NWS Fort Worth/Dallas County Warning Area

Introduction to Meteorology

Weather is created by differential heating of the earth's surface. In other words, the sun heats the ground at a different rate than a body of water, and there is more heating at the equator than at the poles.

With the Earth's axis tilted at 23.5°, the Northern Hemisphere receives more energy from the Sun in Summer than the Southern Hemisphere. In Winter, while the Earth is actually closer to the Sun than during Summer, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun's direct radiation. There is also more land mass in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere compounding the differences in heating.

These differences in the heating of the earth's surface create the wind that, in turn, carries heat energy from the equator toward the poles, and creates the weather around the world. The earth's atmosphere is in constant motion trying to establish an equilibrium around the globe, i.e., the same weather and temperature at the poles as at the equator.

Every cloud, thunderstorm, tornado, hurricane or any other type of weather that occurs, whether fair or foul, is the earth's attempt at establishing equilibrium. However, due to the differential heating at the surface, combined with the rotation of the earth, equilibrium can never occur.

Meteorologists, using physics and mathematics, are able to model the motion of the atmosphere with a good degree of accuracy that enables high speed computers to produce forecast weather maps.