The Naming Convention of Winds
Winds are labelled with the direction they have come from, not the direction they head towards, but why? A Westerly wind has come from the…
Winds are labelled with the direction they have come from, not the direction they head towards, but why? A Westerly wind has come from the…
From the book, The Secret World of Weather: In mountainous country you may also come across a cloud that streams away from only one side…
Here is a bumper photo puzzle that went out in my newsletter email earlier this month (you can sign up for that at the bottom…
Sometimes natural navigation is more challenging than others. I’m often asked, “What is the most difficult place to navigate using nature?” I think people expect…
Dear Mr. Gooley,I have stumbled upon your book on the secret world of weather in a small bookstore in Flagstaff, Arizona on a road trip.…
A wind shadow is a place where the wind doesn’t reach. There is a calm, sheltered zone on the downwind side of all obstacles, a…
I spent much of last week exploring a part of the Snowdonia National Park in Wales that I hadn’t been to before. I took the photo…
On a flight back from Spain to the UK, we were treated to a great display of “cloud streets” over France. They form parallel to…
Whenever a wind is forced through a narrow gap it accelerates. This is true of all fluids, gas and liquid, it is the reason we…
Welcome Welcome to the first in a new nature’s clues and signs series. Over the coming months I will be heading out on a series…
Or… The Art of Staring at Blue Skies This video is a time lapse of a couple of hours of looking out over the western…
We can navigate using both snow and the absence of snow, zones known as ‘snow shadows’. There are two types of snow shadow, those caused…
How to Read Signs in Every Cloud, Breeze, Hill, Street, Plant, Animal, and Dewdrop The weather changes as we walk around a tree or turn…
The tops of trees or other fixed objects in the middle distance make it easier to gauge the effect of the wind on clouds or…
Two questions today. I took this picture yesterday. Which direction are we looking? And a tougher one: what sign is there in this picture that…
The coconut palm tree (Cocos nucifera) does something that very few trees do. It leans into wind. Most trees have trunks that will bend away…
What direction are we looking in this photo of West Wittering beach in West Sussex, UK? Clues (if you want them): All dunes form with…
And how can they help me find my way in the woods? Both ‘windthrow’ and ‘windsnap’ are names given by foresters to trees that have…
Here is the third in the short series of short animations. Hope you enjoy! If you missed the Water one, you can find that on…
My thanks to everyone who came to my talk at the Hepworth Wakefield gallery last week. And to the University of Sheffield team for organising…
The way waves behave is a big subject. But here we’ll look at just one simple aspect, the way the wind shapes breaking waves at…