Awesome gift for a weather and meteorology fan.
October 19, 2015 12:51 PM   Subscribe

My honey is discovering a new interest in weather, clouds, and general meteorology (having moved from a land of year-round sun to the more climatologically exciting upper midwest). What would be a good birthday gift to support and encourage his new hobby?
posted by airguitar2 to Science & Nature (10 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: A home weather station. Sorry, I don't have a particular one to recommend. Weather toys! A Skywarn class!
posted by Rob Rockets at 1:08 PM on October 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


One of the books like The Cloud Collector's Handbook or Guide and membership in the Cloud Appreciation Society. (You can get both books at Amazon, too.)

One of the Audubon Society Field Guides: Weather

A personal weather station (link to one brand on Amazon)

Pocket wind meter. Also called an anemometer.

Classes through your local National Weather Service.
posted by barchan at 1:09 PM on October 19, 2015 [5 favorites]


What is your budget? this is only $2,000. It measures daylight.
posted by Gungho at 1:11 PM on October 19, 2015


A small gift, but kind of different: Authors of the Storm: Meteorologists and the Culture of Prediction, an ethnography of the NWS, might be of interest.
posted by WidgetAlley at 2:33 PM on October 19, 2015


How about an old barometer? Weather, clouds, and general meteorology are a lot cooler when you can watch the barometric pressure rise and fall.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:59 PM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


Meteorologist/national treasure Tom Skilling has a daily column for the Chicago Tribune called Ask Tom Why, which has been collected into an ebook. The questions aren't all specific to Chicago -- you can get a taste for them here.
posted by jabes at 3:16 PM on October 19, 2015


A rain gauge to set up in the yard. This is similar to ones official observers use.

Several of my meteorologist friends on Facebook were drooling over this, if you have a big budget.
posted by weathergal at 7:08 PM on October 19, 2015


If you get a home weather station make sure it connects to the internet so you can upload to you Weather Underground Personal Weather Station.

Also the iPad (not iPhone) app is excellent.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:26 PM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


If you're going to go with books, "Isaac's Storm" has an interesting 'plot' line explaining why the bureaucratic particulars of the Weather Service at the time resulted in its failure to predict the Galveston hurricane.
posted by mmiddle at 7:16 AM on October 20, 2015


Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! Great suggestions for future birthdays, too. I ended up getting him a video course on meteorology from The Great Courses series, and he's thrilled. Depending on how the interest develops, a home weather stations and SkyWarn class may be next! :)
posted by airguitar2 at 10:15 AM on October 24, 2015


« Older Thoughts on Officiating a Humanist/Hindu Wedding?   |   What are some resources for understanding mental... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.