Weather, Advertising, and the Lands David I. Blumenstock Two of these three previously unpublished fragments were written about 1951 for a projected introductory textbook in physical geography, to be co-authored with Dr. Robert W. Richardson of San Diego State College. The third appeared in "The Itinerant Geographer," an occasional publication of the Berkeley Department of Geography. Together they reflect, far better than I could describe, David's approach to geography and climatology. —Nancy B. Blumenstock THE NATURE OF WEATHER Weather is often defined as being "the state of the atmosphere." Under this very broad definition, the study of weather would embrace the entire atmosphere extending up to heights of 2,000 miles or more. It would include consideration of such atmospheric properties as precise chemical composition and electro-potential as weU as temperature, cloudiness, and other more familiar aspects of the state of the atmosphere. For the physical meteorologist, this definition of weather is satisfactory, because he is interested in the workings of the entire atmosphere in all its aspects and manifestations. But for most people, as well as for the geographer and the weather forecaster, a more restrictive definition is required. For them, weather is the behavior of the lower atmosphere with particular emphasis on those aspects of that behavior which affect the lands and oceans and have a marked influence on the organisms, including man, that live upon the lands, within the waters of the earth, or in the lower air. Under this more restrictive definition, it is not important that radon, a minor atmospheric gas, seldom occurs at heights above three miles; it is important that, in the air just above a snow surface, very low temperatures commonly occur—temperatures of -50° F or even lower in certain regions of the world. 175 176ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS The precise varieties of weather are virtually infinite in number. If 100,000 monkeys were provided with typewriters and each monkey spent his life striking the keys at random, the chances would be extremely small that any monkey would type this chapter correctly. The chances are even smaller that precisely the same kind of weather will ever occur twice in one day. If the varieties of weather are considered not precisely but in general terms and with emphasis on their outstanding features, different kinds of weather can be distinguished. There are hot spells, cold speUs, hurricanes, droughts, and many other weathers. It is convenient to generalize in this way, to speak of different kinds or types of weather, but it is essential to remember that one "type" grades into another and that, examined in detail, each weather occurrence is unique. The Diversity of Weather Even considered generally, there are a great many varieties of weather covering a wide range of conditions. Some idea of the variety is obtained through considering a few of the kinds of weather that occur on any one day at different places on the surface of the earth. January 25 of a recent year is a good example. On that day, to select four from among thousands of possible contrasting cases, there were markedly different kinds of weather at Chicago, Illinois; Yakutsk, Siberia; Suva, Fiji Islands; and at Capetown, Union of South Africa. The official air temperature, sky cover (percent cloudiness ), wind direction, wind speed, and precipitation throughout the 24-hour period at each of these four places, together with the brief descriptions that follow, indicate a few of the major varieties of weather. At Chicago, the early morning hours were cool with scattered clouds across the sky. The temperature decreased slowly from 31° F. at midnight to a minimum of 25° just before sunrise. By nine in the morning, the temperature had climbed to 30° and a light wind from the SSW had replaced the calm of early morning. The air was moderately moist. Shortly after noon the wind quickened. Towering clouds appeared on the western horizon. At about 2 p.m. the sky became covered with clouds, the winds became gusty and violent with speeds VOLUME 30 / YEARBOOK / 1968177 up to 30 m.p.h. out of the west. The temperature dropped precipitously to 18°. Heavy snow began to fall. The storm...