Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere

Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere is written by the most widely read and authoritative author in introductory meteorology, Donald Ahrens, together with a new coauthor - meteorologist and award-winning science writer Robert Henson. Their ability to explain relatively complicated ideas in a student-friendly way allows both science and nonscience majors to visualize the principles of meteorology.

The 8th edition's clear and inviting narrative is supplemented by pedagogical features that encourage observing, calculating, and synthesizing information, and recent weather and climate events are incorporated to enhance student interest. Online animations available through MindTap® help students to understand the underlying meteorological principles. Suggested activities to interact with the data make it easier to assign student projects for developing critical thinking and quantitative skills using meteorological data.

New to this Edition

• RESTRUCTURED INTRODUCTION. To help draw students into the topic of meteorology, an opening section on the nature and importance of the scientific method is now followed by a summary of extreme weather events, including recent hurricanes, the U.S. tornado outbreaks of 2012, and the devastating regional floods of 2015-16.


• ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATIONS. This chapter has been revised and expanded to give students an integrated understanding of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, and Arctic Oscillation, including their effects on weather and climate.


• WEATHER FORECASTING. Enhanced features include a graphic explanation of various types of satellite imagery, as well as a restructured explanation of watches, warnings, and forecasts of various durations.


• SEVERE WEATHER. An expanded section covers both flash flooding and river flooding and their connection to thunderstorms, including examples from Colorado (2013) and Texas and Oklahoma (2015). A new Focus box explores the baffling damage patterns that tornadoes can produce.


• CLIMATE CHANGE. New graphics and text explore conclusions from the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, including greenhouse gas emission pathways and their importance. The Paris Accord is discussed in the context of the Kyoto Protocol that preceded it.

About the Author

C. Donald Ahrens

Don Ahrens is Professor Emeritus at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California. The bestselling author of two Cengage Learning texts, Professor Ahrens received the Textbook and Academic Authors Association's McGuffey Longevity Award for the 9th Edition of his market-leading METEOROLOGY TODAY. He has influenced countless professionals in the field of atmospheric science as well as hundreds of thousands of students who use his books to better understand weather and climate. In 2007, the National Weather Association awarded Professor Ahrens a lifetime achievement award for these accomplishments.

Robert Henson

Robert Henson is a meteorologist and science writer at Weather Underground and a former science writer at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the organization that manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research. An expert on tornadoes, thunderstorms, and hurricanes, he has also analyzed how TV weathercasters cover major storms and report on climate change. Henson is the author of four books on meteorology, including THE THINKING PERSON’S GUIDE TO CLIMATE CHANGE (previously THE ROUGH GUIDE TO CLIMATE CHANGE), which was shortlisted for the UK Royal Society Prize for Science Books.