Download the Windy.app Meteorological Textbook in 100+ pictures

What affects the weather on your favorite spot? Why does the ocean act like this and not otherwise? Where does the Northern Lights come from? In the Windy.app Meteorological Textbook (WMT) and newsletter for better weather forecasting we are explaining in simple words the processes in the atmosphere, the ocean, and the earth.

There are now more than 60 lessons in the book, which we continued to write as a newsletter every week for the past few years.

Now you can learn meteorology not only directly in your e-mail or Windy.app website, where the lessons go after a while, but through the same simple and informative pictures, with which we illustrate it, and which often require no accompanying text. You could say it's the same textbook, but in pictures.

Download the Windy.app Meteorological Textbook in 100+ illustrations (JPEG, 11 MB, Google Drive).

The Windy.app Meteorological Textbook (WMT) front cover showing the Coriolis force. Illustration: Valerya Milovanova, design: Ivan Kuznetsov / Windy.app

The author of the visual part of the textbook is Valerya Milovanova, professional illustrator based in the UK. She has a degree in Illustration from the British Higher School of Art and Design (BHSAD) of Universal University. Her favorite sports are skiing, cycling, and hiking.

The archive also includes illustrations from the Weather Forecasting section of the Windy.app blog with a slightly more practical nature, primarily for sports and outdoor activities. For example, the textbook contains articles on how monsoon winds form and move, while the blog contains articles on how to read wind direction, including wind barbs or wind roses. This is the main difference between the textbook and the Weather Forecasting section of the blog, but they are essentially one and the same.

From time to time we also explain and illustrate phenomena at the junction of the weather and outdoor activities like safe ice thickness for ice fishing, star navigation for old-fashioned sailors, escaping tree wells and snow taps for skiers and snowboarders, and more. Or, for example, the differences between the world’s two major global weather models: ECMWF and GFS, which can be found in the comparison table.

Moreover: we announce that you can freely use illustrations from the WMT in your own publications with their original look (without modification, including cropping, color change, etc.) and with a link to the source in the format:

Illustration from the Windy.app Meteorological Textbook and newsletter. Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app.

https://windy.app/textbook
https://windy.app
https://www.behance.net/valeryamilov

In other words, you can put the pictures on your website or blog, share it on social networks with your friends, or use it in your PowerPoint/Key Note/Google Slides presentation during the lesson on meteorology or biology, if you are a school teacher or college professor. In short, in any situation. In the latter case, don’t forget to include the source of the image as well.

Here are some of the most interesting and beautiful illustrations with excerpts from the textbook:

Сoriolis force

The Coriolis force has a huge impact on the weather. It’s the power that spins cyclones and anticyclones, and it also affects the direction of trade winds and sea currents. The force is named after the scientist Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, who discovered it.

Read the WMT lesson on Сoriolis force

Сoriolis force. Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app

Breeze wind

In general, a breeze is a light wind, which appears due to temperature difference between two air masses. Depending on the heating force, the land affects the circulation of the air flow. The more heating up of the land, the greater the temperature difference, the stronger the breeze is.

Read the WMT lesson on breeze

Breeze wind. Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app

Moon phases

Although the moon is the brightest celestial body at night, it does not know how to glow itself. In short, figuratively speaking, the moon is a large mirror into which light from the sun is reflected. The moon, being shaped like a sphere, is illuminated by the sun in different ways, depending on its position in its orbit. This illumination varies from 0% to 100%, which is what is called the phases of the moon or lunar phases.

Read the WMT lesson on moon phases

Moon phases. Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app

Earth's magnetic field

All matter, including ourselves, is made up of tiny particles — atoms. Atoms, in turn, have electrons — even smaller particles on whose movement everything to do with electricity depends. And where there is movement of electrons, there are always magnets. In fact, the earth is a very large magnet.

Read the WMT lesson on Earth's magnetic field

Earth's magnetic field. Valerya Milovanova / Windy.app

Nimbostratus clouds

Nimbostratus clouds are dense, grey, featureless clouds which produce persistent and often heavy rain, snow or ice pellets. Nimbostratus are low level clouds and their base generally lies between 100 m and 1 km. Thick fog and consistent precipitation beneath nimbostratus clouds create an impression of a dreary and gloomy day.

Read the WMT lesson on nimbostratus clouds