Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ

This is a thread to discuss non fiction books which deal with the history of weather

This is also a thread where group members can discuss historical fiction accounts and books which deal with this topic. However, all historical fictional accounts must be identified as such.

Here is an account of what can happen when we get the weather predictions wrong, with terrible consequences:

by David Laskin
Reviews:
"In 1888, a sudden, violent blizzard swept across the American plains, killing hundreds of people, many of them children on their way home from school. As Laskin (Partisans) writes in this gripping chronicle of meteorological chance and human folly and error, the School Children's Blizzard, as it came to be known, was 'a clean, fine blade through the history of the prairie,' a turning point in the minds of the most steadfast settlers: by the turn of the 20th century, 60% of pioneer families had left the plains. Laskin shows how portions of Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas, heavily promoted by railroads and speculators, represented 'land, freedom, hope' for thousands of impoverished European immigrants—particularly Germans and Scandinavians—who instead found an unpredictable, sometimes brutal environment, a 'land they loved but didn't really understand.' Their stories of bitter struggle in the blizzard, which Laskin relates via survivors' accounts and a novelistic imagination, are consistently affecting. And Laskin's careful consideration of the inefficiencies of the army's inexpert weather service and his chronicle of the storm's aftermath in the papers (differences in death counts provoked a national "unseemly brawl") add to this rewarding read." - Publishers Weekly

"That 1888 January day on the northern plains was bright and warm–the first mild weather in several weeks–leading many children to attend school without coats, boots, hats, or mittens. A number of students were caught in the sudden storm that hit later that day. Laskin details this event–the worst blizzard anyone in those parts ever encountered. It not only took the lives of hundreds of settlers, but also formed a significant crack in the westward movement and helped to cause a movement out. The author introduces five pioneer families, beginning with why they left the old country. The personalization of these settlers breathes life into this history and holds readers spellbound. Laskin devotes several chapters to the meteorology of storms, especially this one, and the politics and history of the Army Signal Corps, which ran a fledgling weather service at the time. Readers are then led through the storm and its effects on the featured families as well as on many others. Some teachers kept students at school, burning desks to stay warm overnight; some tried to keep students in but were unsuccessful; and some led them out, not realizing how dangerous it was. A few children and adults who got lost somehow managed to survive covered by snow, then died when they got to their feet in the morning. Laskin explains why, and delves into other effects of prolonged exposure to cold. A gripping story, well told." - School Library Journal

Here is another 'weather' based history book that I really enjoyed. I found it quite gripping and very interesting:

by Erik Larson
Review:
"Torqued by drama and taut with suspense, this absorbing narrative of the 1900 hurricane that inundated Galveston, Tex., conveys the sudden, cruel power of the deadliest natural disaster in American history. Told largely from the perspective of Isaac Cline, the senior U.S. Weather Bureau official in Galveston at the time, the story considers an era when "the hubris of men led them to believe they could disregard even nature itself." As barometers plummet and wind gauges are plucked from their moorings, Larson (Lethal Passage) cuts cinematically from the eerie "eyewall" of the hurricane to the mundane hubbub of a lunchroom moments before it capitulates to the arriving winds, from the neat pirouette of Cline's house amid rising waters to the bridge of the steamship Pensacola, tossed like flotsam on the roiling seas. Most intriguingly, Larson details the mistakes that led bureau officials to dismiss warnings about the storm, which killed over 6000 and destroyed a third of the island city. The government's weather forecasting arm registered not only temperature and humidity but also political climate, civic boosterism and even sibling rivalries. America's patronizing stance toward Cuba, for instance, shut down forecasts from Cuban meteorologists, who had accurately predicted the Galveston storm's course and true scale, even as U.S. weather officials issued mollifying bulletins calling for mere rain and high winds. Larson expertly captures the power of the storm itself and the ironic, often catastrophic consequences of the unpredictable intersection of natural force and human choice." - Publishers Weekly

That is a great book...I was just going to add that one...but glad you got there first (smile).

