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The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, and Other Scenes from a Climate-Changed Planet – A Groundbreaking Climate Guide to Regional Impacts Across Seven Locations by 2050
“A scorching vision of what life might be like in the warmer world that is already on its way. " — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times “Vivid and compelling, this book shows what life will be like in a warming world. Essential reading for anyone who’s planning to inhabit the planet for the next few decades.” — Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe From Heidi Cullen, one of America’s foremost experts on weather and climate change and a senior research scientist with Climate Central, a fascinating and provocative book that predicts what different parts of the world will look like in the year 2050 if current levels of carbon emissions are maintained. Dr. Heidi Cullen, one of the world’s foremost climatologists and environmental journalists, offers a new way of viewing the climate-change phenomenon, not as some future event but as something happening right now in our own backyard. In this groundbreaking, provocative work, Dr. Cullen combines the latest scientific research with state-of-the-art climate-model projections to create climate-change scenarios for seven of the most at-risk locations around the globe. From the Central Valley of California, where coming droughts will jeopardize the entire state’s water supply, to New York City, whose infrastructure is extremely vulnerable to even a relatively weak Category 3 hurricane, to Greenland, where warmer temperatures will give access to mineral wealth buried beneath ice sheets for millennia, Cullen illustrates how, if left unabated, climate change will transform every corner of the world by midcentury—and no two regions will be affected in quite the same way.
352 pages, Paperback
First published August 3, 2010
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1286 people want to read
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March 1, 2017
The big thing when reading climate change books is seeing how many of the authors predictions have already come true. Heidi Cullen has done very well. The chapter on the Great Barrier Reef happened in Feb of this year and was predicted for 2025, www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/asia/great-bar.... The chapter on California's Central Valley was an earth quake or the Orrville Dam Spillway collapsing of coming true, any Sacramento Bee from mid Feb 2017. Until the snow pack melts Orrville is still not out of the woods. This current storm train is one year earlier than predicted. The chapter on N.Y.N.Y. describes Hurricane Sandy in Oct 2011 to a T. Just lucky that Sandy weakened to a tropical storm before it made landfall or else, best not to think about. Sandy was 10 years earlier than predicted
The $64.00 question is, how long will U.S. politicians continue to trust to our luck before this country gets serious about carbon reduction? Katrina was a wake up call, all these F5 and F4 tornadoes running across the south, wake up calls. Just how long before this country has a huge lose of life to a storm or series of storms. Washington has been warned repeatedly time has come to heed the warnings and cut emissions!!
The $64.00 question is, how long will U.S. politicians continue to trust to our luck before this country gets serious about carbon reduction? Katrina was a wake up call, all these F5 and F4 tornadoes running across the south, wake up calls. Just how long before this country has a huge lose of life to a storm or series of storms. Washington has been warned repeatedly time has come to heed the warnings and cut emissions!!
January 23, 2025
'The Weather of the Future' comes off from the title and back-cover description to be a book that uses current research and knowledge about climate change to anticipate how day-to-day weather might look in the future in certain parts of the world. Written in the late-2000s, this is of course a bit dated (author Heidi Cullen frequently cites the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, whereas here in January 2025 we are almost two years removed from the Sixth Assessment Report), but climate change research in recent years has been more about refining predictions and models as opposed to wholesale changes in methodology and ideology. Climate change is real, is happening, and will get worse in the future - that was true then, is true now, and will be true in the future.
As a meteorologist and fan of borderline-fiction-narrative looks into the future (I very much enjoyed Stephen Markley's dystopian "cli-fi" book 'The Deluge'), I was looking forward to reading this. The author draws on her own meteorological background to inform these multi-year and multi-decade looks into the future for seven different parts of the world that are seen as particularly vulnerable to climate change: this includes the Arctic, Bangladesh, and New York City, among others.
Cullen spends the first handful-dozen pages of the book laying "the groundwork" about climate change: the typical descriptions about what climate change actually is, how it has been and is being proven, etc. The usual introduction to any climate change book oriented towards the populace, if you will. That is all fine and good; the author does a great job keeping this part simple but easy to understand.
The second part of the book, the larger of the two, deals with those seven "hotspot" areas around the world. Each chapter - with one chapter covering one location - is consumed mainly by background information and local context about that given location. For example, the Inuit people and their lifestyle are a focal point of the Arctic chapter, and I really enjoyed reading about the meshing of Inuit knowledge and culture with modern technology when it comes to weather forecasting, intuitive knowledge about whether certain swaths of sea ice are safe to cross or not, etc. Often, the author involves experts whose fields of research are specifically tied to that given location that is being analyzed.
As stated, this covers the vast majority of the chapter. Only at the end do we get a look at these predictions for how the weather might looks years and decades down the road. First and foremost, it's modestly entertaining to read the predictions for years in the 2010s and early-2020s, because it's already 2025 as I read this! Thankfully, some of the more dire predictions made in the book have not come true yet, but of course that doesn't mean they won't come true at all.
