Hurricanes 101 for dummies??

[MBismyPlayground]

During the "lull", would some of you wonderful, lovely forecasters,experts ect give me and some of the others who are clueless here a few lessons.
I would love to have a better understanding of some of the terminology(in English) and a better understanding of exactly what I am looking at when someone links to a graphic. OK I will admit it. I have no idea exactly what a trough is(kinda sorta have an idea), or what a ridge is, better yet, how exactly to determine what one is when looking at a graphic. ( I THINK I know, based on reading, but would be nice to have it verified) Was reading MWatkins post about a group prediction thing. I can see me now, I think that little thingy over there is gonna come down and block that thingy there and then the thingy there will........you all get my drift.

[WeatherEmperor]

I could swear that I saw a Hurricanes for Dummies book at my campus book store last week.....

<RICKY>

[MBismyPlayground]

I could swear that I saw a Hurricanes for Dummies book at my campus book store last week.....

<RICKY>

I need it LOLOL

[MomH]

I am with you MBismyPlayground. I'd even settle for some sites that might explain more.

If I'm going to be bothered and scared by these things I guess I should know something more about them.

[Chilly_Water]

This helped/is helping me an awful lot:
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html

[HurricaneGirl]

Kewl Site! Very good information

[cloud_galaxy]

Very informative! Thanks for that link!

[MBismyPlayground]

This helped/is helping me an awful lot:
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html

Chilly, thanks so much. Now I don't feel so in the dark on some of this. Now Maybe I will use a "real" word instead of "thingy" Thank you

[Steve]

Read _The Hurricane and Its Impact_ by the LSU press. You should be able to find a copy on E-bay or used through one of the on-line book sources. Alternatively, you could ask the LSU DAS to point you in the right direction. That's the best source to get up to speed. There's plenty of technical information in the book, but it's also written in plain English.

Steve

[dougjp]

Another really good one is "The Concise Guide to Caribbean Weather" by the late Mr. David Jones, the " Caribbean Weatherman":

http://www.caribwx.com/index.html

Most serious boaters travelling to the Caribbean counted on his advice, and he was the only one I know who made the correct call on late season Hurricane Lenny's continuous easterly track.

[iluvseashore]

http://usweatherwatchers.com/learn.html

This is a really good site too.

[decgirl66]

http://flhurricane.com/recondecoder.php
Someone posted this on another threaed and it is pretty neat

Edited: Here is another site that is neat. Click on Quick Plot, plug in the cordinates, and it will show you where the hurricane is!!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/custom ... .htmlstory

[Chilly_Water]

To all who were interested:
I've just been cruisiing around these sites listed above and I found this one: http://weather.jsums.edu/hurricane.htm
Very easy read and very informative.
Also, this interactive model is an easy explanation of how high and low pressure systems "guide" a storm: http://www.meted.ucar.edu/hurrican/movn ... vncane.htm

[panichead4469]

the s2k boards are amazing for new users. I myself have only been a member for a few weeks, but I have learned much more about hurricanes and tropical systems in the last several weeks than I previously even knew about weather in general! The staff and the "locals" here really are intellectually in-tune with what is going on with the tropics,...up-to-the-minute, literally! I'd recommend anyone trying to "follow" a hurricane by hitting up weather.com or some place like that to check out s2k!!! Its not even a comparison, really...and that fact is what makes this such an invaluable resource.