One more book :)

I have a copy of this title but have not read it yet but it may interest others who enjoy accounts of weather and how powerful it can be:

by Douglas Brinkley
Review:
"Historian Brinkley (Tour of Duty, etc.) opens his detailed examination of the awful events that took place on the Gulf Coast late last summer by describing how a New Orleans animal shelter began evacuating its charges at the first notice of the impending storm. The Louisiana SPCA, Brinkley none too coyly points out, was better prepared for Katrina than the city of New Orleans. It's groups like the SPCA, as well as compassionate citizens who used their own resources to help others, whom Brinkley hails as heroes in his heavy, powerful account"and, unsurprisingly, authorities like Mayor Ray Nagin, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and former FEMA director Michael C. Brown whom he lambastes most fiercely. The book covers August 27 through September 3, 2005, and uses multiple narrative threads, an effect that is disorienting but appropriate for a book chronicling the helter-skelter environment of much of New Orleans once the storm had passed, the levees had been breached, and the city was awash in 'toxic gumbo.' Naturally outraged at the damage wrought by the storm and worsened by the ill-prepared authorities, Brinkley, a New Orleans resident, is generally levelheaded, even when reporting on Brown's shallow e-mails to friends while 'the trapped were dying' or recounting heretofore unreported atrocities, such as looters defecating on property as a mark of empowerment." - Publishers Weekly

Hi Bentley, It is a great book, I loved it. Sorry to hog the thread, finished for the moment :)


by Erik Larson

You are not hogging anything; I am delighted that you are adding books to them.

I have to add one of my all-time favorite history books:

John M. Barry

Product description:
When Mother Nature rages, the physical results are never subtle. Because we cannot contain the weather, we can only react by tabulating the damage in dollar amounts, estimating the number of people left homeless, and laying the plans for rebuilding. But as John M. Barry expertly details in Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, some calamities transform much more than the landscape.

While tracing the history of the nation's most destructive natural disaster, Barry explains how ineptitude and greed helped cause the flood, and how the policies created to deal with the disaster changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Existing racial rifts expanded, helping to launch Herbert Hoover into the White House and shifting the political alliances of many blacks in the process. An absorbing account of a little-known, yet monumental event in American history, Rising Tide reveals how human behavior proved more destructive than the swollen river itself.

These are both on my to-read list.
by Jeffrey H. Jackson
In the winter of 1910, the river that brought life to Paris quickly became a force of destruction. Torrential rainfall saturated the soil, and faulty engineering created a perfect storm of conditions that soon drowned Parisian streets, homes, businesses, and museums. The city seemed to have lost its battle with the elements. Given the Parisians� history of deep-seated social, religious, and political strife, it was questionable whether they could collaborate to confront the crisis. Yet while the sewers, Métro, and electricity failed around them, Parisians of all backgrounds rallied to save the city and one another. Improvising techniques to keep Paris functioning and braving the dangers of collapsing infrastructure and looters, leaders and residents alike answered the call to action. This newfound ability to work together proved a crucial rehearsal for an even graver crisis four years later, when France was plunged into World War I. On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the flood, Jeffrey H. Jackson captures here for the first time the drama and ultimate victory of man over nature.


I really like Tim Egan and have another of his books and heard him speak. I am looking forward to reading this:
by Timothy Egan
The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Timothy Egan’s critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, “the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect� (New York Times).

In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is “arguably the best nonfiction book yet� (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature

Hi Alisa, you will have to let me know what you think of "Paris Under Water" if you read it. It looks like a very interesting book, nice post!

by Jeffrey H. Jackson

This is a little bit different from most of the books mentioned on this thread but it is so delightful. The author is the founder of the worldwide Cloud Appreciation Society and this book is the ultimate sky gazing reference. It resembles a bird watchers book in that there is room to record the date, time, location and conditions for when you officially spot each type of cloud. For the serious weather watcher.........or the daydreamer.

by Gavin Pretor-Pinney(no photo)

We have witnessed on television the effects of the weather phenomenon of the tsunami. This book explains the how and why of these killer waves.

Tsunami

by Walter C. Dudley

Synopsis

The first edition of Tsunami!, published in 1988, provided readers with a complete examination of the tsunami phenomenon in Hawai'i. This second edition adds many eyewitness accounts of the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 and expands its coverage to include major tsunamis in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Fiji, Alaska, California, Newfoundland, and the Caribbean, as well as the 1998 devastation in Papua New Guinea. Dramatic photographs and accounts of experiencing a tsunami firsthand are placed within the framework of the how and why of tsunamis, our scientific understanding of these phenomena, and the current status of the Tsunami Warning System, which is widely used to forecast and measure tsunamis and prepare coastal areas for potentially deadly tsunami strikes.

