For now the PNW is having a gentle, cool summer. Personally, this is just fine with me! Here are some books about less than gentle weather.

In Nebraska and the Dakotas the morning of January 12, 1888 started out calm and unusually warm for the season. So warm that children went to school without their coats. That would change ... suddenly and violently ... the temperature dropped, the wind picked up to near gale force speed and snow blew in sideways. The Children's Blizzard, by David Laskin follows five families as they dealt with the worst blizzard that ever hit the Prairie states. (It is still talked about today). Laskin did a great job with his research, and his writing was so compelling I'd be surprised to look out the window and see sunshine.

The White Cascade: the Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche by Gary Krist takes place closer to home. In 1910 a huge blizzard hit the Cascade mountains. Two passenger trains were stranded near Wellington. For days rescue crews worked to clear the tracks but just as that seemed near completion the avalanche rolled down the side of the mountain. No spoilers here, read the book, it's amazing!

I found The Johnstown Flood to be both good and depressing. Good because I like David McCullough's writing. Depressing because it was a disaster that could have been avoided. A lake (for the pleasure of the wealthy) was created above the small town of Johnstown by repairing an old earthen dam. Repeated warnings that it would not hold if there were heavy rains were ignored. Again, I won't say more here, well, maybe two things .... the result was a national scandal, and, it was the first test for Clara Barton and the Red Cross.

I've been meaning to read The Worst Hard Time: the Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan, and finally did so this spring. I've seen the PBS special twice. I found I liked the PBS show for the dramatic visuals and the book for the dramatic writing. I am amazed that people actually survived. As we understand now, this too, was a man made disaster. I was surprised to learn that there were folks who knew then that plowing up all the prairie grass would cause problems.

I'm glad I live far enough north to get a long, lingering sunset this time of year.

Reading Hermit With Dog