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Eye Of The Storm

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What great timing! As we watch in awe pictures of the damage and destruction caused by the Spring tornadoes in Oklahoma, the "EYE of the STORM" comes along to explain the painstakingly detailed develpoment of scientific research of these powerful storms. In a well documented and entertainly written study, one can gain a better understanding of the weather about us and from whence it comes.

Did you ever wonder why the meteorologists who appeared before General Eisenhower in 1944, were able to tell him it would be possible invade Europe on June 6th?

"Eye of the Storm" is a good anecdotal and scientific history of the people who made the successful D-Day weather forecast possible. It ultimately takes its readers to the end of the 20th century, and the technology of satellites and computers.

This author explains how the Wright Brothers and other early 20th century aviators gave meteorology a new kick-start after it had begun to languish at the borders of 19th century technology, e.g. the telegraph and lighter-than-air balloons and zeppelins. But to me, the most amazing chapters in this book deal with the inventiveness and persistence of the 18th and 19th century meteorologists. Much of the theory behind weather forecasting came from their observations.

As a trivial but fascinating example, the largest snowflake on record, a whopping 15 inches in diameter, was reported in the nineteenth century--you can see a photograph of this snowflake at the Guinness World Records site. It fell on Montana in January, 1887 and its discoverer described it as being "larger than milk pans" in the "Monthly Weather Review" magazine.

(Imagine sticking out your tongue and having one of those babies landing on it.)

More importantly, the author also describes how 19th century observers began mapping the motion, pressure changes, and cloud formations associated with weather fronts and storms. They were both organized (via publications and ultimately, telegraph lines) and fascinated by the chaotic phenomena in the skies above them.

Or was weather completely chaotic?

Modern meteorology actually began back in the eighteenth century with Benjamin Franklin and his kite, key, and lightning rod. Like today's storm-chasers, Franklin had a passion for experiencing weather first-hand, and once he rode alongside a dust-devil on a Maryland trail, describing the bottom as "'not bigger than a common barrel,' but at its top, 50 feet high, it flared out to 20 or 30 feet wide."

Daring French and British 'aerologists' went up in silk and paper balloons, measuring altitude with their barometers and also by their own physical reactions: "He knew he was at about 17,000 feet when his lips turned blue, at 19,000 feet when his hands became dark blue, and at 22,000 feet when his heart was audible."

Those 19th century meteorologists felt it was essential to get up where the weather was, and Lord Kelvin, one of the founders of thermodynamics, helped them explain some of their more puzzling discoveries, such as temperature inversions and the energy of storms.

When the Age of Aviation arrived, meteorology already had a good theoretical and observational foundation. "Eye of the Storm" takes us close to the end of the twentieth century and the meteorological discoveries that have led to a greater understanding of what Jeffrey Rosenfeld calls the 'ultimate storm,' i.e. hurricanes. The final chapter returns to the 'awesome chaos' of thunderstorms and some of the new discoveries of what goes on in the atmosphere above the dark, roiling clouds where Benjamin Franklin first flew his kite and key.

This book contains just enough dense patches of meteorological theory to require another read-through before I can begin to understand some of the author's more complex explanations of weather phenomena. I did acquire a great deal of admiration for the theoreticians, 'aerologists,' and storm-chasers, who made those theories possible.

"Eye of the Storn" is not nearly as exciting as its cover or title would suggests. It is essentially a history of storm forcasting going all the way back to Ben Franklin's time. And while it is informative, it lacks the type of thilling narrative in its weather stories that one would expect. Most of the stories are taken from other books or magazine/newspaper articles. And unfortunately, the author makes at least one serious error by repeating the long standing falsehood that meteorolgist Issac Cline rode up and down the beach on horseback to warn residents of Galveston of the approaching 1900 hurricane. This is a myth, dispelled by the far superior book "Issac's Storm," that just won't die.

Overall, "Eye of the Storm" has plenty of historical information, but the reading is unlikely to have the pulse quickening effect of even a mild spring thunderstorm.