This is one of my favourite books. It's how weather has effected human hitoric events. byErik Durschmied

Ooh, that looks interesting, Michael. Thanks for the add.

Michael wrote: "This is one of my favourite books. It's how weather has effected human hitoric events. byErik Durschmied"

I am going to add that to my TBR list. Of course, that list is huge.... but it's there!

That does look interesting Michael. Thank you.

The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History
by William K. Klingaman

Synopsis
Like Winchester's Krakatoa, The Year Without Summer reveals a year of dramatic global change long forgotten by history

In the tradition of Krakatoa, The World Without Us, and Guns, Germs and Steel comes a sweeping history of the year that became known as 18-hundred-and-froze-to-death. 1816 was a remarkable year—mostly for the fact that there was no summer. As a result of a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, weather patterns were disrupted worldwide for months, allowing for excessive rain, frost, and snowfall through much of the Northeastern U.S. and Europe in the summer of 1816.

In the U.S., the extraordinary weather produced food shortages, religious revivals, and extensive migration from New England to the Midwest. In Europe, the cold and wet summer led to famine, food riots, the transformation of stable communities into wandering beggars, and one of the worst typhus epidemics in history. 1816 was the year Frankenstein was written. It was also the year Turner painted his fiery sunsets. All of these things are linked to global climate change—something we are quite aware of now, but that was utterly mysterious to people in the nineteenth century, who concocted all sorts of reasons for such an ungenial season.

Making use of a wealth of source material and employing a compelling narrative approach featuring peasants and royalty, politicians, writers, and scientists, The Year Without Summer examines not only the climate change engendered by this event, but also its effects on politics, the economy, the arts, and social structures.

Just added some of the books mentioned on this thread. Can I add The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea Sebastian Junger

Frank, thanks for the feedback, and the addition. Quite a movie too!

You are doing a great job with the citations. You only need the book cover, rather than the cover and the book link. It is three elements: book cover, author photo (when available), and author link.
by Sebastian Junger

Thanks again.

Anyone read Sebastian Junger I haven't but I have enjoyed other Junger books.

The Great Hurricane: 1938
by Cherie Burns

Synopsis
On the night of September 21,1938, news on the radio was full of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. There was no mention of any severe weather. By the time oceanfront residents noticed an ominous color in the sky, it was too late to escape. In an age before warning systems and the ubiquity of television, this unprecedented storm caught the Northeast off guard, obliterated coastal communities, and killed seven hundred people.
The Great Hurricane: 1938is a spellbinding hour-by-hour reconstruction of one of the most destructive and powerful storms ever to hit the United States. With riveting detail, Burns weaves together the countless personal stories of loved ones lost and lives changed forever -- from those of the Moore family, washed to sea on a raft formerly their attic floor, to Katharine Hepburn, holed up in her Connecticut mansion, watching her car take to the air like a bit of paper.

Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935
by Willie Drye

Synopsis
The most powerful hurricane in United States history assaulted the Florida Keys in 1935, one of the darkest years of the Great Depression. With winds surpassing 200 miles an hour and a storm surge topping 20 feet, the �Storm of the Century� killed more than 400 people in a two-day span, devastating small villages and killing hundreds of World War I veterans working on a federally sponsored project�and kicking up a far-reaching political storm of acrimony and controversy in its wake.

Good stuff, you must have hurricanes on your mind, Alisa.

LOL have to love the internet for how quickly you can become distracted by something and follow a little rabbit trail. Since I came across these, figured it was a good time to add them.

I have so far read The Oryx Resource Guide to El Nino and La Nina by Joseph S. D'Aleo.

The book is primarily for serious followers of weather and climate, such as myself.

Thank you James for the add.

Even though this is really just a collection of stories, only one of which is about fire, the fire portion was a really great read!

Sebastian Junger

Thank you Marc for thinking of us and posting this book. You have the citation format correct too.