Climate change predictions are difficult, and I respect Cullen for making an effort to bridge daily weather that is much more tangible to our day-to-day lives with climate change, which is much harder for people to wrap their heads around. Any predictions of this nature will be met with skepticism, no matter how sound the research they are based on is. This comes from the ill-conceived notion of 'If a weather forecast ten days out is inaccurate, how are we supposed to believe something 20+ years out?'. The author makes the valid and correct point that climate predictions are more or less simpler than daily weather, since climate is about trends in weather that smooth over day-to-day volatility in the weather. It is silly to ignore climate models forecasting 10-30 years into the future but trust the TV meteorologist's 7-day forecast... but I digress.
This was a solid read overall. I wish the author had spent more time digging into potential impacts. Cullen fills her predictions with hypothetical hurricanes hitting New York City, mass flooding in Bangladesh, etc., and while these are certainly plausible, it feels rushed and like the author is intentionally diverting the attention of the reader away from the prediction parts of each chapter and instead towards the first part (the context, background, etc). Given that the book professes to differentiate itself from other climate change books because it shows these realistic projections, I was disappointed in what felt like a comparative lack of attention in this prediction section.
This was more of an overarching look at climate change, followed by recent changes and current research efforts concerning climate change in several key areas of the globe, with an addendum of predictions about the weather down the road. I was hoping for more. 3.0/5.0 stars.
As a meteorologist and fan of borderline-fiction-narrative looks into the future (I very much enjoyed Stephen Markley's dystopian "cli-fi" book 'The Deluge'), I was looking forward to reading this. The author draws on her own meteorological background to inform these multi-year and multi-decade looks into the future for seven different parts of the world that are seen as particularly vulnerable to climate change: this includes the Arctic, Bangladesh, and New York City, among others.
Cullen spends the first handful-dozen pages of the book laying "the groundwork" about climate change: the typical descriptions about what climate change actually is, how it has been and is being proven, etc. The usual introduction to any climate change book oriented towards the populace, if you will. That is all fine and good; the author does a great job keeping this part simple but easy to understand.
The second part of the book, the larger of the two, deals with those seven "hotspot" areas around the world. Each chapter - with one chapter covering one location - is consumed mainly by background information and local context about that given location. For example, the Inuit people and their lifestyle are a focal point of the Arctic chapter, and I really enjoyed reading about the meshing of Inuit knowledge and culture with modern technology when it comes to weather forecasting, intuitive knowledge about whether certain swaths of sea ice are safe to cross or not, etc. Often, the author involves experts whose fields of research are specifically tied to that given location that is being analyzed.
As stated, this covers the vast majority of the chapter. Only at the end do we get a look at these predictions for how the weather might looks years and decades down the road. First and foremost, it's modestly entertaining to read the predictions for years in the 2010s and early-2020s, because it's already 2025 as I read this! Thankfully, some of the more dire predictions made in the book have not come true yet, but of course that doesn't mean they won't come true at all.
Climate change predictions are difficult, and I respect Cullen for making an effort to bridge daily weather that is much more tangible to our day-to-day lives with climate change, which is much harder for people to wrap their heads around. Any predictions of this nature will be met with skepticism, no matter how sound the research they are based on is. This comes from the ill-conceived notion of 'If a weather forecast ten days out is inaccurate, how are we supposed to believe something 20+ years out?'. The author makes the valid and correct point that climate predictions are more or less simpler than daily weather, since climate is about trends in weather that smooth over day-to-day volatility in the weather. It is silly to ignore climate models forecasting 10-30 years into the future but trust the TV meteorologist's 7-day forecast... but I digress.
This was a solid read overall. I wish the author had spent more time digging into potential impacts. Cullen fills her predictions with hypothetical hurricanes hitting New York City, mass flooding in Bangladesh, etc., and while these are certainly plausible, it feels rushed and like the author is intentionally diverting the attention of the reader away from the prediction parts of each chapter and instead towards the first part (the context, background, etc). Given that the book professes to differentiate itself from other climate change books because it shows these realistic projections, I was disappointed in what felt like a comparative lack of attention in this prediction section.
This was more of an overarching look at climate change, followed by recent changes and current research efforts concerning climate change in several key areas of the globe, with an addendum of predictions about the weather down the road. I was hoping for more. 3.0/5.0 stars.
October 3, 2011
As others have said, this should be required reading for every voting American. Five stars for subject importance and urgency, three stars for its relevance to me personally (I already know much of the subject matter and thus skimmed much of the second half), so four stars net.
I don't understand much of the criticism levied against this book for being "too simplistic." Heidi Cullen writes in a clear, understandable style that anyone with a sixth grade or better reading level can understand. And that's exactly the style of book that most people need when it comes to climate science (though I doubt sufficient numbers of people will read her terrific science writing).
