World Weather Map

weather map is a type of map that represents the meteorological elements at a given point of time over an extended area on the surface of the globe. The credit for establishing the weather map as the basis for weather forecasting goes to the British meteorologist Alexander Buchan. In 1868 Buchan initiated this practice by tracing on a map the path of a cyclonic storm across the North American land mass and over the Atlantic Ocean into northern Europe. This adoption of the weather map as a tool for analysis and forecasting in fact heralded the beginnings of modern meteorology.

In later years the synoptic weather map that was such a vital tool of the 19th-century meteorologists expanded into the world weather map that is increasingly being used in weather stations and on television weather reports across the globe.

Ideally, the world weather map shows on a global scale the distribution of surface isobars or lines of constant pressure; and the location of fronts and severe weather areas such as hurricanes, cyclones, and other storms. At different locations of the map such characteristics are indicated as wind direction and speed; air temperature and dew point; barometric pressure changes; cloud formations; the type of weather; visibility levels; and precipitation patterns.

Nowadays, satellite imagery is being increasingly used to produce world weather maps especially to represent such features as the formation and distribution of clouds,and thereby making them a valuable tool for global weather forecasting.