I have not read this book but it has gotten very good reviews here on GR, so it sound like it is worth reading.


The Power of the Sea: Tsunamis, Storm Surges, Rogue Waves, and Our Quest to Predict Disasters

by Bruce Parker

Synopsis

The Power of the Sea describes our struggle to understand the physics of the sea, so we can use that knowledge to predict when the sea will unleash its fury against us. In a wide-sweeping narrative spanning much of human history, Bruce Parker, former chief scientist of the National Ocean Service, interweaves thrilling and often moving stories of unpredicted natural disaster with an accessible account of scientific discovery. The result is a compelling scientific journey, from ancient man’s first crude tide predictions to today’s advanced early warning ability based on the Global Ocean Observing System. It is a journey still underway, as we search for ways to predict tsunamis and rogue waves and critical aspects of El Niño and climate change caused by global warming.

That reminds me of this good book Susan Casey

Jill wrote: "It is a journey still underway, as we search for ways to predict tsunamis and rogue waves and critical aspects of El Niño and climate change caused by global warming. "

Another book that assumes global warming as a fact?

It appears so from the GR write-up but I don't think the focus of the book is global warming.

Thanks Jill and Frank. I have to say this is not a topic where I would ordinarily seek out books but some of this is so intriguing to me, maybe because I live on a coast and am constantly in awe of the power of the tides and water. More for the TBR list!

Recently read a good book on tornadoes and their history. Well-written with some great anecdotes, especially the two stories about the fire tornadoes.

by Lee Sandlin

Looks like a good recommendation, Tyler. Thanks for the addition.

Looking right up the funnel in the infamous tornado alley, this book is full of stories and scientific information which helps meteorologist predict the weather. Wonderful images from the storm chasers.

by Mike Hollingshead(no photo)

Synopsis:

The destructive power of nature has always been a source of fear and fascination, and never more so than now, when climate change and extreme weather conditions are constantly in the news. Across the central United States, the infamous storms of Tornado Alley are fueled by the collision of cold fronts from Canada and warm fronts from the Gulf of Mexico. People have been chasing these storms for decades in pursuit of thrilling experiences, but now a new generation of storm chasers is combining scientific knowledge with powerful images.

This book follows Mike Hollingshead and Eric Nguyen on seventeen chases through Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, illustrating the unfolding events with sequential shots and a running commentary by the chasers themselves. These spectacular storm portfolios are expanded with special features on weather phenomena like hail and mammatus clouds plus insights into forecasting and research.

November's Fury: The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913

by Michael Schumacher (no photo)

Synopsis:

On Thursday, November 6, the Detroit News forecasted “moderate to brisk� winds for the Great Lakes. On Friday, the Port Huron Times-Herald predicted a “moderately severe� storm. Hourly the warnings became more and more dire. Weather forecasting was in its infancy, however, and radio communication was not much better; by the time it became clear that a freshwater hurricane of epic proportions was developing, the storm was well on its way to becoming the deadliest in Great Lakes maritime history.

The ultimate story of man versus nature, November’s Fury recounts the dramatic events that unfolded over those four days in 1913, as captains eager—or at times forced—to finish the season tried to outrun the massive storm that sank, stranded, or demolished dozens of boats and claimed the lives of more than 250 sailors. This is an account of incredible seamanship under impossible conditions, of inexplicable blunders, heroic rescue efforts, and the sad aftermath of recovering bodies washed ashore and paying tribute to those lost at sea. It is a tragedy made all the more real by the voices of men—now long deceased—who sailed through and survived the storm, and by a remarkable array of photographs documenting the phenomenal damage this not-so-perfect storm wreaked.

The consummate storyteller of Great Lakes lore, Michael Schumacher at long last brings this violent storm to terrifying life, from its first stirrings through its slow-mounting destructive fury to its profound aftereffects, many still felt to this day.

Most of us watched the horror of this hurricane on television and prayed for the people in her path. This book addresses all aspects of that terrible event.

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast

by Douglas Brinkley

Synopsis:

In the span of five violent hours on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed major Gulf Coast cities and flattened 150 miles of coastline. Yet those wind-torn hours represented only the first stage of the relentless triple tragedy that Katrina brought to the entire Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama.
First came the hurricane, one of the three strongest ever to make landfall in the United States -- 150-mile- per-hour winds, with gusts measuring more than 180 miles per hour ripping buildings to pieces.

