Edena_of_Neith
First Post
To the poster above who is really unhappy with Made-Up Weather, and his friends:
You wish the weather to be truly random, with dice rolls determining it?
That is great, since that is what you wish. But if your group does not understand the basics of weather, they won't be able to distinguish Made-Up Weather and Random Weather, because even with dice rolls the DM will be forced to arbitrate.
In this case, the more the DM understands weather, the less he has to arbitrate it, and the more completely it can be given over to the dice rolling, become truly Random.
On Earth, in the northern hemisphere, we are close enough to our sun and the sun angle is high enough to produce specific effects. These effects are the basis of Summer.
The ground heats up under the long sunny days (or, even on cloudy days ... some sunlight still comes through) and it warms the air above it. If there is forest, the ground is less warm, but it is still moderately warm.
The ground is cool, chilly down deep. The air is moderate, cool in the shade, and chilly at night. Cool winds blow, rustling the trees, waving the meadow grass, the sound of leaves competing with the birds and insects.
Does this remind you of something? It is Summer in the North, in southern Canada, in most of Europe. It is in the 50s at night, but it is in the 70s during the day. It starts heating up about an hour after sunrise, and the summer evening and early night sees only a slow drop in temperature, as the ground cools.
Of course, it is much warmer if you are standing in the sun. The sun tries to warm you just as it warms the ground. You can become quite overheated, just standing there in the midday sun, even if it is quite cool in the shade. Sit in the comfort of a shaded porch or under the canopy of tree limbs, and picnics are the order of the day, no?
In areas of the temperate latitudes where the ground is all prairie or steppe, daytime temperatures are more likely to peak in the 80s. Nighttime lows rise into the low 60s. The open land heats up more intensely under the temperate sun. and the short nights give it less time to cool back down.
If it is desert, in the temperature latitudes, it goes into the 90s during the day, and drops into the 60s at night.
If it is constantly cloudy, it goes only into the 60s during the day, and falls into the 50s at night.
Most areas with this kind of summer climate, which are humid, are known as Snow Forest Climates. New England, Germany, and Poland enjoy this climate.
If the winter is milder, generally above freezing, the climate is known as Marine West Coast, and this climate is extremely famous because it is shared by Great Britain, France, and the US Pacific Northwest.
If the weather is dry, and no trees grow, you have the climate of Colorado or Wyoming or southern Minnesota, or the famous climate of the steppes of Central Asia.
If the weather is extremely dry, think of northern Nevada or western Utah, inland Oregon and Washington State. Or the desert areas south of the great steppes of central Asia.
The sun is the primary force of warmth, and at these latitudes it shines for 14 to 16 hours per day in June (not much less in May or July, and in August the land is so much warmer from the long summer that the retreating sunlight doesn't mean much.)
The nights are brief, the period of total darkness even more brief, but are surprisingly chilly.
If it is cloudy, windy, and humid (or raining) it can be downright cold, even during the summer. The chill doesn't bother the trees, but it can bother people.
Again, at these latitudes (40 to 50 north latitude) it is the sun that is the primary force of warmth ... if you are near the ocean and mountains do not block it off, the ocean is also a source of warmth ... and of storms and rain and wind, endless humidity, giving rise to the term Temperate Rainforest (Washington State.)
Now, look at Average Temperate Maps for these areas, and you will see that ... the Average Temperature does *not* correspond to what I just wrote!
Why is that?
There is a Great Ribbon of Roaring Air that circles the world, a writhing stream of hurricane force winds up high in the sky, known as the Jet Stream. Ever hear of it? Of course!
This strange beast, the Jet Stream, moves back and forth across the temperate latitudes during the summer. Why this occurs is complicated, but a simplistic summary (for gaming) is that warm air pushes at it from one side, and cold air from the other.
Think of a long, long snake, and someone is pushing at it with a stick from one side, and someone is pushing (at another part of it) from the other, and the annoyed snake is hissing and lashing out, and writhing, and trying to straighten itself (it never succeeds) and carry on with it's business. Well, the Jet Stream looks a lot like that.
If the Jet Stream moves off to your north, then hot humid air from the Tropics moves in, it turns miserably humid, highs are in the 90s (occasionally, in the 100s, especially deep inland and over dry areas), and lows in the 70s (or even, 80s.)
Then the Jet Stream moves off to the South, and cold dry air from the Arctic moves in. It is summer, so it is not that cold, but it is still chilly. Highs drop into the 70s, lows drop into the 40s. The sky is crystal clear, the sun blazes down (and it is still barely warm, even in the sun), and the wind blows cold from the north.
