and walks away. Then there is the chartreuse ball of lightning the size of a bus that bounced down a Welsh hillside, and the air light that brings us purple mountains' majesty, and the storm surges during syzygy, when the sun and moon are aligned and the tides just keep rising. The weather: it never ceases to amaze. You will continue to stand in awe of it after reading this book, but at least it won't be dumb awe. (photos)-