Please send comments or ideas to the author and editor: Jimmy Deguara

Observing the weather is an extremely complex art. It requires logic and memory of past events superimposed upon many simultaneous observations. It also requires careful monitoring of sequences of events over a certain period of time before any prediction can be made. But we must first gain some concept of what weather really is and then gradually build upon these concepts.

The most basic form of weather observation is that involving direct visual observation: clouds, lightning, rain, fog, tornadoes, moving or raised dust, smoke, trees swaying and so on. Of course, there are those observations which involve hearing: thunder, rain striking corrugated iron roofs and the ground, and the wind howling or whistling. To a lesser extent, we can also feel certain aspects of the weather: wind, heat, humidity and the vibrations of thunder. The sense of smell can also be used in observing weather: rainfall striking the dust has its own distinct scent. All such observations are important in forming a basis of other more complex observations. However, visual observations are by far the most powerful since observations can be noted up to and including the horizon, whereas sound observations are normally effective over relatively shorter distances.

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