Severe and Hazardous Weather: An Introduction to High Impact Meteorology

During the four years since the publication of the 6th Edition of Severe and Hazardous Weather, extreme weather and climate events have impacted every region of the United States and many regions throughout the world. The tragic fires in Los Angeles in early 2025, and the 2024 destruction from Florida and the Gulf Coast to North Carolina from Hurricanes Helene, Milton, and Beryl were heartbreaking to witness. The devastation and loss of life caused by the Texas flash flood along the Guadalupe River shocked the country, with the aftermath Identifying clear communication gaps between the National Weather Service, emergency officers, and the public. According to NOAA, over 70 billion-dollar disasters attributable to weather and climate have occurred in the United States alone since 2022. Heat waves, once a rare summer event, are now happening every year. The last decade were the hottest years on record globally, as the decades-long warnings of climate scientists have begun to come to fruition, but are still largely ignored by many governments.

 Science continues its relentless charge to understand these events and improve their prediction. Scientists work tirelessly in field campaigns in various parts of the world to study how hazardous weather systems develop, although the pace is now threatened by budget cuts and reprioritization of federal resources. Numerical modeling continues to advance at a staggering pace, and new artificial intelligence approaches to forecasting have been introduced, leading to more accurate weather forecasts and more reliable climate projections. Researchers have made progress in understanding relationships between climate change and hazardous weather.

The 7th edition of Severe and Hazardous Weather is a response to all these changes. Figures throughout the book have been updated to reflect the latest scientific information and the most recent events. Throughout the text, high quality updated figures give the book a clear, bright new look. More importantly, the science presented in the book has been updated with the latest findings. Significant changes have been made in many chapters, reflecting new understanding of hazardous weather. The material on the linkages between climate change and severe weather has been expanded and updated.

We recognize that more and more students are using the ebook rather than the printed text. To aid students in understanding the material, we have developed an online series of review questions. These incorporate the former Active Learning workbook exercises, the end-of-chapter Test Your Understanding and Test Your Problem Solving Skills exercises, and a whole series of questions that use the figures in each chapter to reinforce ideas presented in the text.

Our goal in Severe and Hazardous Weather remains to be to provide a current, relevant, and scientifically accurate discussion of all types of hazardous weather. We hope to open the doors to an understanding of severe and hazardous weather and to allow each student to develop an appreciation for the complexities and power of weather. In a more practical vein, we hope all our readers will be better prepared for severe weather, more aware of what is happening when severe weather threatens, and better able to safely react when severe weather strikes.