The Average, as it is called, is just that: the Average. It is not the actual weather at any given time. The actual weather are those times of mild days and chill nights, or heat waves, or cold waves.
Simple rule of thumb, obvious, is: the further north you are, the fewer heat waves, the more cold waves ... and the reverse is true (ask anyone in the American Midwest.)
Sometimes the Jet Stream moves right over your area, and stays there. *This* is when it is *most likely* to be stormy, tornadoes are most likely to occur (tornadoes are produced, simplistically speaking, by the heating of the sun and the passage of warm and cold fronts, but the Jet Stream being around really helps this process out.)
It is also likely to be the windiest time, for strong weather systems produce vast areas of wind, and the Jet Stream - a windy affair - increases winds at the ground.
Strong winds help blow in the warmest and the coldest air, and big storm systems reinforce this, so the warmest of summer air and the coolest, occur during these windy periods (a windy warm night, or a windy cold day, both common in the North in the summer.)
Why doesn't it snow in the summer? Why doesn't it freeze? (light frosts can occasionally occur ...)
The ground is too warm. Snow falling from the clouds warms, melts, and turns to rain before it reaches the ground, even during the coldest cold waves, in the summer.
Freezes? The warm ground keeps the air temperature up. There isn't time for the ground to cool enough, and the air, before the sun is back up and shedding it's warmth. The sun rises high enough in the sky to shed a whole lot of warmth, enough to compensate for any cold wave, and the cold moderates.
Why doesn't it get warmer and warmer under the sun, until it is frying hot?
Actually, it can get rather frying hot, if the Jet Stream stays off to the north long enough, and this is your classic Summer Heatwave.
But, I mean, why doesn't it get FRYING hot, 120 or higher?
It doesn't do that because the sun is not strong enough, and heat waves never last long enough, and forests and plants mitigate the heat, and clouds mitigate the sun's strength, and ... something is always interfering, even if it is only a brief thunderstorm that brings sudden cooling. Something always interferes with the heating process. (This interference keeps temperatures almost always below 100, and usually below 90.)
For it to actually go to 110, some really unusual weather patterns would have to occur. Every degree beyond that, is much more difficult yet, requires a more freakish set of conditions.
So, sometimes it is in the 70s during the day and 50s at night, cool, moist, hot in the midday sun, pleasant in the afternoon, cool at sunset, chilly at night.
Sometimes it is hot and humid, in the 90s during the day, 70s at night, and still quite warm when you are trying to sleep (too warm ...)
Sometimes chilly winds blow, it struggles to reach 70, it falls to 45 that night, and it's not really a good time for picnics.
And sometimes, it is just warm and moderately humid, in the 80s during the day and 60s at night, with pleasant evenings and cool nights.
The last kind of weather is most common just prior to heat waves, just after heat waves (where the cold air hasn't started rushing in yet, and the ground is still very warm), and sometimes the typical weather if the Jet Stream is off to the north (ala, Pennslyvania or Ohio on a typical summer day.)
You wouldn't call this weather strictly a heat wave, nor a cold wave. It is just ... well, typical summertime warmth. Hot in the sun, warm in the shade, pleasant in the evening, cool at night, and sometimes too humid to be comfortable. Great for golfing, not so good for football. Great for picnics, not so good for swimming.
Here is how our Weather Service described the possibilities of these conditions, using their *own* 6 sided dice, for the state of Ohio:
1. Hot and quite humid. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s.
2. Warm and humid. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s.
3. Warm and somewhat humid. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s.
4. Cool and humid (clammy.) Highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
5. Cool and dry. Highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
6. Very cool and dry. Highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s.
How many days above 90 each summer? Around 20.
How many nights below 50 each summer? Around 20, also.
Rain, thunderstorms, and severe weather occur as you shift from one kind of weather to another. That is a fundamental rule of weather.
When a weather pattern is stable, it is clear and sunny. Or the reverse, cloudy and rainy, with the garden style variety of rain (gentle or moderate, but persistent, with 1 or 2 inches over several days ... but no violent storms during the stable period.)
That is Summer. There is much more to Summer than that, but there's a start. The more you know about summer, the more you can create dice rolls to produce Random Weather appropriate to the season.
For example, you had thrown a 2, indicating warm and humid weather.
You roll, and the dice roll is a 1. That means hot and humid. That means a warm front is coming through. That means the Jet Stream is off to the north of the area, or about to move off north.
