The Science of Extreme Weather

by Eric R. Snodgrass (Narrator)

12 hours and 55 minutes

The Science of Extreme Weather is your field guide to the worst that Earth’s atmosphere can inflict. In 24 exciting, informative, and potentially life-saving half-hour lectures aimed at weather novices and amateur forecasters alike, you gain a surprisingly powerful tool in the face of such overwhelming forces: knowledge.

Guided by meteorologist, storm chaser, and award-winning teacher Eric R. Snodgrass of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, you learn the fundamental science that underlies blizzards, flash floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, and more. Never again will you under- or overreact in the face of an emergency weather “watch” or “warning,” because you’ll understand the difference between the two, the nature of the impending threat, the reasoning behind the prediction, and the measures you need to take for protection.

Genres: Science, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Nature

13 pages, Audible Audio

First published December 1, 2018

Reviews

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of 24 lectures on meteorology. I listened to the audiobook although there is also a video version which might be worthwhile given the demonstrations the lecturer performs. Definite enthusiasm for the subject matter!

[Simon Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very American centric despite extreme weather events in many other parts of the world. Unscientific use of units of measurements, randomly mixing both metric and imperial units. The guy obviously knows and is passionate about his subject. Nothing about the planets droughts, almost nothing about severe flooding outside the USA. I live in the Philippines and have experienced a super typhoon and many other typhoons plus storm surges and flooding.

[Yaaresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific series of lectures on extreme weather and the forces that create it. The 24 half-hour lectures cover extreme temperature outbreaks, lightning of all types, tornadoes and straight line extreme winds, hurricanes/typhoons/cyclones, drought, blizzards, flash floods, etc. There's even a bit about how to storm chase for the adrenaline junkies. Also covered are how to read various types of radar imagery, weather maps, and the history of weather forecasting. Lots of maps, diagrams, and other imagery. This was especially helpful in the lectures on tornadoes and supercells where there are pictures of the approach, the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to mention the aerial photography. Lots and lots of circles and arrows. (Sorry, couldn't resist. But you get the idea: high geek factor with this GC.)

While some examples of extreme weather around the globe are mentioned and global weather patterns explained as part of a planetary system, the series focuses on events in North America.

Like a lot of TGC presenters, the narrator can sometimes do that weird and awkward "highly dramatic voice" thing they do. In this case, however, it's clear the lecturer is sincerely excited about his subject, so it becomes oddly endearing in a way.

[Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provided exactly what I was looking for. I was able to expand my knowledge on various weather phenomena and pick up some valuable tips along the way. Recommended for anyone looking to tackle a course provided by, “The Great Courses.”

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Great Courses book uses twenty-four lectures to drive home the point that the earth is a very dangerous place and its weather systems are capable of causing tremendous harm. He talks about lightning and thunderstorms, hurricanes, snow and blizzards, drought, flash floods, and tornadoes. His descriptions of why and how fast these weather systems can become lethal and massively destruction are easy to follow and strangely entertaining. He also spends a decent of amount time making the science comprehensible, but I have to admit that while I easily followed him as he explained things, the details quickly became fuzzy afterwards (but that's on me, not him). The two things that struck me as most interesting were actually very small parts of the books. The first was the explanation of what doppler radar is and how it has enhanced our ability to track storms and predict their severity. The second was the critical importance of weather satellites in forecasting dangerous weather. If you stop to think about it, the United States is far more populated than it was a century ago and far more of the land has been developed often in areas with a high potential for flooding and other problems, and yet, the lethality of storms as measured in people killed has shrunk since the seventies in comparison with earlier decades. This is a result of the weather satellites permitting meteorologists to give warning of what's coming—an extraordinary development in the quests to protect the lives of people.

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is for the Audible Audio version, which is clearly just the audio stripped from a video. In the lectures, Mr. Snodgrass discusses many images, charts, diagrams, etc. I'm sure these would be immensely helpful in understanding the information being provided. Without these visuals, however, I found the information difficult to comprehend. There is a pdf that is provided but it includes only a little of the visual information that is discussed in the lectures and is more an outline of the lectures. Mr. Snodgrass speaks clearly and projects enthusiasm for the topic, so I imagine the video version of this lecture series would be very good but I found the audio only to be frustrating to listen to.

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information about extreme weather. I listened to the course and lost the ability to see all the visuals that the lecturer provided. I know I would have benefited from seeing the additional information.

[cypher · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think i would have liked it a bit more without the podcasty feel, but it was quite engaging, even though i already knew a lot of the information from various documentaries, encyclopaedias and books from the past.

[Matthew Sartor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does a decent job of surveying extreme weather. When doing audio, I missed the visual graphs but that is more on me. I think could of done more comparison and defining what’s different.

[David L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and lots of science about weather all over the globe. I'll have to read it again someday as weather gets more intense.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

#audible
Series of 30 minute lectures covering various weather conditions such as lightning and tornadoes. Informative but at times you miss out by not seeing his illustrations.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, learned a lot.

[Enrico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent course about extreme weather almost exclusively focused on the US. Parts were kinda boring to be honest.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe like 3.5☆s

I listened to the audio book and there was a lot in there that was meant to be visual