Weather

Weather in Varisia can vary from pleasant sun and shading clouds at Sandpoint ...

... to violent thunderstorms over Korvosa ...

... to flaming emberstorms that roll across the Cinderlands ...

... to copious snowfall among its mountain peaks.

This article covers the atmospheric state of a planet. For the divine magic domain, see weather (domain).

Weather describes the immediate state of a planet's atmosphere, including its temperature, moisture, and volatility. Golarion has many weather systems related to its various climates and experiences both natural and supernatural weather phenomena.

On Golarion

See also: Category:Weather conditions

Natural extreme weather

Extreme weather phenomena can form naturally and with little warning. Hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, violent thunderstorms, and extreme amounts of rainfall can afflict various parts of the world at any given time, and these phenomena can lead to avalanches, floods, landslides, and lightning strikes. Likewise, dry seasons and long periods of drought can afflict crops and spark wildfires, and powerful winds can raise sandstorms over deserts.

• Naturally occurring hurricanes form over the High Seas with regularity. Thunderstorms also form over those waters with weak winds, but copious rain and orange-tinged lightning that emits thunder loud enough to reportedly splinter a ship's mast.
• Colder air moved by the Eye of Abendego causes sudden thunderstorms to form over Rahadoum, where lightning strikes superheat the sands to leave marks of glass.
• Mild but showy ball lightning strikes called tumblefires afflict Andoran, Cheliax, and Taldor during rainless electrical storms that occur in the summer months. Lightning also sparks frequent wildfires in the grassy eastern plains of Taldor.
• The Storval Plateau of Varisia, the neighboring nations of Nirmathas and Molthune, and the plains of Taldor all seasonally experience destructive tornadoes. Tornadoes have also struck plains in eastern coastal Garund, southern Andoran and Cheliax, spawned from the Worldwound bearing millions of venomous insects in the years before its closure, and appeared on the forefronts of sandstorms in northern Garund.
• The Cinderlands experience storms of dust, ash, and wildfire embers called emberstorms, or black blizzards.
• In Ustalav, blanketing fog that rises at nightfall can form disorienting storms of damp, chilly winds called mistgales that travelers through the country often fear.
• The Five Kings Range mountain of Lightning's Call derives its moniker from the perpetual gathering of storm clouds around its peak, a phenomenon that wizards of Tar-Kazmukh have determined is not magical in nature but remain mystified by.
• Powerful blizzards called morozkos regularly strike the Crown of the World and Icemark, and for some time also extended unseasonably south.
• In Hongal, quqotengir (translatable as the "sky dragon's angry breath") is a storm that whips across the land in early spring and late autumn. Some type of creatures hide within the storm and leave the mutilated corpses of its victims behind after the winds have passed.

Supernatural weather

The Eye of Abendego.

Golarion has also borne witness to many supernatural and magical weather phenomena.

• Near the Crown of the World, a confluence of sunlight and glacial ice that occurs every decade creates an illusory vision of dancers made of reflected light.
• Near Devil's Perch in the Menador Mountains, a strong and persistent gust blows every 42 years in the spring. Strix of the area flock to the phenomenon to participate in races that use the winds to propel them at dangerously high speeds.
• Every 22 years, Lake Encarthan experiences an extreme high tide, locally known as the Messenger Tide, during the autumn. The waters overtake the lake's persistent fog, and those who investigate the risen waters sometimes return strangely empowered.
• A perpetual winter has blanketed Irrisen since 3313 AR, just before Baba Yaga's invasion and victory in the Winter War.
  • Portals spread this weather to areas of the Inner Sea region in 4713 AR, an event later known as the Heldren Freeze.
• Off the western coast of Garund, the death of Aroden was followed by the formation of a massive, persistent hurricane known as the Eye of Abendego.
• Kyonin's trees retain their foliage year-round, but every 74 years they shed their foliage in an event known as the canopy molting, the cause of which is unknown.
• Supernatural weather events are common off the coast of the Mana Wastes' Spellscar Desert, including storms of living lightning.
• Ustalav experiences blood rains every 37 years, in which storms of unknown origin rain a red liquid as they pass across the nation. Researchers have confirmed that the liquid clots like blood, but tests have been otherwise inconclusive toward the liquid's nature.
• Rusalka activity spikes during an annual week-long period early in Sarenith known as the Blue Week, which typically coincides with the season's best weather.
• The Trackless Storm of Katapesh is a perpetual sandstorm that rages near the nation's border with Nex.

