The Thermal Theory Put to Observational Test

Abstract

The thermal or convective theory, we have seen, was formulated by a number of scientists during the 1860’s and 1870’s. These formulations differed in more or less important details, but common to all was the assertion that the formation and maintenance of large-scale cyclones depended on the thermodynamic processes associated with the ascent of warm air and the condensation of water vapor. During the 1870’s the thermal theory was accepted by the majority of meteorologists as a simple and most natural explanation of the origin and maintenance of cyclones. It appeared to be superior to earlier theories in potential usefulness as a tool for practical weather forecasting because it suggested a physical relationship between the pressure field, most prominent on synoptic charts, and temperature and precipitation patterns, rather than solely statistical correlations. This was important because most meteorologists, at that time as throughout the remainder of the Nineteenth Century, were associated with governmental institutions whose primary concern was weather forecasting and storm warning.