CLIMATOLOGY AS DISTINGUISHED FROM METEOROLOGY

Economic and social benefits of meteorology and climatology in Switzerland

National Meteorological Services provide meteorological data, information, forecasts and various related products, which are important for the smooth functioning of many aspects in economy, administration and society. The merit of meteorological services cannot be deduced directly from the consumption of services. Rather, it emerges from the improvement of decisions by economic stakeholders tha...

The use of geographical information systems in climatology and meteorology

The proliferation of 'commercial off the shelf' geographical information systems into the scientific community has resulted in the widespread use of spatial climate data in a variety of applications. This paper presents a review of the role of geographical information systems in climatology and meteorology by i) discussing methods used to derive and refine spatial climate data and ii) reviewing...

Meteorology as Infrastructural Globalism

This chapter explores the history of a global governance institution, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), from its nineteenth-century origins through the beginnings of a planetary meteorological observing network, the WMO’s World Weather Watch (WWW), in the 1960s. This history illustrates a profoundly important transition from voluntarist internationalism, based on shared interests, to...

Multidisciplinary Analysis of an Unusual Tornado: Meteorology, Climatology, and the Communication and Interpretation of Warnings*

On 22May 2008, a strong tornado—rated EF3 on the enhanced Fujita scale, with winds estimated between 136 and 165 mi h (61 and 74 m s)—caused extensive damage along a 55-km track through northern Colorado. The worst devastation occurred in and around the town of Windsor, and in total there was one fatality, numerous injuries, and hundreds of homes significantly damaged or destroyed. Several char...

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