Holiday Book Idea: "Warnings"

Recent review at Goodreads.

Ken Heard rated it it was amazing

I was surprised to learn that the Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) refused to issue tornado warnings as late as the 1950s so as not to scare people unnecessarily. That seems ridiculous today with constant live reports from tv weathermen, upgraded polarization Dopplar radars, satellite imagery that can pinpoint a tornado's thought process and more.

But that was the case, and Mike Smith was on the forefront of changing that practice. His book is an excellent history of tornadoes and hurricanes and the mindset that accompanied them in those days. The book is almost three-fold. First, he describes with excellent clarity the actual storms. He also throws in science behind the storms, what causes them, et al. And he includes his personal memoirs on them.

Like most meteorologists, Smith got involved in weather forecasting because of a storm. He saw a devastating Kansas tornado that sparked his interest as a child and he writes of his career and that childhood wonder throughout the book.

I'm the weather reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper, so this book is particular interesting to me. But I think anyone who is interested in weather, storm watching, history of storms or nature would find this book an excellent and entertaining read.

You can purchase it here.