What is the coldest place on the planet? How does a hurricane form? What exactly is a low pressure system? And what area has the least, or most, amount of rainfall? Answering these and many other intriguing questions, A Dictionary of Weather provides a comprehensive body of information with over 1,800 weather, forecasting, and climate terms, along with detailed illustrative examples of specific events and weather extremes. With this resource, you can easily find where and when the world"s largest hailstone fell and where the highest temperature was recorded. Using the list of weather records, you can also check climate data for different weather types from around the world. Key terms from the related fields of oceanography, hydrology, and climatology are covered as are the important people in the development of meteorology, including Sir Francis Beaufort. In addition, there is a plate section that shows the main cloud types as well as satellite images of weather systems, making this book both highly informative and visually appealing for anyone who gets excited about our ever-changing weather.