The Pacific Northwest experiences the most varied and fascinating weather in the United States, including world-record winter snows, the strongest non-tropical storms in the nation, and shifts from desert to rain forest in a matter of miles. Local weather features dominate the meteorological landscape, from the Puget Sound convergence zone and wind surges along the Washington Coast, to gap winds through the Columbia River Gorge and the "Banana Belt" of southern Oregon. This book,written by Cliff Mass, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, is the first comprehensive and authoritative guide to Northwest weather that is directed to the general reader. It is helpful to boaters, hikers,skiers,and valuable to expert meteorologists, too.