Weather Disasters

It hasn’t rained in weeks. Crops are wilting, and the grass is dry. Rivers run low. Is it a drought? How do you know? And how can you prepare for what’s to come? Droughts: Be Aware and Prepare has the answers.

A revelatory and searingly immediate report from the frontlines of the firestorm that consumed Los Angeles, from the MS Now correspondent and New York Times bestselling author of Separated, who covered the fires on the ground as an LA native. On the morning of January 7, 2025, a message pinged...

A fascinating look at the most destructive wildfires in American history, the impact of climate change, and what we're doing right and wrong to manage forest fire, from a National Book Award finalist. Perfect for young fans of disaster stories and national history. Wildfires have been part of...

CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti’s searing firsthand account of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, the failures that fueled the catastrophe, and the high-stakes battle over how the city will rebuild ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games. In Torched, Vigliotti brings readers inside the inferno...

Most people associate storms and other big weather with death - with the kind of force that makes each of us wonder about life, time, and the nature of our surroundings. Some people go out looking for bad weather or go to places where they're likely to encounter it. Others have the misfortune of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Still, the stories in Storm have more to say than that.

The massive destruction wreaked by the Hurricane of 1938 dwarfed that of the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Earthquake, and the Mississippi floods of 1927, making the storm the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Now, R.A. Scotti tells the story...

Tornadoes tear through the land, skipping over one street and devastating the next. This account of some of the most extraordinary occurrences surrounding tornadoes combines their science and the personal stories of survivors and witnesses. This story will "blow away" the hardest to please listeners. Tornadoes is part of the Natural Disasters non-fiction series that will engage listeners of all ages, including English Language Learners.

Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science and one of the leading young environmental journalists and bloggers working today, immerses listeners in the world of those who study hurricanes. What was once an arcane branch of meteorology (itself an arcane science) has become embroiled in one of the most politicized and hotly contested debates in American science: whether or not the recent hurricane disasters, culminating in Katrina, are connected to global warming.

A desperate queen makes a deal with the gods to save her land in this spellbinding romantasy debut from Sarah K. L. Wilson. "Perfect for readers who love slow-burn romance steeped in lush fantasy!" ―Danielle L. Jensen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Fate Inked in Blood Queen...

Buckle up and embark on a journey through some of the notable weather phenomena and natural disasters that occur on our planet. Learn about what causes these phenomena, where they occur on our planet, and what you can do to keep yourself safe should you encounter some of these natural disasters.

For many, the past few years have been defined by climate disaster. Stories about once-in-a-lifetime hurricanes, floods, fires, droughts, and even snowstorms are now commonplace. But dramatic weather events are not new and Northeaster, Cathie Pelletier's breathtaking account of the 1952 snowstorm that blanketed New England, offers a valuable reminder about nature's capacity for destruction as well as insight into the human instinct for preservation.

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.

The weather of the Great Plains is extreme and highly variable, from floods to droughts, blizzards to tornadoes. In Great Plains Weather Kenneth F. Dewey explains what makes this region’s climate unique by presenting a historical climatology of extreme weather events. Beginning with tornadoes - perhaps the most formidable plains weather phenomena - he describes the climatology of these storms and discusses memorable tornadoes of the plains.

The New England landscape has long been battered by some of the most intense weather in the United States. The region breeds one of the highest concentrations of meteorologists in the country for a reason. One can experience just about anything except a dust storm. Knowing the past is a critical part of understanding and forecasting the weather. Meteorologist Eric Fisher takes an in-depth look at some of the most intense weather events in New England's history.

Hurricanes and Floods is a tale of the forces of nature that cause more human death than any other. The 1900 disaster in Galveston, Texas, the ordeal of Hurricane Camille, and floods from Johnstown, Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California, Listeners will be "swept away" by this fast-paced listen. Hurricanes and Floods is part of the Natural Disasters non-fiction series that will engage listeners of all ages, including English Language Learners.

Wildfires are one of nature's most frightening forces. In this exciting and historical account of many of the worst fires in American history, all the terror, destruction and human tragedy are vividly retold. The 1871 Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire is relived, as well as the Yellowstone fire of 1988 and the 2003 Southern California fires. Wildfires is part of the Natural Disasters non-fiction series that will engage listeners of all ages, including English Language Learners.

The fourth book in our Ask the Experts series, The Environment tackles questions about the world around us. In this book, our experts field queries on the weather, natural disasters, natural resources, climate change, and unusual phenomena.

Greg Mullins followed his father into fighting bushfires - it was in the blood. He fought major fires around Sydney and the Blue Mountains for decades, and studied bushfires in Europe, Canada and the US. He risked his life in the 1994 Sydney fires and, later, during our catastrophic Black Summer of 2019-20. As a career firefighter, he worked his way up the ranks to become commissioner of one of the world's largest fire services, Fire and Rescue NSW, for nearly 14 years. When it came to natural disasters there was little, if anything, he hadn't witnessed first-hand.

With A Furious Sky, Eric Jay Dolin has created a vivid, sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus's New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes and puts us in the middle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worse than the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000 people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American history.

For fans of Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx, “a wonderfully cinematic story” (The Washington Post) set in the post-Katrina South after violent storms have decimated the region. It had been raining for weeks. Maybe months. He had forgotten the last day that it hadn’t rained, when the...