Abstract
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Although pleasant, sitting by the fire in a warm lodge is not considered by most to be a wilderness experience. Exposure to the vagaries of the weather is one of the defining aspects of a wilderness experience. Unfortunately, many of us who enjoy wilderness activities spend the bulk of our time in climate-controlled environments. For those of us who did not grow up with an old salt pointing to the clouds and predicting the weather, forecasting can be a rather intimidating, esoteric art. To help clarify this mystique, meteorologist and outdoorsman Jeff Renner has written Mountain Weather, a 300-page synopsis of weather phenomenon and tips. His intentions are clearly stated in his subtitle, Backcountry Forecasting and Weather Safety for Hikers, Campers, Climbers, Skiers, and Snowboarders.
As its title implies, the book concentrates on the weather phenomena produced by mountains, with chapters on mountain winds, snows, avalanches, and mountain thunderstorms. An entire chapter is devoted to weather safety, with advice for what to do in thunderstorms, flash floods, and wildfires.
The book is quite readable with its outline format interspersed with frequent backcountry anecdotes. Although there are frequent illustrations, their messages are not always clear, and they do not always clarify the text. Of course, drawing pictures of wind does tend to put the illustrator at a disadvantage. The text progresses from general weather basics for both large-scale phenomena and local mountain phenomena through specifics of thunderstorms and thunderstorm safety. There is a brief section on gathering data to make your own predictions, illustrated with a handful of trip examples. I hope this section will be greatly expanded in later editions, as it is where the theory of previous sections is distilled into the ability to forecast, which is what the reader seeks.
The final section of the book describes the weather patterns in major North American mountain zones from the Pacific Northwest to the Appalachians. These short synopses provide a good overview of the weather patterns to be expected in the various mountain regions of the United States. They are probably the most valuable aspect of the book, providing a shortcut to the understanding gained from years of watching the weather in a given area.
Overall, reading this book did teach me more about the weather. The book could have benefited from more in-depth explanations of the forecasting examples and a generally expanded approach to this section. I do not believe it is a stand-alone guide to understanding meteorology, but it would make a useful addition to a libraryof weather books.