Forecasting

Weather prediction frequently relies on some combination of science, technology, magic, and intuition. Storm gauges, primal magic-empowered devices which contain a blue-hued liquid that reacts to natural forces near a rainstorm, are common equipment aboard ships. Sailors and coastal communities employ weather forecasters of various stripes, such as the natural weather-reading abilities of many Ozalon azarketis, or use divination magic, which is effective only for predicting weather a few days in advance.

Meteorology

Meteorology is the scientific study of the forces that cause weather events and the means of predicting them.

Control

Ritual magic can exert some control over the weather. However, this control can be expensive to enact and limited in scope. For example, such magic can manifest a hurricane, but its casters cannot control the manifested hurricane's path.

Island oni can manipulate the weather for up to a mile around an island that they have spent at least a week claiming, and use this power to create disorienting effects that entrap others. Covens of hags can also manipulate the weather through ritual magic.

By creatures

Danava titans, green men, krakens, olethrodaemons, sards, sea dragons, storm giants, thunderbirds, the avatar of the Lantern King, and the nymph queen Nyrissa can all innately manipulate the weather.

Manipulation of winds can draw the attention of anemoi, air elementals tasked with ensuring the natural movement of winds across worlds of the Universe and the planes who also often control the weather themselves toward vain or petty ends. Reclusive avian beasts called pengs, most of which live in southern Tian Xia, emit a magical aura that calms the weather around them. Imgui can manipulate rain and storms but cannot fully control them.

The Sky Keepers are a pantheon of deities allied by their interest in preserving the natural order of the weather over the Mwangi Expanse, and includes Apsu, Uvuko, and Ranginori. Veranallia azata can dramatically and unseasonably reshape the weather around them several times a day.

By items

A violin of the waves can calm the waters around it when played aboard a ship, though the effect also leaves its crew prone to distracting daydreams and revelry.

In culture

Shoanti refer to tornadoes as yayoncha, or Angel of Storms, but only in whispers out of fear. Orcs of the neighboring Hold of Belkzen similarly consider tornadoes to be harbingers of apocalypse.

In religion

See also: Category:Weather domain deities

Gozreh is among the most widely worshiped deities primarily associated with weather.

This section is a stub. You can help us by expanding it.

On distant worlds

The Eyes of the Ancients are the three biggest and most famous storms on the planet Bretheda, located in its southern hemisphere. Tens of thousands of miles wide, they are large enough to be seen from Golarion with a telescope.

On Triaxus, meteorological weathermages and weather-forecasting prophets work to determine the transitional timing of the planet's generations-long seasons.

In the Great Beyond

Weather phenomena are not limited to the Universe. For example, the moon-sized Storm of Fangs is a perpetual storm that has raged for countless eons on the Elemental Plane of Air.

Extreme weather can also facilitate travel between Elemental Planes and the Universe. For example, natural hurricanes can draw water elementals into the Universe from the Plane of Water.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

External links

• Weather on Archives of Nethys for Pathfinder First Edition
• Weather Hazards on Archives of Nethys for Pathfinder Second Edition
• Stolen Lands Weather on Archives of Nethys for Pathfinder Second Edition
• Weather (real-world concept) on Wikipedia
• Meteorology (real-world field of study) on Wikipedia
• Blizzard (real-world weather condition) on Wikipedia
• Thunderstorm (real-world weather condition) on Wikipedia
• Dust storm (real-world weather condition) on Wikipedia