Midwest Book Review
Ohio can be a land of weather extremes. There are droughts followed by flood, arctic cold in the winter and soaring heat in the summer. One year's Christmas warms to 70 degrees, the next year's Christmas is white with thirty inches of snow. Ice jams on the Sandusky River and tornadoes across its southern counties, wind storms in Cleveland and floods in the Ohio River Valley. Data is drawn from government records, scientific studies, memoirs, diaries, and newspapers. Thunder In The Heartland highlights 200 weather events from 1790 to the presents and include extremes of rain, snow, storms, and temperature. Anecdotal (often first person) accounts are enhanced by statistics, photographs, and maps. Thunder In The Heartland describes the place of weather in popular history and folklore, and how forces of nature compelled the construction of extensive flood control and weather warning systems in Ohio. Thunder In The Heartland will be of interest to climatologists and cultural historians. Thunder In The Heartland is a model of weather history reporting that is a benchmark to be emulated by other weather historians seeking to showcase other areas of the nation -- and the world.