Warnings

by Smith, Michael Ray

• ISBN13: 9781608320349
• ISBN10: 1608320340
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-01
• Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Llc

Summary

Pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge, these unsung heroes save countless individuals from the violent rampages of the natural world. From the heart of tornado valley, Mike Smith takes us into the eye of America's most devastating storms and behind the scenes of some of the world's most renowned scientific institutions to uncover the relationship between mankind and the weather. The struggle to understand nature's fury provides fascinating insights into the forces that shape our world and the turbulent politics that often influence our scientific establishment. For decades, the author, a pioneering meteorologist, has dedicated himself to saving lives by combining science, experience, and instinct. This is much more than an academic exercise. Time and again, the author -- like others in his field -- has relied on his own judgment and experience to make the right call when the stakes were highest and peoples' livers were on the line. Tracing the never-before-told story of the Herculean effort to create the national weather warning system, the author draws fascinating biographical sketches of the scientific visionaries behind the breakthroughs, such as Dr. Theodore Fujita, creator of the Fujita Scale for tornado measurement. With its gripping narrative accounts of major natural disasters, Warnings is far from the average science book. It's a human story -- both a heart-pounding read and an insightful sketch of those heroes who save thousands of lives every year.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction: Phantom Accidents	p. 1
The Ruskin Heights Tornado	p. 11
No One Ever Knew It Was Coming	p. 33
"Nice People, But Odd"	p. 49
The Government Gets In Gear	p. 67
The "Town That Died In Its Sleep"	p. 71
The Paul Revere of Grandview Junior High	p. 89
The End of the Beginning	p. 95
Storm Chasers	p. 99
Tragedy	p. 107
Fujita	p. 115
The Day TV Weather Grew Up	p. 123
St. Louis and the Holiday Weather Hotline	p. 133
The Microburst Mystery	p. 137
Delta 191: Why Weren't They Warned	p. 153
The Delta Trial	p. 165
Weatherdata	p. 179
America Gets Dopplerized	p. 187
Hurricane Andrew	p. 201
Katrina: Part one	p. 217
Katrina: Part Two-Inaction in Action	p. 229
Katrina: Part Three-Murder By Bureaucracy	p. 245
Greensburg: Capstone of the Modern Warning System	p. 257
Where There's Life, There's Hope	p. 273
Epilogue	p. 279
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