The Weather Wizard’s Cloud Book

by Louis D. Rubin, Sr. and Jim Duncan

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

For budding meteorologists this is an outstanding resource. It is written for all ages, rather than as a textbook for children. However, because the teaching is done with illustrations and the reader’s own observations, it is practical for teens to use. A subtitle/description on the book’s cover reads, “A unique way to predict the weather accurately and easily by reading the clouds,” and this is the main thrust of the book. However, you do not merely memorize cloud shapes and colors, but go much deeper into cloud formation, thunder and lightning, hurricanes and other storms, and the effects of volcanic activity on weather. A brief chapter at the end tells how to build your own weather station.

The Weather Wizard’s 5-Year Weather Diary

Workman Publishing Company

I suggest using the 400-page companion book, The Weather Wizard’s 5-Year Weather Diary (from a different publisher). While it conveys some “how to’s and definitions on observing weather, it is primarily a weather journal for recording observations as well as data on wind, barometer reading, humidity, precipitation, temperature, and clouds. The page for each date has space for recording five years, so that comparisons and trends are readily seen. Setting up a weather station and the initial reading/study will take a significant amount of time (perhaps a few months), but ongoing observations will require much less, although on a daily basis. Consider using these resources as part of an earth science or general science course.