Second, the storm-surge flooding, which submerged a half million homes, creating the largest domestic refugee crisis since the Civil War. Eighty percent of New Orleans was under water, as debris and sewage coursed through the streets, and whole towns in south-eastern Louisiana ceased to exist.

And third, the human tragedy of government mis-management, which proved as cruel as the natural disaster itself.

Thanks, Jill, I used this book for work, and although hard hitting, I liked it.

by Douglas Brinkley

I can't imagine looking skyward and seeing a giant funnel cloud bearing down. This book goes into the how and why of the tornado.

Tornado Alley: Monster Storms of the Great Plains

by Howard B. Bluestein (no photo)

Synopsis:

Presents a historical account of the study of tornadoes and the great thunderstorms that spawn them. For scientists, amateur weather enthusiasts, or those who have ever been intrigued by a darkening sky, this book provides not only a history of tornado research, but looks into the origin and effects of nature's most dramatic phenomena.

I have not read this book but it looks interesting for the weather watcher.

Hurricanes and Typhoons: Past, Present, and Future

by Richard J. Murnane (no photo)

Synopsis:

This book surveys the past, present, and potential future variability of hurricanes and typhoons on a variety of timescales using newly developed approaches based on geological and archival records, in addition to more traditional approaches based on the analysis of the historical record of tropical cyclone tracks. A unique aspect of the book is that it provides an overview of the developing field of paleotempestology, which uses geological, biological, and documentary evidence to reconstruct prehistoric changes in hurricane landfall. The book also presents a particularly wide sampling of ongoing efforts to extend the best track data sets using historical material from many sources, including Chinese archives, British naval logbooks, Spanish colonial records, and early diaries from South Carolina. The book will be of particular interest to tropical meteorologists, geologists, and climatologists as well as to the catastrophe reinsurance industry, graduate students in meteorology, and public employees active in planning and emergency management.

Superstorm: Nine Days Inside Hurricane Sandy

by Kathryn Miles

Synopsis:

The sky was lit by a full moon on October 29, 2012, but nobody on the eastern seaboard of the United States could see it. Everything had been consumed by cloud. The storm’s immensity caught the attention of scientists on the International Space Station. Even from there, it seemed almost limitless: 1.8 million square feet of tightly coiled bands so huge they filled the windows of the Station. It was the largest storm anyone had ever seen.

Initially a tropical storm, Sandy had grown into a hybrid monster. It charged across open ocean, picking up strength with every step, baffling meteorologists and scientists, officials and emergency managers, even the traditional maritime wisdom of sailors and seamen: What exactly was this thing? By the time anyone decided, it was too late.

And then the storm made landfall.

Sandy was not just enormous, it was also unprecedented. As a result, the entire nation was left flat-footed. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration couldn’t issue reliable warnings; the Coast Guard didn’t know what to do. In Superstorm, journalist Kathryn Miles takes readers inside the maelstrom, detailing the stories of dedicated professionals at the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service. The characters include a forecaster who risked his job to sound the alarm in New Jersey, the crew of the ill-fated tall ship Bounty, Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Christie, and countless coastal residents whose homes—and lives—were torn apart and then left to wonder . . . When is the next superstorm coming?

Five hundred years of a cold snap?......not my idea of much fun. Read this book to find out the why of that weather aberration.

The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300 - 1850)

by Brian M. Fagan

Synopsis:

The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable, and often very cold years of modern European history, how this altered climate affected historical events, and what it means for today's global warming. Building on research that has only recently confirmed that the world endured a 500year cold snap, renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increasing cold influenced familiar events from Norse exploration to the settlement of North America to the Industrial Revolution. This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in history, climate, and how they interact.

Wow I thought that 2013 here with the polar vortex was 501.

Our airport runways in Charleston, WV are collapsing due to the recent heavy snows followed by melting. This had been predicted for years and it finally happened. There are homes in the valley below the airport, some were destroyed and all people evacuated. They are expecting more of the hillside to fall in the next couple of days. What a dangerous situation.




