The Pennsylvania Weather Book

By Ben Gelber

The weather has always been a favorite topic of conversation. Undoubtedly, someone must have said to Noah, "I thought they said it was supposed to let up on Tuesday." Over a century ago, American essayist Charles Dudley Warner wrote in the Hartford Courant , "Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it." And now with the advent of the 24-hour Weather Channel and high-tech radar and satellite imagery, we have more information about the weather at our disposal than ever before. But what about weather in the past? Is the climate changing? Are the summers hotter now than ever before? Were winters colder when our grandparents were children? In The Pennsylvania Weather Book , meteorologist Ben Gelber provides the first comprehensive survey of 250 years of recorded weather in this state. He reports on noteworthy weather happenings by category (snowstorms, rainstorms, cold and heat waves, thunderstorms, and tropical storms) and places them in historical context. Throughout the book, Gelber clearly defines meteorological terms and explains what creates weather events. The book features appendices and tables containing useful references for average temperatures, precipitation, snowfall, and climate data. It also provides a brief history of the weather watchers who contributed to the state's meteorological records since the late eighteenth century. This volume will serve as a valuable resource for weather professionals, amateurs, and local enthusiasts alike.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813530563
• ISBN13: 9780813530567
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 269 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.3" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Great weather source book for PA

Weather watchers should be ecstatic with this book, which is a history of the weather in Pennsylvania. After a couple of chapters dealing with the weather and climate in general in the Keystone State, including info on weather-watchers and observation stations around the state, Gelber gets to the heart of the book: individual chapters, arranged chronologically, concerned with the chief weather phenomena: winter storms, cold waves, heat waves, windstorms, tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes. Major events throughout recorded history in the state are described for each phenomenon. Numerous tables are included, and detailed information regarding extremes and averages from temperature to snowfall amounts grace the appendices. Granted, the book is basically one tragedy after another, but that's just the nature of the beast. Certain events will jar the memory of every reader; for me I remember best the floods from Hurricane Agnes and the huge snowfall amounts from the blizzard of January 1996. Lots of photos are also included. The book is well written and well researched, and it's an excellent source of information (and entertainment) on the one thing about which everyone talks but nobody does anything about (even in Pennsylvania).