Weather Disasters

In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada's petroleum industry and America's biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. Through the lens of this apocalyptic conflagration—the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina—John Vaillant warns that this was not a unique event but a shocking preview of what we must prepare for in a hotter, more flammable world.

Man’s struggle against the sea is a theme that has created some of the world’s most exciting stories. Now, in the tradition of Moby Dick comes a New York Times best seller destined to become a modern classic. Written by journalist Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm combines an intimate portrait of a small fishing crew with fascinating scientific data about boats and weather systems.

In the winter of 1952, New England was battered by the most brutal nor’easter in years. As the weather wreaked havoc on land, the freezing Atlantic became a wind-whipped zone of peril, setting the stage for one of the most heroic rescue stories ever lived. On February 18, while the storm raged, two oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer, were in the same horrifying predicament. Built with “dirty steel,” and not prepared to withstand such ferocious seas, both tankers split in two, leaving the dozens of men on board utterly at the Atlantic’s mercy.

In early May of 2005, Captain Tom Tighe and first mate, Loch Reidy, of the sailboat Almeisan welcomed three new crew members, two men and a woman, for a five-day voyage from Connecticut to Bermuda. While Tighe and Reidy had made the journey countless times, the rest of the crew were paying passengers learning about offshore sailing—and looking for adventure. Four days into their voyage, they got adventure but nothing that they had expected or had any training to handle.

Fatal Forecast chronicles a dramatic fight for survival aboard two small fishing boats that were ambushed by a horrific surprise storm just southeast of Cape Cod. Soon after the Fair Wind and the Sea Fever reached the fishing ground at Georges Bank, they were hit with hurricane-force winds and massive 90-foot waves that battered the boats for hours. The direction of the wind made it impossible to turn back.

Oklahomans have long been known for their fatalism and grit, but even old-timers are troubled by the twisters that are devastating the state with increasing frequency. On May 20, 2013, the worst tornado on record landed a direct hit on the small town of Moore, destroying two schools while the children cowered inside.

Nature has the ability to turn our world into a disaster zone. From blizzards to volcanoes, this series looks at the science behind the destruction. How is a blizzard different from a snowstorm? What causes hurricanes to form? How do you stay safe in an earthquake? Children can answer these questions and more. This volume includes Tsunamis and Volcanoes.

Rescue of the Bounty is the harrowing story of the sinking and rescue of Bounty - the tall ship used in the classic 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty - which was caught in the path of Hurricane Sandy with 16 aboard.

Nature has the ability to turn our world into a disaster zone. From blizzards to volcanoes, this series looks at the science behind the destruction. How is a blizzard different from a snowstorm? What causes hurricanes to form? How do you stay safe in an earthquake? Children can answer these questions and more. This volume includes Avalanches, Blizzards, and Droughts.

Nature has the ability to turn our world into a disaster zone. From blizzards to volcanoes, this series looks at the science behind the destruction. How is a blizzard different from a snowstorm? What causes hurricanes to form? How do you stay safe in an earthquake? Children can answer these questions and more. This volume includes Landslides, Sinkholes, and Tornadoes.

Nature has the ability to turn our world into a disaster zone. From blizzards to volcanoes, this series looks at the science behind the destruction. How is a blizzard different from a snowstorm? What causes hurricanes to form? How do you stay safe in an earthquake? Children can answer these questions and more. This volume includes Earthquakes, Heat Waves, and Hurricanes.

At the dawn of the 20th century, a great confidence suffused America. Isaac Cline was one of the era's new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. The idea that a hurricane could damage the city of Galveston, Texas, where he was based, was to him preposterous, "an absurd delusion." It was 1900, a year when America felt bigger and stronger than ever before. Nothing in nature could hobble the gleaming city of Galveston, then a magical place that seemed destined to become the New York of the Gulf.

Describes the process of how tornadoes can form. Also includes explanations of updrafts, downdrafts, thunderstorms, rotation, and funnel clouds.

Overturned cars. Destroyed houses. Snapped power lines. The powerful winds of a tornado can cause a devastating amount of damage in a short time. Get an up-close look at how tornadoes form and learn about some of history’s worst twisters.

For nearly a decade, Palley has been on the frontline of fire. He has witnessed homeowners on the worst day of their lives. He’s seen puddles of aluminum where cars were once parked. He’s watched as 150-foot walls of flame cascaded down mountainsides and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. And he’s captured, time and again, the tireless commitment of firefighters as they work to save lives and homes, in terrain where fire always seems to have the upper hand.

Seventy-foot waves batter a torn life raft 250 miles out tosea in one of the world's most dangerous places, the Gulf Stream. Hanging on to the raft are three men, a Canadian, a Brit, and their captain, Jean Pierre de Lutz, a dual citizen of America and France. Their capsized forty-seven-foot sailboat has filled with water and disappeared below the tempestuous sea. The giant waves repeatedly toss the men out of their tiny vessel, and JP, with ninebroken ribs, is hypothermic and on the verge of death.

On the night of September 20, 1938, the news on the radio was full of Hitler's pending invasion of Czechoslovakia. Severe weather wasn't mentioned; only light rain was forecast for the following day. In a matter of hours, however, a hurricane of unprecedented force would tear through one of the wealthiest and most populated stretches of coastline in America, obliterating communities from Long Island to Providence, destroying entire fishing fleets from Montauk to Narragansett Bay.

Learn the science behind weather and weather prediction in this clear and straightforward new guide. Weather is everywhere, and while it's typically not thought about most of the time, it can get everyone's attention in an instant - whether it's the swirling destruction of a tornado, the wreckage from a hurricane, or the havoc of climate change on the environment.

Dangerous winds. Torrential rains. Toppled trees. The roaring winds and sheets of rain brought on by a hurricane can cause a devastating amount of damage in a short time. Get an up-close look at how these swirling storms form and learn about some of history’s worst hurricanes.

It's hurricane season. Scientists have detected a storm at sea, and it's growing. Learn about how these monster storms form, how scientists track them, and how people respond to their destruction.