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The Discovery of Weather : Stephen Saxby, the Tumultuous Birth of Weather Forecasting, and Saxby's Gale of 1869.

By: Halifax, N.S. : Formac Pub., c2012Description: 272 p. : ill., ports. ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781459500808
  • 1459500806
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 551.6309 23
LOC classification:
  • QC995 .L62 2012
Other classification:
  • cci1icc
  • coll13
Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in electronic formats.
Contents:
pt. 1. Mr. Saxby's prediction -- The calm before the storm -- A storm of ideas -- Storm warnings -- Barking at the moon -- pt. 2. The storm -- Deluge -- Landfall -- Storm surge -- Aftermath -- Why Saxby still matters.
Awards:
  • ASLI Choice Award
Summary: In the mid-nineteenth century, the new science of weather forecasting was fraught with controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, a bitter dispute about the nature of storms had raged for decades, and forecasting was hampered by turf wars then halted by the Civil War. Forecasters in England struggled with the scientific establishment for recognition and vied with astrologers and other charlatans for public acceptance. One of the voices in this struggle was Stephen Saxby, a British naval instructor who thought he had found a sure-fire way of forecasting storms. He championed a popular but somewhat eccentric theory that weather disturbances are linked to stages in the moon's orbit of the earth. In this book, the author traces the early days of weather forecasting, the background to Saxby's prediction, and the drama of the storm itself.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
BOOK BOOK NCAR Library Foothills Lab QC995 .L62 2012 1 Available 50583020010579
Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. 1. Mr. Saxby's prediction -- The calm before the storm -- A storm of ideas -- Storm warnings -- Barking at the moon -- pt. 2. The storm -- Deluge -- Landfall -- Storm surge -- Aftermath -- Why Saxby still matters.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the new science of weather forecasting was fraught with controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, a bitter dispute about the nature of storms had raged for decades, and forecasting was hampered by turf wars then halted by the Civil War. Forecasters in England struggled with the scientific establishment for recognition and vied with astrologers and other charlatans for public acceptance. One of the voices in this struggle was Stephen Saxby, a British naval instructor who thought he had found a sure-fire way of forecasting storms. He championed a popular but somewhat eccentric theory that weather disturbances are linked to stages in the moon's orbit of the earth. In this book, the author traces the early days of weather forecasting, the background to Saxby's prediction, and the drama of the storm itself.

Issued also in electronic formats.

ASLI Choice Award

Questions? Email library@ucar.edu.

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