Storms are possible, even likely. So, another d6 (now, I'm making this up.)
1: Partly cloudy, then partly cloudy and hot and humid. No rain. Light winds from the east, turning southeast, then south.
2: Partly cloudy, then cloudy with light rain, then moderate rain, then partly cloudy and hot and humid. Breezy. Winds southeast, then south.
3: Partly cloudy, then cloudy with thunderstorms. Breezy. Turning hot and humid.
4. Partly cloudy, then cloudy, then torrential rain and severe thunderstorms. Afterwards, strong south winds, partly cloudy (or even mostly cloudy) and hot and humid.
5. As 4, but after the storms pass, it turns hot and dry, not hot and humid. (An indicator that perhaps more unusual weather yet is on the way.)
6. Sudden severe storms, flooding, hail, and tornadoes, followed by strong winds, partly cloudy skies, turning hot and humid.
Whatever happens, remember that weather is continuous. It can shift suddenly, but tends to be a work in progress, altogether and all the time.
The PCs can awaken to clear skies or cloudy skies, to cold or to heat, to humid or dry conditions, but most likely things are still in the process of changing to those conditions when they awaken. And eat. And journey. Fight. Rest. Fight again. Rest. Fight again. Journey on. Eat dinner. Tell stories. Go to bed.
Weather is the Great Unending Story.
You could set up a really elaborate set of dice rolls to cover this, going even as far as Rolemaster did.
Just remember that you'll be rolling a lot, because the weather in your setting is constantly changing, no? Unless the setting is very unlike Earth, or wizards/druids/others are fooling with the weather, it should be changing, evolving, as it is normally always doing.
Study the other seasons. Spring, autumn, winter.
Study the major climates around the Earth, as defined by Köppen.
Study microclimates (some of these are downright fascinating.)
Watch weather forecasts, watch the Weather Channel a lot. (And listen to whether forecasters discuss the incoming warm or cold fronts, incoming weather events. Some do so with great gusto, even if nothing particularly outstanding is happening.)
You'll get a feel for the dice rolls to create. And, there will be no sense of it being Contrived. Knowing how it works in the Real World, you can extrapolate that into your game, and your players - subjects of Real World weather themselves - will feel right at home.
*Then* you throw in the joker with the Control Weather spell, and start with the DM nastiness ... : )
You wish the weather to be truly random, with dice rolls determining it?
That is great, since that is what you wish. But if your group does not understand the basics of weather, they won't be able to distinguish Made-Up Weather and Random Weather, because even with dice rolls the DM will be forced to arbitrate.
In this case, the more the DM understands weather, the less he has to arbitrate it, and the more completely it can be given over to the dice rolling, become truly Random.
On Earth, in the northern hemisphere, we are close enough to our sun and the sun angle is high enough to produce specific effects. These effects are the basis of Summer.
The ground heats up under the long sunny days (or, even on cloudy days ... some sunlight still comes through) and it warms the air above it. If there is forest, the ground is less warm, but it is still moderately warm.
The ground is cool, chilly down deep. The air is moderate, cool in the shade, and chilly at night. Cool winds blow, rustling the trees, waving the meadow grass, the sound of leaves competing with the birds and insects.
Does this remind you of something? It is Summer in the North, in southern Canada, in most of Europe. It is in the 50s at night, but it is in the 70s during the day. It starts heating up about an hour after sunrise, and the summer evening and early night sees only a slow drop in temperature, as the ground cools.
Of course, it is much warmer if you are standing in the sun. The sun tries to warm you just as it warms the ground. You can become quite overheated, just standing there in the midday sun, even if it is quite cool in the shade. Sit in the comfort of a shaded porch or under the canopy of tree limbs, and picnics are the order of the day, no?
In areas of the temperate latitudes where the ground is all prairie or steppe, daytime temperatures are more likely to peak in the 80s. Nighttime lows rise into the low 60s. The open land heats up more intensely under the temperate sun. and the short nights give it less time to cool back down.
If it is desert, in the temperature latitudes, it goes into the 90s during the day, and drops into the 60s at night.
If it is constantly cloudy, it goes only into the 60s during the day, and falls into the 50s at night.
Most areas with this kind of summer climate, which are humid, are known as Snow Forest Climates. New England, Germany, and Poland enjoy this climate.
If the winter is milder, generally above freezing, the climate is known as Marine West Coast, and this climate is extremely famous because it is shared by Great Britain, France, and the US Pacific Northwest.
