Extreme Weather and Climate

Interested in tornadoes, floods, severe thunderstorms, and hurricanes? FUNDAMENTALS OF EXTREME WEATHER explains how, when, and why dramatic weather events occur, what the devastating human impacts can be, and what meteorologists can do to predict and prevent them.

Don Ahrens is an emeritus professor at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California. 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 him a lifetime achievement award for these accomplishments. The best-selling author of three Cengage texts -- METEOROLOGY TODAY, ESSENTIALS OF METEOROLOGY and EXTREME WEATHER AND CLIMATE -- Professor Ahrens received the Textbook and Academic Authors Association’s McGuffey Longevity Award for the 9th edition of METEOROLOGY TODAY. Professor Ahrens completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in meteorology at San Jose State University and his doctorate at the University of Northern Colorado.

Perry Samson is an emeritus professor of the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Samson holds the title of Arthur F. Thurmond Professor in recognition of "outstanding contributions to undergraduate education" and has been honored with the University of Michigan's Distinguished Innovator of the Year Award for his work on educational technologies. Professor Samson is passionate about studying extreme weather and has led teams of undergraduate students to study the formation of supercell thunderstorms in the Great Plains and make meteorological observations in Greenland. He also co-founded the popular weather website, The Weather Underground, and is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.