Sir Francis Galton was the first to identify the anticyclone (as opposed to the cyclone), and introduced the use of charts showing areas of similar air pressure – the modern weather map.  His book Meteorographica was the first systematic attempt to gather, chart and interpret weather data on a continental scale, a fundamental work of modern scientific meteorology.

Galton prepared the first weather map published in the British newspaper The Times (April 1 1875, showing the weather from the previous day, March 31), now a standard feature in newspapers worldwide.  Click below to read more about Sir Francis Galton.

Standing out on the shoreline, have you ever wondered if you set sail straight ahead across the sea what other beach would you run into?  Check out the Beyond The Sea interactive map.  You can move your mouse along a shoreline or click on a country to visualize all the locations which lie directly across the sea.  Location names will be displayed once the track hits land.  Colors of the lines represent the different destination continents.  Try the Start Fireworks button too for an impressive display!

Check out this satellite image of the fires in California and the smoke that has blown out to sea.  It was taken at noon today.

You can view full disk images of the Earth and different sensor images and loops at the GOES East Image Viewer.