I understand a great deal about climate science, so it turned out that I understood more than I thought (and that what I've learned over the past several years is still relevant and proven, which is what I was checking up on). I skimmed several sections for this reason. But most people truly don't understand climate science, what climate models are about and how they work, how these models evolved over many decades, why they believe weather forecasts but not climate forecasts, and, most critically, the specific ways in which we KNOW climate forecast models to be valid and thus should ACT on them. Many people, for example, just never learned the basic tenet that, when you take a model and apply it to PAST data and obtain the same result your model created, it's a major indicator of validity (among other things).
That is who this book is for - and it's a LOT of people, if our political climate is any indicator. There's no shame in not understanding climate science; the shame is in knowing that you don't know it and not taking any steps to correct it, and deciding not to care because "it's just too much." It's NOT "just too much." We have plenty of science and we need to act - but we probably won't. It's easier to hide our heads in the sand and distract ourselves with issues that matter much, much less than human survival.
I don't understand much of the criticism levied against this book for being "too simplistic." Heidi Cullen writes in a clear, understandable style that anyone with a sixth grade or better reading level can understand. And that's exactly the style of book that most people need when it comes to climate science (though I doubt sufficient numbers of people will read her terrific science writing).
I understand a great deal about climate science, so it turned out that I understood more than I thought (and that what I've learned over the past several years is still relevant and proven, which is what I was checking up on). I skimmed several sections for this reason. But most people truly don't understand climate science, what climate models are about and how they work, how these models evolved over many decades, why they believe weather forecasts but not climate forecasts, and, most critically, the specific ways in which we KNOW climate forecast models to be valid and thus should ACT on them. Many people, for example, just never learned the basic tenet that, when you take a model and apply it to PAST data and obtain the same result your model created, it's a major indicator of validity (among other things).
That is who this book is for - and it's a LOT of people, if our political climate is any indicator. There's no shame in not understanding climate science; the shame is in knowing that you don't know it and not taking any steps to correct it, and deciding not to care because "it's just too much." It's NOT "just too much." We have plenty of science and we need to act - but we probably won't. It's easier to hide our heads in the sand and distract ourselves with issues that matter much, much less than human survival.
March 4, 2016
In short? A decent primer with a great premise.
The first sections aim to convince the wary or the hesitant of the power of climate modeling and the premises behind climate study, weather forecasting, and contemporary climate studies. To be frank, I found these tough going because they're directed at a different audience (who might disbelieve the premise of "climate change" full stop, in which case I don't think Cullen will convince anyway) and also because they weren't very sprightly. Perhaps I'm just spoiled in my prose reading, but I found the material dry and unmotivated. However, things livened up quickly as the book moved on.
The winning section of the book is its case studies: different ecosystems with multiple types of human development sketched as they are today, as they are poised to develop, and with some speculation on future events to come – should a given set of models be more right than not. I found these passages fascinating: the Canadian Arctic (Nunavut, primarily), Greenland, California, Bangladesh, New York... all give the reader much to think about, though analysis is kept relatively superficial and the tone bright and chipper – very little doomsaying here, if you care one way or the other.
I was also very caught by the book's brief conclusion on an ancient Sumerian epic of total societal collapse and Cullen's experiences on a dig that proved that, yes, the societal collapse was linked to ecological failure and climate change. More of that would have been welcome, but by that point the book did feel like it had had its say – I might be the odd one out in wanting much more.
All told, an engaging book that picks up steam when it moves into its dedicated forecasts. Get it from your libraries: stay woke! The world is changing. We have to change with it, knowingly.
The first sections aim to convince the wary or the hesitant of the power of climate modeling and the premises behind climate study, weather forecasting, and contemporary climate studies. To be frank, I found these tough going because they're directed at a different audience (who might disbelieve the premise of "climate change" full stop, in which case I don't think Cullen will convince anyway) and also because they weren't very sprightly. Perhaps I'm just spoiled in my prose reading, but I found the material dry and unmotivated. However, things livened up quickly as the book moved on.
The winning section of the book is its case studies: different ecosystems with multiple types of human development sketched as they are today, as they are poised to develop, and with some speculation on future events to come – should a given set of models be more right than not. I found these passages fascinating: the Canadian Arctic (Nunavut, primarily), Greenland, California, Bangladesh, New York... all give the reader much to think about, though analysis is kept relatively superficial and the tone bright and chipper – very little doomsaying here, if you care one way or the other.
I was also very caught by the book's brief conclusion on an ancient Sumerian epic of total societal collapse and Cullen's experiences on a dig that proved that, yes, the societal collapse was linked to ecological failure and climate change. More of that would have been welcome, but by that point the book did feel like it had had its say – I might be the odd one out in wanting much more.
All told, an engaging book that picks up steam when it moves into its dedicated forecasts. Get it from your libraries: stay woke! The world is changing. We have to change with it, knowingly.
June 10, 2017
This is a fascinating book on the history and most importantly on the future of the weather of our planet. A must read book who question the current issues on the climate change as a whole, Written in a very plain language wich makes this research more valuable to understand and to promote its core ideas and facts.