If the weather is dry, and no trees grow, you have the climate of Colorado or Wyoming or southern Minnesota, or the famous climate of the steppes of Central Asia.
If the weather is extremely dry, think of northern Nevada or western Utah, inland Oregon and Washington State. Or the desert areas south of the great steppes of central Asia.
The sun is the primary force of warmth, and at these latitudes it shines for 14 to 16 hours per day in June (not much less in May or July, and in August the land is so much warmer from the long summer that the retreating sunlight doesn't mean much.)
The nights are brief, the period of total darkness even more brief, but are surprisingly chilly.
If it is cloudy, windy, and humid (or raining) it can be downright cold, even during the summer. The chill doesn't bother the trees, but it can bother people.
Again, at these latitudes (40 to 50 north latitude) it is the sun that is the primary force of warmth ... if you are near the ocean and mountains do not block it off, the ocean is also a source of warmth ... and of storms and rain and wind, endless humidity, giving rise to the term Temperate Rainforest (Washington State.)
Now, look at Average Temperate Maps for these areas, and you will see that ... the Average Temperature does *not* correspond to what I just wrote!
Why is that?
There is a Great Ribbon of Roaring Air that circles the world, a writhing stream of hurricane force winds up high in the sky, known as the Jet Stream. Ever hear of it? Of course!
This strange beast, the Jet Stream, moves back and forth across the temperate latitudes during the summer. Why this occurs is complicated, but a simplistic summary (for gaming) is that warm air pushes at it from one side, and cold air from the other.
Think of a long, long snake, and someone is pushing at it with a stick from one side, and someone is pushing (at another part of it) from the other, and the annoyed snake is hissing and lashing out, and writhing, and trying to straighten itself (it never succeeds) and carry on with it's business. Well, the Jet Stream looks a lot like that.
If the Jet Stream moves off to your north, then hot humid air from the Tropics moves in, it turns miserably humid, highs are in the 90s (occasionally, in the 100s, especially deep inland and over dry areas), and lows in the 70s (or even, 80s.)
Then the Jet Stream moves off to the South, and cold dry air from the Arctic moves in. It is summer, so it is not that cold, but it is still chilly. Highs drop into the 70s, lows drop into the 40s. The sky is crystal clear, the sun blazes down (and it is still barely warm, even in the sun), and the wind blows cold from the north.
The Average, as it is called, is just that: the Average. It is not the actual weather at any given time. The actual weather are those times of mild days and chill nights, or heat waves, or cold waves.
Simple rule of thumb, obvious, is: the further north you are, the fewer heat waves, the more cold waves ... and the reverse is true (ask anyone in the American Midwest.)
Sometimes the Jet Stream moves right over your area, and stays there. *This* is when it is *most likely* to be stormy, tornadoes are most likely to occur (tornadoes are produced, simplistically speaking, by the heating of the sun and the passage of warm and cold fronts, but the Jet Stream being around really helps this process out.)
It is also likely to be the windiest time, for strong weather systems produce vast areas of wind, and the Jet Stream - a windy affair - increases winds at the ground.
Strong winds help blow in the warmest and the coldest air, and big storm systems reinforce this, so the warmest of summer air and the coolest, occur during these windy periods (a windy warm night, or a windy cold day, both common in the North in the summer.)
Why doesn't it snow in the summer? Why doesn't it freeze? (light frosts can occasionally occur ...)
The ground is too warm. Snow falling from the clouds warms, melts, and turns to rain before it reaches the ground, even during the coldest cold waves, in the summer.
Freezes? The warm ground keeps the air temperature up. There isn't time for the ground to cool enough, and the air, before the sun is back up and shedding it's warmth. The sun rises high enough in the sky to shed a whole lot of warmth, enough to compensate for any cold wave, and the cold moderates.
Why doesn't it get warmer and warmer under the sun, until it is frying hot?
Actually, it can get rather frying hot, if the Jet Stream stays off to the north long enough, and this is your classic Summer Heatwave.
But, I mean, why doesn't it get FRYING hot, 120 or higher?
It doesn't do that because the sun is not strong enough, and heat waves never last long enough, and forests and plants mitigate the heat, and clouds mitigate the sun's strength, and ... something is always interfering, even if it is only a brief thunderstorm that brings sudden cooling. Something always interferes with the heating process. (This interference keeps temperatures almost always below 100, and usually below 90.)
For it to actually go to 110, some really unusual weather patterns would have to occur. Every degree beyond that, is much more difficult yet, requires a more freakish set of conditions.