"Yeager Airport is a fairly unique airport in that it was built on top of a hill due to the lack of suitable flat land for a commercial airport. To make the hilltop flat enough for runways, 9 million cubic yards of earth and rock were moved when the airport was built in the 1940s. It's not surprising, then, that there might be some areas vulnerable to landslides after a spell of warm, wet weather following a prolonged deep freeze," said weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen.

Source: Weather.com

Crazy, Jill, it seems time was not on the airport's side. Sooner or later, something would have to slide. I image they have the airport because it is the state capital, right?

It is the largest airport in the state, located in the capital. There isn't much flat space in the state to put an airport and this is the only one which can handle large jets. Pilots have to take some type of certification to land commercial jets there. We had some accidents where planes went off the end of the runway and over the hill, so they extended it...and that's where the trouble started. What a mess!!!!

An upcoming book:
Release date: August 11, 2015

The Storm of the Century: Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster: The Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900

by A.L. Roker

Synopsis:

In this gripping narrative history, the beloved NBC weather personality vividly brings to life the Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900, the deadliest natural disaster in American history.

On the afternoon of September 8, 1900, 200-mile-per-hour winds and fifteen-foot waves slammed into Galveston, the prosperous and growing port city on Texas’s Gulf Coast. By dawn the next day, when the storm had passed, the city that existed just hours before was gone. Shattered, grief-stricken survivors emerged to witness a level of destruction never before seen: 8,000 corpses littered the streets and were buried under the massive wreckage. Rushing water had lifted buildings from their foundations, smashing them into pieces, while intensive winds had upended girders and trestles, driving them through house walls and into sidewalks. In less than twenty-four hours, one storm destroyed a major American metropolis—and awakened a nation to the terrifying power of nature.

The Storm of the Century brings this legendary disaster and its aftermath into brilliant focus. No other natural disaster has ever matched the havoc caused by the awesome mix of winds, rains, and flooding that devastated this bustling metropolis and shocked a young, optimistic nation on the cusp of modernity. Exploring the impact of the disaster on a rising nation’s confidence—the pain and trauma of the loss and the determination of the response—Al Roker illuminates both the energy and the limitations of the American Century, and of nature itself.

Hurricane season is coming up....now is the time to read this book!

Hurricanes

by Seymour Simon

Synopsis:

Hurricanes. Typhoons. Cyclones. No matter what you call them, these formidable, swirling storms are the most devastating events in nature. hurricanes takes young readers on an in-depth exploration of one of the most awe-inspiring phenomena on Earth! This dramatic account of hurricanes and the disasters they leave behind, including Andrew and Katrina, are intensified through arresting full-color photographs and satellite images. Award-winning science writer Seymour Simon has teamed up with the Smithsonian Institution to bring you a new, updated edition of his acclaimed look at this astonishing, and often terrifying, natural disaster.

The Weather Experiment: The Pioneers Who Sought to See the Future

by Peter Moore

Synopsis:

In 1865 Admiral Robert FitzRoy locked himself in his dressing room and cut his throat. His grand meteorological project had failed. Yet only a decade later, FitzRoy's storm warning system and "forecasts" would return, the model for what we use today.

In an age when a storm at sea was evidence of God's wrath, nineteenth-century meteorologists had to fight against convention and religious dogma. Buoyed by the achievements of the Enlightenment, a generation of mavericks set out to decipher the secrets of the atmosphere and predict the future. Among them were Luke Howard, the first to classify clouds; Francis Beaufort, who quantified the winds; James Glaisher, who explored the upper atmosphere in a hot-air balloon; Samuel Morse, whose electric telegraph gave scientists the means by which to transmit weather warnings; and FitzRoy himself, master sailor, scientific pioneer, and founder of the U.K.'s national weather service.

Reputations were built and shattered. Fractious debates raged over decades between scientists from London and Galway, Paris and New York. Explaining the atmosphere was one thing, but predicting what it was going to do seemed a step too far. In 1854, when a politician suggested to the Commons that Londoners might soon know the weather twenty-four hours in advance, the House roared with laughter.

Peter Moore's The Weather Experiment navigates treacherous seas and rough winds to uncover the obsession that drove these men to great invention and greater understanding.