From the outset of reading this book I was looking for the argument on the origins of CO2 .. is it human-made or natural. I have heard too many times by global warming deniers that most of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today comes from natural sources and the author admits it and argues that a big portion of an ADDITIONAL CO2 that's been placed in the atmosphere over the last years comes from the US!
Due to all my knowledge on climate change is in infancy, so I can not tell which scientific models are new or archaic, but by the end of this book I found out that there are tons of new climate models and tools on tracing carbon just like the bullet to the gun are so many nowadays.
'The Weather of the Future urges us to think long-term about the climate change. What we need to do to prepare ourselves to global sea rise, heat waves, dry-outs and extreme storms to name a few. And the origins of the issue, and the ways how to solve it so we can leave the planet more secure and safe to the coming generations.
From the outset of reading this book I was looking for the argument on the origins of CO2 .. is it human-made or natural. I have heard too many times by global warming deniers that most of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today comes from natural sources and the author admits it and argues that a big portion of an ADDITIONAL CO2 that's been placed in the atmosphere over the last years comes from the US!
Due to all my knowledge on climate change is in infancy, so I can not tell which scientific models are new or archaic, but by the end of this book I found out that there are tons of new climate models and tools on tracing carbon just like the bullet to the gun are so many nowadays.
'The Weather of the Future urges us to think long-term about the climate change. What we need to do to prepare ourselves to global sea rise, heat waves, dry-outs and extreme storms to name a few. And the origins of the issue, and the ways how to solve it so we can leave the planet more secure and safe to the coming generations.
September 18, 2014
This book was just drop dead terrifying. Part 1 wasn't so bad: it covered the basic info needed to understand the climate change from a climatologist POV. But Part 2 was just terrifying! Of course, the chapter that affected me the most was the one on Central Valley of California, but the New York one came a fairly close second. I guess that illustrates the saying: all politics are local. The second part was projections into the future of 7 places climatologists consider especially vulnerable to climate change disasters. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by Central Valley of CA making the list, which by extension essentially means a substantial part of CA. However, I was. As for New York, you need to remember this book was written before Hurricane Sandy but a lot of what she put into her projections...and she is the first to acknowledge that the further into the future the date is, the more fictional it is...came true in Hurricane Sandy. I hope some of her more optimistic projections come true as well: that people learn from events such as Hurricane Sandy and realize things have to change and that as expensive as making these changes will be, it will be peanuts compared to the rescue and repair work needed if nothing is done and something like Hurricane Sandy hits again. This is definitely worth the read!
June 21, 2014
Cullen has written a very easy-to-read explanation of the driving forces and science of climate change, covering the history of related research. Few of the public realize that a slowly warming climate was predicted in the early 1800s and assumed the low global population (1.7 billion) and low use of carbon-emitting fuels. Today we have four to five times as many people and have greatly accelerated use of fossil fuels. About half of the book (published in 2010) consists of predictions for various locations and contains predictive echoes of Hurricane Sandy, California's current (2014) drought, and disappearing glaciers worldwide. The book closes with a discussion that suggests global warming will continue and already is irreversible--the only question is if and how emissions will be curtailed.
November 5, 2016
This is a little heavy on the science/numbers for someone who is new to reading about these issues. There are also very depressing Earth/Climate Change fanfic scenarios the author presents for what might happen in the locations she discusses if the trends when she wrote the book continue, many of them already jossed.
Funny enough, even though the cover is meant to make you go "crap, New York!", New York is the only place where her made-up scenarios provide a happy ending. XD
Also, many pieces of this book repeat things I've read in other books about changes to weather or extreme weather events: governments really suck at educating the population and will sometimes even suppress information. YIKES.
Funny enough, even though the cover is meant to make you go "crap, New York!", New York is the only place where her made-up scenarios provide a happy ending. XD
Also, many pieces of this book repeat things I've read in other books about changes to weather or extreme weather events: governments really suck at educating the population and will sometimes even suppress information. YIKES.
April 17, 2015
One of the first books I read that delves into the realistic consequences of man-made climate change. Brilliantly narrated by our nation's first climate-aware meteorologist, science advisor to NOAA, creator of Forecast Earth and Chief Science Advisor to the Showtime Series, The Years of Living Dangerously, Cullen has made her mark on every facet of American journalism. I highly recommend "The Weather of the Future" to readers of all genres, particularly those of us interested in science-based awareness of modern society's ecological footprint on the planet.
January 25, 2022
If one already knows a lot about climate change and environmental issues, they might find the book a little bit repetitive. But, the hook is in the book’s ability to take all those different bits and fragments of climate knowledge and tie them together, leaving one with a much more harmonized and broader view of climate change issues.
I love case studies and greatly enjoyed part 2 of the book. The narratives are absolutely captivating and frightening at the same time. The fact that she takes us along as speaks to other great players who are directly or indirectly involved in climate change issues also enrichens the book because we get to see multiple perspectives and viewpoints about climate change.
For my full review of this book, check it out here: https://ecohoods.wordpress.com/2022/0...
