Top 10 Weather Books To Give As A Gift

The truth is, I’ve been meaning to write this blog post for years.

Because every December people start asking me for ideas on unique things they can buy for someone in their family who loves talking about, hearing about or learning about weather.

With the number of days until Christmas nearly down into the single digits, I’d better just get on with it!

Here are my “Top 10 Weather Books” to give as a gift – or self gift – this year.

#1: Isaac’s Storm – an incredible, page turning account of what is still to this day the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history, the Galveston Hurricane. I cannot recommend this book highly enough – you will feel like you are in the storm. Some friends gave me a copy of the book and I could not put it down! I mean, eventually I did…

#2: Two Bobbies – an incredible Hurricane Katrina survival story. This book is touching for almost anyone, but especially for kids and animal lovers!

#3: USA Today Weather Book. Do you know someone in your family who is always talking about the weather? Or maybe a student in the family who wants to learn all they can about storms and weather? If so, I highly suggest this book. It has been around awhile, but it has more awesome, colorful and easy to understand weather diagrams and charts than anything I’ve seen.

#4 and #5: Cloud watching guides. I get emails from people on a regular basis who are cloud watchers and want to know where they can learn more about them. Here are two great resources – first a pocket guide, then a more detailed book.

#6: Cascadia’s Fault: The Coming Earthquake And Tsunami That Could Devastate North America. I bought my copy of this book after hearing the author speak in downtown Portland. It sends chills down my spine. Some day, any day really, places like Vancouver B.C., Seattle, Portland and possibly even San Francisco will shake for minutes in a mega-quake. And a tsunami that changes the shape of the western shoreline forever will follow very shortly after that. This is a great read and easy to understand for most readers.

#7: I Survived The Japanese Tsunami. Our 7 year old loves to have me read to him from this book for kids about the Japanese Tsunami that happened a few years ago. Older readers will like to read it themselves. We sometimes forget about the individual lives that are touched in such a massive disaster.

#8: Warnings. Get this book for a compelling non-fiction narrative of dramatic breakthroughs in forecasting the most powerful storms on earth with details on those determined enough to come up with them.

#9: Oh Say, Can You Say, What’s The Weather Today? Feel like reading a downright silly weather book to your kids or grandkids? This is a good one that I’ve given as a gift a whole bunch of times. You just cannot go wrong with Dr. Seuss.

#10: Adventures In Tornado Alley. If you know someone who has always wanted to chase tornadoes, then get them this book. They won’t just go on one storm chase, they’ll go on 17! It’s a front row seat to supercell thunderstorms across much of the U.S.

And that is my “Top 10 Weather Books List” – I wish you happy shopping and let me know if you end up getting any of these books–and what the weather person in your life thought of them!

One other thing, if you’re a regular Amazon shopper (my wife and I buy lots of things from them) you probably already know about Amazon Prime. It means free two day shipping on all of the books listed here–plus free streaming music and movies–but we mainly use it for shipping.

Amazon is offering a free trial right now on Prime right now where you can get that free shipping then you can cancel your Prime Membership in January without any further obligation.

Join Amazon Prime – Listen to Over a Million Songs – Start Free Trial Now

I’m just mentioning it in case you are not familiar with Prime–especially because Amazon will give money to the Sussman kids ‘college fund’ if you sign up through this link! Even if you cancel.

But watch out…you may get hooked and become ongoing Prime members like we are!