The Philadelphia Area Weather Book answers all of our questions about the region's weather and climate, from the Poconos and Philadelphia to southern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore to Delaware. The snowiest winter? The hottest summer? The strongest tornado? Signs of global warming? Why can't computers give reliable two-week forecasts? The answers are all here in this new paperback. Offering a little-known history of the region's pivotal role in the development of weather science as far back as colonial times, The Philadelphia Area Weather Book gives a lively account of what forecasters actually do on a daily basis. Features include: * "Stories from the Trenches": inside stories of forecasting the big storms; a look back with Philadelphia's television pioneers Wally Kinnan, Dr. Francis Davis, and Herb Clarke; and a glimpse at the possibilities for the future climate of our area * More than 150 illustrations (including 60 photographs, 54 maps, dozens of diagrams, and a 16-page color section): ranging from the first photographic image of lightning to local residents' photos of the Blizzard of '96 and Hurricane Floyd; from the dynamics of air masses to eroding shore lines and global warming trends * Weather tables: statistics for every day of the year, monthly averages as well as temperature and precipitation extremes for Philadelphia, Wilmington, Allentown, and Atlantic City * Lists of web resources organized by topic so that readers can follow current weather events using the same sites as the experts do.