I love case studies and greatly enjoyed part 2 of the book. The narratives are absolutely captivating and frightening at the same time. The fact that she takes us along as speaks to other great players who are directly or indirectly involved in climate change issues also enrichens the book because we get to see multiple perspectives and viewpoints about climate change.
For my full review of this book, check it out here: https://ecohoods.wordpress.com/2022/0...
April 28, 2024
This was a very interesting book. The opening chapters give a solid description of weather forecasting and climate forecasting. The second part exams 7 regions of the world as case studies. The historical information and current status of each region was informative. As I was reading the future predictions section, I initially didn't recall the publication date (2010) and was slightly confused with the early predictions since for me reading this in 2024, the dates were already history. Once I reminded myself it was written in 2010, I was quite intrigued with the predictions given for 2010- the early 2020s. I would love to see if there has been an evaluation of her predictions. I am not enough of a weather nerd to identify specific examples, but the trends sure seem to be going the way she said they would.
April 29, 2019
If you are looking for an informative book that provides incredible insight of our planet in the future! I would read the book, “The Weather Of The Future”, written by Heidi Cullen. The author provides data and statistics to illustrate what will take place on Earth in results to global warming. She uses examples of national landmarks, like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, glaciers, valleys in California and many, many more. The author describes what we can see happening now as the result of global warming and what will happen in 5, 10 and 15 years from now. I would rate this book a 9/10 because it was a very interesting read and I was appalled by how scary the authors information was about the future of the human race.
July 24, 2023
book is OK but .
The book leads off to a great discussion of climate and weather, heat and storms. By the time she gets to her chosen 5 locations to focus in on climate and weather seem to take a back seat to social answer economic discussions of the people. In essence she wanders off the subject to much. Not quite what I wanted to read.
The book leads off to a great discussion of climate and weather, heat and storms. By the time she gets to her chosen 5 locations to focus in on climate and weather seem to take a back seat to social answer economic discussions of the people. In essence she wanders off the subject to much. Not quite what I wanted to read.
July 29, 2025
The author is a climatologist. She differentiates between climate and weather forecasting. She goes back in time and show us how our climate developed and what we did to adapt to it. She has examples in Africa with desertification happens and also New York City, where the problem of flooding and hurricanesthat was a problem. I recommend this book for those of our interested in climate change.
May 10, 2018
It's a good but now dated look at what's happening around the world as the Earth warms. In fact, the earliest of her predictions are predicting 2012-2018 and pretty accurate. The only thing she got wrong was the speed of the problems -- we're seeing them faster than predicted in 2008ish.
September 2, 2018
A wonderful read on climate change that discusses what different parts of the world will look like in 50 years. The author does a very nice job of showcasing different elements of climate change ranging from drought and heatwaves to barrier reef damage and culture adaptation.
November 26, 2021
A very comprehensive explanation of world climate system with frightening and accurate predictions.
March 17, 2017
Pros: describes, in detail, environmental issues from around the world, ranging from draught to glacial bursts, from ice hunting to flooding in the subway systems; it does a good job of identifying some of the political, cultural, and technological shortcomings in battling the environment
Cons: becomes rather tedious in its repetition; the science behind the arguments is poorly articulated
Cons: becomes rather tedious in its repetition; the science behind the arguments is poorly articulated
September 30, 2011
The Weather of the Future by Heidi Cullen
“The Weather of the Future” is a book that describes how global warming is impacting our climate today and how it will impact our planet’s future. With a sound scientific approach renowned climatologist Heidi Cullen provides an interesting insight into climate change by taking us through a journey of seven of the most at-risk locations around the globe and what global warming is projected to do to those areas. This 352-page book is composed of the following two main parts: Part 1. Your Weather is Your Climate and Part 2. The Weather of the Future.
Positives:
1. Well researched, well-written book.
2. Good explanation of scientific terms that is accessible to the masses.
3. This is a science book at heart. There is no partisan politics to speak of. Ms. Cullen is strictly concerned with the science of the issue and does so with conviction.
4. The difference between weather and climate…time.
5. A great look at climate history and the scientists that made it so.
6. A very good explanation of all the greenhouse gases and their impact. Carbon as the secret ingredient in adjusting the natural thermostat.
7. The mechanisms of weather predictions. Weather models.
8. The link between weather forecasting and the economy.
9. The evolution of the weather models.
10. Fantastic explanation on why the additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is raising temperatures.
11. A more extreme planet…find out why.
12. Ms. Cullen never overextends herself. She tells you what we know and what we don’t know based on the best evidence possible from the best sources possible.
13. Evolution for good measure.
14. The second part of the book takes us through a journey of seven of the most at-risk locations of the planet: The Sahel, Africa; The Great Barrier Reef, Australia; Central Valley, California; Inuit Nunaat, Canada; Greenland; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and New York, New York. Ms. Cullen
15. Great conversations with leading scientists around the globe to provide much needed wisdom.
16. The weather/climate situation of each one of the seven locations is discussed with expertise and a projection into the future based on the best models provides a fascinating look.
