Includes:
- The story of the nineteenth-century Cuban Jesuit whose success at predicting the great cyclones was considered almost mystical.
- A new look at Isaac Cline, whose infamous failure to predict the Galveston Hurricane left him obsessed with the devastating effects of storm surge.
- The story of the Hurricane Hunters, including the first man ever to deliberately fly into a hurricane.
- A complete account of how computer modeling has changed hurricane tracking.
- A history of Project Stormfury: the only significant, organized effort to reduce the damaging strength of severe hurricanes.
- A unique firsthand account of Hurricane Andrew by both authors, who were at the National Hurricane Center when Andrew struck.
- A listing of the deadliest storms in history.
Since leaving the NHC after 33 years of government service, he has been a meteorological consultant where he provides on camera services for the Florida News Network and affiliates and the ABC network. Non-television work includes lectures and workshops on hurricane threats and preparedness, and serving on advisory boards at Florida International University and the University of Oklahoma. In addition, he has and continues to provide technical guidance for films and books concerning meteorology, with specializations in hurricanes, and was featured in the IMAX film entitled STORMCHASERS.
He received his B.S. degree in Mathematics/Physics from Ball State (1961) and his M.S. (1965) and Ph.D. (1972) degrees in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Sheets has authored dozens of published articles on hurricanes. He also has frequently been an invited lecturer at numerous Universities and other forums around the world.
His major honors include being an elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society; the recipient of the U.S. Navy Distinguished Public Service Award; the U.S. Air Force Master Meteorologist Award; Life Time Achievement Awards from the National Hurricane Conference and the South Florida Hurricane Conference; the Governor's Award from the Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference; an EMMY award from the National Academy of Television Arts Society; Executive Excellence Award and Presidential Rank Award of the U.S. Senior Executive Service; citations from the governors of Maryland and Georgia; the ABC Person of the Week; the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold and Silver medals.
Jack Williams was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from high school. After his military service, he attended Jacksonville (Fla.) University where he earned a bachelor's degree in history and government in 1962.
He began his journalism career at the Florida Times Union in Jacksonville while attending college, and subsequently worked at the Jacksonville Journal, the Rochester Times Union, and Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle. In September 1982, when USA Today began publication, Jack Williams served as the weather page editor.
In 1992, as Hurricane Andrew battered Dade County, Jack Williams was in the National Hurricane Center, which was on the fringe of the strongest winds. He has flown into three hurricanes, and has chased tornadoes with researchers on the Plains. In January 1999 Williams was one of the half dozen journalists selected that year by the National Science Foundation to report on research in Antarctica.
He is also the author of THE USA TODAY WEATHER BOOK, which won The American Meteorological Society's Louis J. Battan Author's Award, and THE USA TODAY WEATHER ALMANAC.
Dad x2, husband, meteorologist, editor @TheEyewallWx managing editor @SpaceCityWx in #Houston. @RutgersU alum. Weather, books, sports cards. Opinions mine alone
@bhillin0324 Some other ones I’d consider: “Hurricane Watch,” by Bob Sheets (good history of hurricanes) “A Furious Sky,” by Eric Jay Dolin (accessible history/meteorological account of hurricanes) “Rising Tide,” by John Barry talks about how the 1927 Mississippi flood impacted America.