So, sometimes it is in the 70s during the day and 50s at night, cool, moist, hot in the midday sun, pleasant in the afternoon, cool at sunset, chilly at night.
Sometimes it is hot and humid, in the 90s during the day, 70s at night, and still quite warm when you are trying to sleep (too warm ...)
Sometimes chilly winds blow, it struggles to reach 70, it falls to 45 that night, and it's not really a good time for picnics.
And sometimes, it is just warm and moderately humid, in the 80s during the day and 60s at night, with pleasant evenings and cool nights.
The last kind of weather is most common just prior to heat waves, just after heat waves (where the cold air hasn't started rushing in yet, and the ground is still very warm), and sometimes the typical weather if the Jet Stream is off to the north (ala, Pennslyvania or Ohio on a typical summer day.)
You wouldn't call this weather strictly a heat wave, nor a cold wave. It is just ... well, typical summertime warmth. Hot in the sun, warm in the shade, pleasant in the evening, cool at night, and sometimes too humid to be comfortable. Great for golfing, not so good for football. Great for picnics, not so good for swimming.
Here is how our Weather Service described the possibilities of these conditions, using their *own* 6 sided dice, for the state of Ohio:
1. Hot and quite humid. Highs in the 90s, lows in the 70s.
2. Warm and humid. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s.
3. Warm and somewhat humid. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s.
4. Cool and humid (clammy.) Highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
5. Cool and dry. Highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
6. Very cool and dry. Highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s.
How many days above 90 each summer? Around 20.
How many nights below 50 each summer? Around 20, also.
Rain, thunderstorms, and severe weather occur as you shift from one kind of weather to another. That is a fundamental rule of weather.
When a weather pattern is stable, it is clear and sunny. Or the reverse, cloudy and rainy, with the garden style variety of rain (gentle or moderate, but persistent, with 1 or 2 inches over several days ... but no violent storms during the stable period.)
That is Summer. There is much more to Summer than that, but there's a start. The more you know about summer, the more you can create dice rolls to produce Random Weather appropriate to the season.
For example, you had thrown a 2, indicating warm and humid weather.
You roll, and the dice roll is a 1. That means hot and humid. That means a warm front is coming through. That means the Jet Stream is off to the north of the area, or about to move off north.
Storms are possible, even likely. So, another d6 (now, I'm making this up.)
1: Partly cloudy, then partly cloudy and hot and humid. No rain. Light winds from the east, turning southeast, then south.
2: Partly cloudy, then cloudy with light rain, then moderate rain, then partly cloudy and hot and humid. Breezy. Winds southeast, then south.
3: Partly cloudy, then cloudy with thunderstorms. Breezy. Turning hot and humid.
4. Partly cloudy, then cloudy, then torrential rain and severe thunderstorms. Afterwards, strong south winds, partly cloudy (or even mostly cloudy) and hot and humid.
5. As 4, but after the storms pass, it turns hot and dry, not hot and humid. (An indicator that perhaps more unusual weather yet is on the way.)
6. Sudden severe storms, flooding, hail, and tornadoes, followed by strong winds, partly cloudy skies, turning hot and humid.
Whatever happens, remember that weather is continuous. It can shift suddenly, but tends to be a work in progress, altogether and all the time.
The PCs can awaken to clear skies or cloudy skies, to cold or to heat, to humid or dry conditions, but most likely things are still in the process of changing to those conditions when they awaken. And eat. And journey. Fight. Rest. Fight again. Rest. Fight again. Journey on. Eat dinner. Tell stories. Go to bed.
Weather is the Great Unending Story.
You could set up a really elaborate set of dice rolls to cover this, going even as far as Rolemaster did.
Just remember that you'll be rolling a lot, because the weather in your setting is constantly changing, no? Unless the setting is very unlike Earth, or wizards/druids/others are fooling with the weather, it should be changing, evolving, as it is normally always doing.
Study the other seasons. Spring, autumn, winter.
Study the major climates around the Earth, as defined by Köppen.
Study microclimates (some of these are downright fascinating.)
Watch weather forecasts, watch the Weather Channel a lot. (And listen to whether forecasters discuss the incoming warm or cold fronts, incoming weather events. Some do so with great gusto, even if nothing particularly outstanding is happening.)
You'll get a feel for the dice rolls to create. And, there will be no sense of it being Contrived. Knowing how it works in the Real World, you can extrapolate that into your game, and your players - subjects of Real World weather themselves - will feel right at home.
*Then* you throw in the joker with the Control Weather spell, and start with the DM nastiness ... : )