17. The decision to use such diverse locations of the globe was a great one. It allowed Ms. Cullen to apply the best science to each location and to put a “face” to each location thus engaging the reader in a unique manner.
18. I finally understand the impact of El Niño.
19. The fascinating world of the corals…
20. How global warming affects corals.
21. The Delta and the complications of extending a dream.
22. Fascinating facts, “Scientists will tell you that climate change is happening faster in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet”.
23. Ice cores…the cold hard facts.
24. The predicament of Bangladesh.
25. New York’s own predicament. Absolutely fascinating!
26. Great appendices.
27. Good use of charts and graphs.
28. The links worked great.
Negatives:
1. With so many great references a comprehensive bibliography would have been welcomed.
2. Some critics may claim that Ms. Cullen is an alarmist but I don’t agree. Ms. Cullen’s makes compelling arguments in support of her positions.
3. The epilogue was unnecessary.
In summary, I really enjoyed this book. Ms. Cullen did a wonderful job of explaining the scientific terms and in doing so clarified some things for me. The use of diverse locations allowed the author to apply the best of climatology to further explain the current and future impact of global warming. I highly recommend this book.
“The Weather of the Future” is a book that describes how global warming is impacting our climate today and how it will impact our planet’s future. With a sound scientific approach renowned climatologist Heidi Cullen provides an interesting insight into climate change by taking us through a journey of seven of the most at-risk locations around the globe and what global warming is projected to do to those areas. This 352-page book is composed of the following two main parts: Part 1. Your Weather is Your Climate and Part 2. The Weather of the Future.
Positives:
1. Well researched, well-written book.
2. Good explanation of scientific terms that is accessible to the masses.
3. This is a science book at heart. There is no partisan politics to speak of. Ms. Cullen is strictly concerned with the science of the issue and does so with conviction.
4. The difference between weather and climate…time.
5. A great look at climate history and the scientists that made it so.
6. A very good explanation of all the greenhouse gases and their impact. Carbon as the secret ingredient in adjusting the natural thermostat.
7. The mechanisms of weather predictions. Weather models.
8. The link between weather forecasting and the economy.
9. The evolution of the weather models.
10. Fantastic explanation on why the additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is raising temperatures.
11. A more extreme planet…find out why.
12. Ms. Cullen never overextends herself. She tells you what we know and what we don’t know based on the best evidence possible from the best sources possible.
13. Evolution for good measure.
14. The second part of the book takes us through a journey of seven of the most at-risk locations of the planet: The Sahel, Africa; The Great Barrier Reef, Australia; Central Valley, California; Inuit Nunaat, Canada; Greenland; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and New York, New York. Ms. Cullen
15. Great conversations with leading scientists around the globe to provide much needed wisdom.
16. The weather/climate situation of each one of the seven locations is discussed with expertise and a projection into the future based on the best models provides a fascinating look.
17. The decision to use such diverse locations of the globe was a great one. It allowed Ms. Cullen to apply the best science to each location and to put a “face” to each location thus engaging the reader in a unique manner.
18. I finally understand the impact of El Niño.
19. The fascinating world of the corals…
20. How global warming affects corals.
21. The Delta and the complications of extending a dream.
22. Fascinating facts, “Scientists will tell you that climate change is happening faster in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet”.
23. Ice cores…the cold hard facts.
24. The predicament of Bangladesh.
25. New York’s own predicament. Absolutely fascinating!
26. Great appendices.
27. Good use of charts and graphs.
28. The links worked great.
Negatives:
1. With so many great references a comprehensive bibliography would have been welcomed.
2. Some critics may claim that Ms. Cullen is an alarmist but I don’t agree. Ms. Cullen’s makes compelling arguments in support of her positions.
3. The epilogue was unnecessary.
In summary, I really enjoyed this book. Ms. Cullen did a wonderful job of explaining the scientific terms and in doing so clarified some things for me. The use of diverse locations allowed the author to apply the best of climatology to further explain the current and future impact of global warming. I highly recommend this book.
February 26, 2012
Since the precondition of this book is a temperature rise of 11 degrees Fahrenheit and 3 feet rise in sea level, it's more a fantasy-novel-"What If"-book with no connection to reality ....
Heidi's so-called proof? "we have some very complicated programs run by some very smart people"....or something familiar. Very same Global Warming Models that the last 30 years (and counting) have been wrong on every single alarming prediction. I mean, how can anyone with their right mind say: "these guys have been wrong so far - but THIS time they got it right".
On page 54 she claims "...there isn't a single model that is able to produce a trend comparable to what we can see in the real world." She concludes that it then must be CO2 that makes the temperature to rise. This kind of spinning and boomerang arguments will not get far in the real world or any real scientific forum. Claiming that everything we DON'T know (or cannot be explained by models) must be due to CO2? That's like saying - the less I know and the dumber I am - the more we can blame it on CO2. Problem solved.
Not even most Global Alarmist believe in this projection of the future, but claim a temp rise between 3-4 F and a sea level rise counting in inches - not feet. If you are an average skeptic like me, we are even lower on that scale - something like 1 (one) degree Fahrenheit and 2-3 inches.
