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When the Sky Breaks
Cover of When the Sky Breaks
When the Sky Breaks
Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and the Worst Weather in the World
New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester looks at which way the wind blows in this exciting book about giant storms.
Simon Winchester is an avid weather watcher. He’s scanned the skies in Oklahoma, waiting for the ominous “finger” of a tornado to touch the Earth. He’s hunkered down in Hong Kong when typhoon warning signals went up. He’s visited the world’s hottest and wettest places, reported on fierce whirlpools, and sailed around South Africa looking for freak winds and waves.
He knows about the worst weather in the world.
A master nonfiction storyteller, Winchester looks at how, when, where, and why hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, and tornadoes start brewing, how they build, and what happens when these giant storms hit. His lively narrative also includes an historical look at how we learned about weather systems and where we’re headed because of climate change. Stunning photographs illustrate the power of these giant storms.
New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester looks at which way the wind blows in this exciting book about giant storms.
Simon Winchester is an avid weather watcher. He’s scanned the skies in Oklahoma, waiting for the ominous “finger” of a tornado to touch the Earth. He’s hunkered down in Hong Kong when typhoon warning signals went up. He’s visited the world’s hottest and wettest places, reported on fierce whirlpools, and sailed around South Africa looking for freak winds and waves.
He knows about the worst weather in the world.
A master nonfiction storyteller, Winchester looks at how, when, where, and why hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, and tornadoes start brewing, how they build, and what happens when these giant storms hit. His lively narrative also includes an historical look at how we learned about weather systems and where we’re headed because of climate change. Stunning photographs illustrate the power of these giant storms.
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Levels-
  • ATOS:
    8.5
  • Lexile:
    1180
  • Interest Level:
    MG
  • Text Difficulty:
    7 - 10


 
Awards-
Excerpts-
  • From the book Chapter One
    The Biggest, Baddest Weather
     
    My experience of Hurricane Sandy—or Frankenstorm, the Blizzacane, the Snor’eastercane, or any of the other outlandish names the press chose to give to the most devastating American weather event of 2012—confirmed what I knew as a homegrown weatherman: when trouble is in the offing, listen very carefully to the weather forecast.
     
    We had been living in a basement apartment in New York City that had flooded once before, so the likelihood of a major storm surge in lower Manhattan was alarming, to say the least. This alarm was reinforced by a passage from one of my recent books. My own words suggested that something terribly bad was about to happen:
     
    New York sits on stable geological features that rise well above sea level, but it has been tunneled into and bored through until it resembles an ants’ nest, and all its tunnels lie well below sea level. A storm surge coming into New York Harbor could flood the subway lines without difficulty. But far more goes on underground than subways: the telecommunica­tions cables and fiber-optic lines alone are vital for the running of the world’s financial industries: soak them in the water, and the world starts to fall apart.
     
    Vulnerable cities are not merely going to slide slowly and elegantly under the sea, millimeter by millimeter. They are going to perch on the edge of inundation until a storm rages itself into an un­controllable maelstrom of fury, and a battering of huge waves breaches the dykes and the levees, and water courses into the city center in torrents, de­stroying all before it.
     
    By Thursday, October 25, 2012, all the computer fore­casting models locked themselves into harmony. The predic­tions became more and more accurate, and the realization more and more acute: a giant storm would actually hit the hinterlands of New York City.
     
    So we got out of town . . . and Sandy roared in.
     
    ***
     
    Hurricane, the name by which this unimagin­ably huge and destructive weather system has been known in North America for the last three centuries, comes from the Carib word huracán, meaning a “great wind.” In other parts of the world, these terrifying, majestic storms are called cyclones or typhoons, depending upon whether they circulate in a clockwise direction (as they do in the southern hemi­sphere) or in the opposite (counterclockwise) direction (in the northern hemisphere). Cyclone comes from the Greek κυκλῶν, kyklon, which translates to “whirling around in a circle”; typhoon comes from the Chinese words for “big wind.”
     
    Hurricane. Cyclone. Typhoon. What exactly are such giant storms? When, where, and how do they form? And why do such destructive forces even exist? To answer all these questions—an ongoing process, since weather science is an eternally evolving branch of knowledge—requires some very basic understanding of the Earth and the laws of physics that enfold it.
     
    Though they may generate many headlines, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are in fact rather rare events. (For simplicity, I’ll just use the word hurricane from now on to include all these violent weather monsters.) Only about ninety-six such storms occur every year; roughly a dozen are even named. Most days in the world’s tropics, where these storms begin, are pleasing and peaceful; the chances of being affected by a hurricane are quite small. But when the big storms do develop,...
Reviews-
  • Kirkus

    Hurricanes, typhoons, and tornadoes bring disaster around the world. In a companion to When the Earth Shakes (2016), journalist-turned-author Winchester explains these destructive weather events in pleasingly polished prose. A short introduction documents his increasing personal fascination with weather phenomena. "The Biggest, Baddest Weather," the first and longest chapter, describes ocean-fueled superstorms using examples both familiar and unfamiliar to his American readers and weaving in explanations of formation, behavior, and prediction. He demonstrates that the effects of hurricanelike storms can be measured through human lives lost, property destroyed, economic cost, and, physically, through wind speed and minimum air pressures. He shows his readers how El Nino-- and the Southern Ocillation affect the weather all over the world. In "America's National Storm" he turns his attention to tornadoes, demonstrating the geographical reasons for their prevalence in the central part of this country and describing ways some Native American peoples historically dealt with these events. In conclusion, he discusses climate changes and posits his hope that the Pacific Ocean can help ameliorate the worst effects of global warming. Each section is introduced with a stunning photographic spread, and the text is broken up with clearly captioned photographs. The language may challenge some of his intended readers, but his subject is so compelling and the packaging so engaging, his audience will surely persevere. Stormy weather elegantly explained. (recommended reading, acknowledgements, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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When the Sky Breaks
When the Sky Breaks
Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and the Worst Weather in the World
Simon Winchester
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