The Forecast for D-day: And the Weatherman behind Ike’s Greatest Gamble

by John Ross

Unknown story of a very well-known war: The story of the Supreme Headquarters for the Allied Expeditionary Force’s (SHAEF’s) chief meteorologist on whom Eisenhower relied, yet who was not a meteorologist at all, but a geophysicist whose specialty was the earth’s magnetic field and whose appointment to the post was roundly criticized by both British and American weathermen. Explains how if Eisenhower had postponed for two weeks until tide and moonlight were right, a completely un-forecast gale would have caused the invasion to fail.

Genres: History, World War II

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This author is: John(14^)Ross.

John Ross (1946- )

Reviews

[Ethan]

A book of only 200 pages took me a little longer to read just because there was a lot of information to unpack. As a meteorologist, this was something I always wanted to learn a lot more about in this book. Definitely did that! All Weather enthusiasts for people interested in history should read this.

[Patrick]

A little over ten years ago, I set out to learn about an incident during World War II for which my father received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for helping to save the lives of fourteen men. This was something he never talked about and I had known scant (if even that) details about it while growing up. As for those details, I never knew a thing about the medal until after he died in 1992. So, it was when the 70th anniversary of the incident rolled around that my curiosity was piqued and I began my very deep dive into what happened on that day, 11 May 1944.

I hadn't expected that my research would fan out so quickly and broadly, way beyond the scope of that one day, but indeed it did. Via web searches, I'd found that my dad's ship at the time of the incident, the USS Zircon (PY-16), had once been a luxury yacht, the Nakhoda, owned by Frederick J. Fisher of General Motors ("Body by Fisher"), that after the war it was converted to service as a pilot boat in New York Harbor (for twenty years!), after which it was purchased by a Texas millionaire and converted back to a luxury yacht.

As every little detail was revealed via searches at newspaper archive sites, more bread crumbs appeared. Via Google Books searches, I discovered magazines that made reference to the ship in its first two incarnations. I also came across a reference to the Zircon in this book (you probably wondered when I was going to get to that!), and being the completist that I am, I promptly purchased a copy. Only recently, though, had I finally gotten around to reading it.

These days we are pretty spoiled by the ability of meteorologists to predict the weather up to ten to fourteen days in advance, thanks largely to weather satellites. So, it had never occurred to me to give a great deal of consideration about how weather forecasting might have played into the planning of D-Day during World War II.

But it was crucial, and this book describes not only some of the methods used—without being too much of a drag on the reading experience—but also the drama and tension and competition that existed within the relatively elite group of meteorologists working on weather predictions. It also explores the Nazi attempts to establish weather-reporting stations in Greenland.

Despite that this is a niche World War II book, it's quite accessible and even somewhat entertaining as the histories and relationships of the people at the center of the narrative—in particular, James Stagg and Irving Krick—are examined.

As for the Zircon, it was on its way from Boston Harbor to patrol an area in the Atlantic Ocean known as weather station number three, about midway between Newfoundland and Spain, when it came upon the USS YF-415, which was ablaze and experiencing explosions of ammunition on board. (It eventually sunk, and seventeen of the men on board died either by drowning or due to the fire/explosions.) When I first learned that the Zircon was regarded as a "weather ship," I knew little about what that meant or what its role might have been in the lead-up to D-Day. And while the ship is only briefly mentioned in the book, I have a better idea—and appreciation—for the part it played in ending the war.

[Bernard Lavallee]

pretty good read

Quite heavy on side trips into extraneous topics but eventually covers d-day thoroughly. Definitely a good read. Suggest you read Staggs book first. It makes this book that much more interesting.

[John Mehlhopt]

Worth four stars.

A very interesting read.A good overview of the foibles of weather forecasting pre d day,with a small dash of differing personalities.

[Crystal Plunkett]

With so much riding on weather, D-Day was a “meteorological miracle!”

[Ruth]

so interesting--I read this because I watched the movie "Pressure"

[Elizabeth S]

Pretty darn interesting, well organized, and informative.

I appreciated the descriptions of weather forecasting in the pre-satellite age, especially the explanations as to why there were different schools of thought as to how to interpret the data. I also enjoyed the details about how the weather data was collected. It all fit in very well with all the other books I've read about WWII. In fact, now I want to go re-read other WWII books, now that I know how important some of those events were for weather predictions.

I received this book for free from the Goodreads First Reads program. Thank you!

[Kin Pier]

I received this book as a First Reads winner on Goodreads. i was interested in the work because I am an amateur historian and this is one area of history in which I have done little reading. The book is loaded with factual information and as one reviewer noted, that makes it drag at times, but for the reader that is not familiar with this period, it is these facts that are informative and enlightening. I would agree that it is not a book one cannot seem to put down as it is what I would call "heavy material".

It does appear to be based on fact and well-researched.

[Joe Geronimo]

I gave this book 3 stars because I felt it dragged from time to time. However I was fascinated by this book as I never realized what an important part the weather played in the Normandy Invasion. Just to think what would have transpired if the Allies couldn't stop Hitler and the German war machine. I think this book is definitely a must read if you are into World War II. Glad I read it and will pass the book onto family members to read.

[GreyIC]

This was a slow read for me. There is a large cast of characters, most mentioned in short vignettes, and the subject matter, weather forecasting, is not really an interest of mine.

Still, there are some interesting details about the entire effort to provide accurate weather forecasts culminating in the drama on June 6, 1944.