The rest of the book? Well, since its all fantasy I don't quite see the point of reading it. I did skip chapter 8 - 11 since its more of the same - Doom & Gloom - which makes me wonder why some people are just such a bunch of pessimists. Have you ever wonder why the same people in the seventies proclaimed that we would have a new Ice Age, and these very same "scientists" then flipped in the eighties to predict a new kind of Apocalyptic future where we all are going to burn and drown??? Pessimists with a total lack of Realism, is the only logical explanation for this kind of flip/flopping.
Lets take an example from her book. When getting out of the last Ice Age, she only points out the extinction of the Mammoth (p 23). Really? That's the best you can do? Lets take the general view first: Ice Age is a global killer - plants, animals, humans and I mean everything. Getting out of the Ice Age is the best thing ever happen to Mother Earth, just about almost everything sprouts and grows and the earth fills with life.
Some animals prefer the cold, like Mammoths and Polar Bears. Even if the earth has been much warmer that today we still got the polar bears, meaning they are capable of surviving on some level even if most of their hunting grounds vanish. So did Global Warming extinct Mammoths? Very unlikely. Mammoths would still roam the earth if they weren't hunted to extinction which is also the biggest danger to Polar Bears - not Global Warming.
The ironic (but sad) side of this story is, that even if she tried to find the one thing that supposedly should be a downside of getting out of the last Ice Age, she very likely got that part wrong too.
Heidi's so-called proof? "we have some very complicated programs run by some very smart people"....or something familiar. Very same Global Warming Models that the last 30 years (and counting) have been wrong on every single alarming prediction. I mean, how can anyone with their right mind say: "these guys have been wrong so far - but THIS time they got it right".
On page 54 she claims "...there isn't a single model that is able to produce a trend comparable to what we can see in the real world." She concludes that it then must be CO2 that makes the temperature to rise. This kind of spinning and boomerang arguments will not get far in the real world or any real scientific forum. Claiming that everything we DON'T know (or cannot be explained by models) must be due to CO2? That's like saying - the less I know and the dumber I am - the more we can blame it on CO2. Problem solved.
Not even most Global Alarmist believe in this projection of the future, but claim a temp rise between 3-4 F and a sea level rise counting in inches - not feet. If you are an average skeptic like me, we are even lower on that scale - something like 1 (one) degree Fahrenheit and 2-3 inches.
The rest of the book? Well, since its all fantasy I don't quite see the point of reading it. I did skip chapter 8 - 11 since its more of the same - Doom & Gloom - which makes me wonder why some people are just such a bunch of pessimists. Have you ever wonder why the same people in the seventies proclaimed that we would have a new Ice Age, and these very same "scientists" then flipped in the eighties to predict a new kind of Apocalyptic future where we all are going to burn and drown??? Pessimists with a total lack of Realism, is the only logical explanation for this kind of flip/flopping.
Lets take an example from her book. When getting out of the last Ice Age, she only points out the extinction of the Mammoth (p 23). Really? That's the best you can do? Lets take the general view first: Ice Age is a global killer - plants, animals, humans and I mean everything. Getting out of the Ice Age is the best thing ever happen to Mother Earth, just about almost everything sprouts and grows and the earth fills with life.
Some animals prefer the cold, like Mammoths and Polar Bears. Even if the earth has been much warmer that today we still got the polar bears, meaning they are capable of surviving on some level even if most of their hunting grounds vanish. So did Global Warming extinct Mammoths? Very unlikely. Mammoths would still roam the earth if they weren't hunted to extinction which is also the biggest danger to Polar Bears - not Global Warming.
The ironic (but sad) side of this story is, that even if she tried to find the one thing that supposedly should be a downside of getting out of the last Ice Age, she very likely got that part wrong too.
December 7, 2012
Very well done, but if anything, a bit cautious and conservative. In this book, Dr. Heidi Cullen of the Weather Channel and Climate Central examines the impact of current and predicted climate change in several representative places around the world at intervals between 2010, when she wrote the book, and the middle of the 21st century.
One of the book's strengths is that it focuses, in depth, on the effects of changed climate and weather on the lives of ordinary people. Dr. Cullen consulted with local experts in the places about which she wrote, e.g. New York City and Bangladesh. She also examines the potential impacts on international politics, such as India's growing conflicts with Pakistan to its west and Bangladesh to its east over the water released into the big rivers by the melting of Himalayan glaciers.
At the same time, she could have made it harder-hitting - I wish she'd gone into depth about the 30,000 people who died in Europe in the heat wave of summer 2003, for example, or written more about the low-lying island countries that are in danger of completely disappearing and leaving their entire populations as refugees. If I'm reading the collective forecasts right, she's low-balling on how much we'll see sea level rise, too.
One intriguing bit was the part in which Dr. Cullen wrote about a hurricane she imagined hitting New York in 2013. Some of what she depicted resembled the effects of Hurricane/Super-storm Sandy, but her version was quite a bit tamer than the real thing turned out to be in October 2012.
