A riveting tale of the weather's most vicious monster--the supercell tornado--that recreates the origins of meteorology, and the quirky, pioneering, weather-obsessed scientists who helped change America.

Map on lining papers.

Introduction : Ghost riders -- Prologue : The pillar in the storm -- pt. 1. The thunder house -- The electricians -- A little more of the marvelous -- To treat Master Franklin -- pt. 2. The storm war -- The so-called tornado -- The philosophy of storms -- Under the map -- One dead, one exhausted, one converted -- The finger of God -- pt. 3. Red wind and tornado green -- The great American desert -- The night watch -- Premonitory symptoms -- Violent local storms -- How to escape -- The desert is no more -- The book of failure -- An awful commotion -- pt. 4. The mystery of severe storms -- Canvas and cellophane -- The unfriendly sky -- Visible effects of the invisible -- Epilogue : The wild hunt.