Intro. Caribbean Weather Maps

Introducing Caribbean Weather Maps is divided into 2 sections. The first deals with various components of the weather and the way they are depicted on maps. The second deals with the interpretaion of five maps which have been chosen so as to portray the most significant kinds of weather that occur in the Caribbean at various times of the year. In addition, fourteen assignments have been spaced throughout the text. These are designed to assist students to increase their knowledge, improve their skills, and gain confidence in their ability to understand weather systems and weather maps. Introducting Caribbean Weather Maps does not set out to repeat the variety of information that already exists in physical and regional textbooks. Thus it does not describe the meteorological instruments in use at a weather station, or analyse the physical processes that give rise to pressure systems and different types of clouds, because these things are included in standard textbooks of physical geography. It does not contain an account of the climate in the Caribbean, or describe hurricanes, northers, and easterly waves, because these topics are included in the author’s reginal textbook, Caribbean Lands. Instead Introducing Caribbean Weather Maps offers students an opportunity to extend the knowledge of the climate they gain from these sources and apply it to the study of Caribbean weather conditions as they exist in the students’ day to day experience, and as they are depicted on weather maps. When the study of weather is based on conditions that can be observed in the immediate environment, it becomes one of the most fascinating aspects of school geography. The interest it arouses in young people may remain with them for the rest of their lives. It is the author’s hope that Introducing Caribbean Weather Maps will help to generate this interest and play a part in making geography increasingly real and meaningful in the Caribbean.