Pacific High cold vs. Bermuda High warm

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Pacific High (cold) vs. Bermuda High (warm)
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Florida sea breeze convergence
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Hawaii sea breezes from space
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Lake Effect
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Rain, Freezing Rain, Sleet, Snow
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HURRICANE BOB (CAT II - Aug. 19, 1991)

• Hurricane Bob caused a storm surge of 5 to 8 feet
  along the Rhode Island shore, but drove a surge
  of 10 to 15 feet into Buzzards Bay. Cove Road, in
  Mattapoisett, MA had 29 of 37 homes destroyed,
  while Angelica Point, MA lost 32 of 35 homes
  along the shore. Boat damage was significant, as
  many boats were torn from their moorings.
  Significant rainfall of 3 to 6 inches fell across
  the area. Bob was responsible for six deaths in
  the region, all in Connecticut. Total damage in
  southern New England was approximately 680
  million dollars.
• After making landfall, Bob was degraded to a
  tropical storm when it crossed central Maine.

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1938 New England Hurricane (Miller video 1687)

• The hurricane had no name, it was not tracked,
  and it came with little or no warning. There
  were no emergency services available. Killer
  storm surge was caused by extreme low pressure,
  offshore winds, and the timing of the high tide.
  Great loss of life.

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The Moojita Tornado Scale

• MO Cows are spun around and are mildly annoyed.
• M1 Cows are tipped over and cant get up.
• M2 Cows begin rolling with the wind.
• M3 Cows tumble and bounce.
• M4 Cows are airborne.
• M5 H A M B U R G E R !!!

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Weather and Climate in History Antiquity Enlight
enment Early America
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Antiquity
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Aristotelian Science

• Aristotle (d. 322 BCE) was a student of Plato and
  founder of the Lyceum. He was the premier
  natural philosopher who dominated Western thought
  from the 4th century BCE to the 17th century AD.
  He was the author of works on logic, metaphysics,
  ethics, politics, art, rhetoric, psychology, and
  natural philosophy.

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Geocentrism
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The Heavens

• At the geometric center of the Aristotelian
  universe is the fixed earth (universe). The
  earthly realm, extending up to the sphere of the
  moon, is the realm of generation and corruption,
  of becoming and passing away. All bodies in this
  realm are composed of four elements earth,
  water, air, and fire. A radical break occurs at
  the moon. From the moon outwards, the world
  consists of a number (up to 55) of spherical
  shells, some of which carry the stars and planets
  and move continually with uniform circular
  motions. The heavens are incorruptible and are
  made of a fifth divine element, aether, or
  quintessence. The planets and stars were carried
  round eternally on physical spheres turning in
  uniform circular paths.

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Meteorology The sub-lunar realm
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The Earth

• Returning to the sub-lunar realm, none of the
  four elements are found in a pure state and all
  bodies are a mixture of all four. There are four
  fundamental qualities considered to be even more
  fundamental than the elements hot, cold, wet,
  and dry. Moreover there is affinity and
  opposition (four elements). For example, earth
  is cold and dry, water cold and wet, air hot and
  wet, and fire hot and dry. Air and water show
  some affinity (they are both wet), but water and
  fire are in opposition, as are air and earth.

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• The other set of defining properties for matter
  were natural place and natural motion. Earth is
  absolutely heavy and its natural place is at the
  center of the world. Next comes water which is
  relatively heavy and air which is relatively
  light. Fire is absolutely light and seeks the
  outermost level of the sub-lunar realm. If a
  body is not in its natural place (for example
  underground fire in volcanoes), then its natural
  motion tends toward its natural place. When
  water is found below its natural level, say
  underground, it tends to rise to the surface, as
  in springs. When it is above its natural level,
  in the clouds, it tends to fall down as rain.

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• Thus the four elements comprising the sub-lunar
  realm were dynamic, intermixed, and
  interchangeable, driven primarily by the heat of
  the sun and by emanations and movements of the
  heavenly realm.
• Aristotles view of the elements is also
  reflected in Hippocratic medicines doctrine of
  the four humors.

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René Descartes, Les meteors (1637).

• Although the clouds are hardly any higher than
  the summits of some mountains . . . nevertheless,
  because we must turn our eyes toward the sky to
  look at them, we fancy them to be so high that
  poets and painters even fashion them into God?s
  throne, and picture Him there, using His own
  hands to open and close the doors of the winds,
  to sprinkle the dew upon the flowers, and to hurl
  the lightening against the rocks. This leads me
  to the hope that if I here explain the nature of
  clouds in such a way that we will no longer have
  occasion to wonder at anything that descends from
  them, we will easily believe that it is similarly
  possible to find causes of everything that is
  most admirable above the earth.

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Ancient Question

• Do the climates of the Earth and its physical
  geography influence the moral and social nature
  of individuals, and have they molded the
  character and nature of human culture?
• Does climate determine culture?

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Hippocrates, Airs, Waters, Places

• Emphasized the effects of climate and other
  geographical factors on human health.
• People inhabiting harsh climates in rugged and
  mountainous terrain are large, naturally
  courageous, and warlike while people living in
  leas and hollows where hot winds prevail tend to
  be broad and fleshy with dark complexions.
• Asians are more gentle and less warlike than
  Europeans, due in part to milder changes of
  seasons which reduce rapid physical and
  physiological changes and their accompanying
  mental shocks.
• Climate is a primary influence, but human
  institutions could have a moderating effect.
• Overall, however, the relationship between health
  and lifestyle is under the direct influence, if
  not the control, of airs, waters, and places.

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Aristotle, Politics

• Europeans living in cold regions are high
  spirited, but deficient in skill and
  intelligence. They lack political organization
  and are incapable of governing others.
• Many Asians live in regions that are too hot.
  They are intelligent and inventive, but are
  servile and lacking in spirit.
• The Greeks occupy a temperate region of the earth
  midway between the extremes of cold and hot
  and enjoy the advantages of both climes. They
  are both high spirited and intelligent.
  According to Aristotle such a climate could
  support a universal civilization, if only the
  Greeks could unite!

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A long tradition of determinists

• Albertus Magnus (13th C Cultivating the earth
  in a temperate climate was the nearest
  approximation of Paradise on Earth.
• Jean Bodin (1566) climate influences society
  and government, his theory foreshadows that of
  Montesquieu.
• John Arbuthnot (1733) physiological effects of
  weather and climate.
• Montesquieu -- L'empire du climat est le premier
  de tous les empires

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• One over-peppy Milwaukee industrialist plus 2
  weeks of 90o temperature in the south equals a
  new, lazy, Chinaman type of bird watcher.
  Virgil Partch (1953).

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Hyperthermia and Hypothermia
44 Death 41 Heat stroke 39 Heat exhaustion

• Human survival depends on maintaining core body
  temperature near 38 C.
• Source Morgan and Morgan, Weather and People
  (1997).

38 Normal
36 Uncontrollable shivering 32 Loss of body
control 30 Unconsciousness 25 Death
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Apprehending Climate Change

• Awareness and Understanding
• Fix not too rashly upon your first apprehensions
• Richard Baxter (1670), Oxford English
  Dictionary
• Anticipation and Dread
• The bare fears of such things and apprehensions
  of their approach
• Robert Sanderson (1648), O.E.D.
• Intervention and Control
• A warrant for his apprehension, was obtained.
• Chambers Edinburgh Journal (1881), O.E.D.

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International Commission on History of Meteorology
http//www.meteohistory.org

• Promotes the scholarly study of the history of
  meteorology, climatology, and related sciences
  including their social and cultural aspects, and
  facilitates international cooperation,
  communication, and friendship between historians
  and scientists.