New book available, including eBook format! Conversational Weather The North American Monsoon

 

Excited to share a new book announcement (my first)! The book is self-published and now available as paperback and hardback on Amazon, as well as, in eBook format. The title is "Conversational Weather The North American Monsoon".

This book highlights one of my favorite seasons of the year, the summertime North American Monsoon. This recurring annual phenomenon brings forth both beauty and danger to the inhabitants of the southwestern United States and Mexico. My lifelong personal interest and career experience both forecasting and studying monsoon weather impacts, especially for Arizona, motivated me to provide everyone with a reference guide addressing common questions about the iconic summer monsoon period and the related hazards you may encounter while living or visiting the beautiful Desert Southwest region. Part I of this book introduces the essential building blocks of meteorology, the core concepts that shape the weather we observe every day. By establishing a solid scientific foundation, we set the stage for deeper discussions in Part II, where these fundamentals tie together to explain the seasonal transformation known as the North American Monsoon. Finally, Part III expands the conversation to include related overarching topics such as the inherent challenges of forecasting weather and the potential impacts of climate change. The study of meteorology-climatology is simply wonderful and there is plenty to call attention to. The science and riddle of it all is so fascinating! If you're curious about the origin of wind, the life-cycle of monsoon thunderstorms, or key differences between weather and climate (they are not the same!), then this book provides an introduction for you. There's a variety of weather topics here for anyone (40 short discussions), whether you are a young aspiring meteorologist awestruck by the sky, already a student of meteorology eagerly soaking up knowledge, a practicing professional hard at work, a retired meteorologist still keeping an eye on the atmosphere, or a casual weather enthusiast that always wants to learn more. This book was intentionally written with minimal math and no graphics while keeping a casual conversational tone, as if you and I were chatting about the beauty of the atmosphere over a cup of coffee on the back porch. Although our conversation focuses on the North American Monsoon and emphasizes Arizona, the weather principles discussed apply broadly across the globe. My hope is that the following collection of short chapter discussions spark your curiosity and deepen your appreciation for our dynamic world flowing around us. As a final note, all nature photography presented to accompany our weather science tour are my own as I have enjoyed watching and taking photos of the heavens above throughout the years. The assemblage of photography, taken between 2000 and 2025, mostly showcases the stunning monsoon skyscapes here in Arizona, however, I included scenes from other seasons and my travels abroad that complement particular weather topics presented. The overlap of weather science dialogue punctuated by nature photography means this book may find a home either on your bookshelf as a weather reference, displayed on the coffee table, or saved as an eBook for easy access to let yourself get lost in the visual mystique of nature, even if only on a momentary basis. Hope you enjoy and as always stay curious while keeping an eye to the sky! Sincerely, Jonny William Malloy, PhD, CCM