Air Apparent: How Meteorologists Learned to Map, Predict, and Dramatize Weather

by Mark Monmonier

Weather maps have made our atmosphere visible, understandable, and at least moderately predictable. In Air Apparent Mark Monmonier traces debates among scientists eager to unravel the enigma of storms and global change, explains strategies for mapping the upper atmosphere and forecasting disaster, and discusses efforts to detect and control air pollution. Fascinating in its scope and detail, Air Apparent makes us take a second look at the weather map, an image that has been, and continues to be, central to our daily lives.

"Clever title, rewarding book. Monmonier . . . offers here a basic course in meteorology, which he presents gracefully by means of a history of weather maps." — Scientific American

"Mark Monmonier is onto a winner with Air Apparent . . . . It is good, accessible science and excellent history. . . . Read it." —Fred Pearce, New Scientist

"[ Air Apparent ] is a superb first reading for any backyard novice of weather . . . but even the veteran forecaster or researcher will find it engaging and, in some cases, enlightening." —Joe Venuti, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

"Monmonier is solid enough in his discussion of geographic and meteorological information to satisfy the experienced weather watcher. But even if this information were not presented in such a lively and engaging manner, it would still hook most any reader who checks the weather map every morning or who sits happily entranced through a full cycle of forecasts on the Weather Channel."—Michael Kennedy, Boston Globe

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Geography, History

324 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 1999

About the author

Mark Stephen Monmonier is an American author and a Distinguished Professor of Geography at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

He specializes in toponymy, geography, and geographic information systems. His popular written works show a combination of serious study and a sense of humor. His most famous work is How To Lie With Maps (1991), in which he challenges the common belief that maps inherently show an unbiased truth.

Reviews

[Michal Paszkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief history of meteorology, especially from the aspect of presentation. The diagrams and explanations of meteorological phenonena were great, even though meteorological graphics have come quite a way since this book was published. After readong this, I feel I have a better understanding in the tradeoffs made when choosing how to style meteorological maps and I certainly am grateful for the availability of modern technology

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a history of weather forecasting, as well as a history of weather maps.
(The author is an expert in maps.)
Also the book is 20 years old, so it has all the latest scientific advances up to the late 90s.
I found some of the science and history fascinating. In hindsight I wish I had found something published more recently, but that's not the author's fault...

[R.S. Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on the history of meteorology. Extensive explanation on surface maps, the rise of prediction models and the advancements in tracking of severe weather. Great read for weather buffs or those interested in the history of science.

[Mike Parkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The daily weather forecast is something you think must have always been around, but in fact it wasn’t until the second half of the 19th century that a reasonably accurate forecast could be made. The key requirements were a near-simultaneous view of current weather conditions at multiple geographically separated stations (made possible by the electric telegraph, and presented on a map), together with an understanding of how weather systems move in time and space (an understanding that improved over time based on the ever-growing history of past weather observations to compare against). Surprisingly, given how popular the weather forecast is today, it wasn’t really until the 1910s that the daily weather forecast and map became a feature in most newspapers.

The first chapter of this book was great, showing a weather map prepared in advance of an 1898 storm that swept across New England, and explaining the meteorological information that one could deduce from the map, to show how the storm could have been foreseen and a catastrophic loss of life avoided. But the rest of the book didn’t quite live up to the promise of this initial chapter.

While it covers both, “Air Apparent” spends more time on the evolution of the weather map than on how weather systems work and how weather forecasting has improved. The mapping aspect was less interesting to me, and I’m someone who usually loves maps. The visual differences in weather map presentation are just not all that striking or interesting, and a small, mostly black-and-white volume isn’t the ideal vehicle to show the differences that do exist. The book is also pretty badly dated (published in 1999) in some aspects due to its overly detailed descriptions of specific visualization technologies that have been superceded.

So unless the cartographic aspect is of particular interest to you, this book is pretty niche and there are probably better books out there on weather forecasting.