Anyway, this is well worth reading, but as noted I believe that in hindsight years from now it will be revealed as under-forecasting the devastation the world is already experiencing and will see more and more of in the decades to come.
One of the book's strengths is that it focuses, in depth, on the effects of changed climate and weather on the lives of ordinary people. Dr. Cullen consulted with local experts in the places about which she wrote, e.g. New York City and Bangladesh. She also examines the potential impacts on international politics, such as India's growing conflicts with Pakistan to its west and Bangladesh to its east over the water released into the big rivers by the melting of Himalayan glaciers.
At the same time, she could have made it harder-hitting - I wish she'd gone into depth about the 30,000 people who died in Europe in the heat wave of summer 2003, for example, or written more about the low-lying island countries that are in danger of completely disappearing and leaving their entire populations as refugees. If I'm reading the collective forecasts right, she's low-balling on how much we'll see sea level rise, too.
One intriguing bit was the part in which Dr. Cullen wrote about a hurricane she imagined hitting New York in 2013. Some of what she depicted resembled the effects of Hurricane/Super-storm Sandy, but her version was quite a bit tamer than the real thing turned out to be in October 2012.
Anyway, this is well worth reading, but as noted I believe that in hindsight years from now it will be revealed as under-forecasting the devastation the world is already experiencing and will see more and more of in the decades to come.
May 3, 2011
Not impressed so far. It's been (extremely) overly optimistic, very simplistic, and packed with bad analogies. It's not terribly interesting or well written, and though it's my faviorite topic to read about, I'm tempted to put the book down altogether. I've had to skip/ skim boring pages, which is always bad- and I feel like she's not really providing us with much in the way of real information-
I'm certain it's missing some key elements of IRL science because she's treating her audience like they're skeptics who know nothing about climate science- which is probably by and large true- though for those of us who have read anything with actual data, it's repetetive, and doesn't seem to offer anything new or compelling. I was really looking forward to reading this because it's by a climatologist who apparently knows her stuff- so I'm not going to give up on it yet- but it doesn't even *remotely* live up to the other climate related books I've read: With Speed and Violence, Six Degrees, Requiem for a Species, The Long Emergency, or Under a Green Sky.
Much later:
Ok, well I've upped this from 2 to 3 stars, even though I skipped over big chunks of this book and was just totally let down by the whole first section. Part two is a moderate improvement, as others have said- but still, I found myself skipping over large parts of the predictions and just reading about the science and history- in total I probably read and enjoyed about 1/3 of this book. That 1/3 was good, but the rest was very wanting.
3 stars is pretty generous, but it's an important topic, so I'm going to be slutty with my rating.
I'm certain it's missing some key elements of IRL science because she's treating her audience like they're skeptics who know nothing about climate science- which is probably by and large true- though for those of us who have read anything with actual data, it's repetetive, and doesn't seem to offer anything new or compelling. I was really looking forward to reading this because it's by a climatologist who apparently knows her stuff- so I'm not going to give up on it yet- but it doesn't even *remotely* live up to the other climate related books I've read: With Speed and Violence, Six Degrees, Requiem for a Species, The Long Emergency, or Under a Green Sky.
Much later:
Ok, well I've upped this from 2 to 3 stars, even though I skipped over big chunks of this book and was just totally let down by the whole first section. Part two is a moderate improvement, as others have said- but still, I found myself skipping over large parts of the predictions and just reading about the science and history- in total I probably read and enjoyed about 1/3 of this book. That 1/3 was good, but the rest was very wanting.
3 stars is pretty generous, but it's an important topic, so I'm going to be slutty with my rating.
April 19, 2011
Cullen's book seems like it should be required reading for anyone living in this era of global warming (and that would be all of us). I found that it pushed me past my own apocalyptic denial; Cullen writes with such care and authority about the ways global warming would and is already affecting specific places around the globe. She weaves in elements of her own research career, profiles the personalities of the key scientists in the field that might be called “coping with reality.” The book is chock-full of scientific explanations yet eminently readable.
And, for the craft nerd commercial, something cool to think about in the land of literary nonfiction: at the end of every chapter, Cullen presents imagined scenarios of what might happen in specific regions in the future. The cue to the reader is simple: a date that hasn’t happened yet. And this is 1) clear to any reader who’s paying attention and 2) eminently helpful. What she does is take the dire and abstract predictions of science and make them REAL and also more specific and human by imagining one scenario of how global warming might affect people, geography, the environment, and the weather. This is a lovely example of genre-bending as well as a clear use of fiction, clearly demarcated, within nonfiction, for the purposes of reader edification.
The takeaway: imagination is NOT anathema in the field of literary nonfiction. In fact, I think it’s a no-brainer for good nonfiction. All you have to do is communicate to the reader that you’re stepping into the land of “let’s imagine.”
And, for the craft nerd commercial, something cool to think about in the land of literary nonfiction: at the end of every chapter, Cullen presents imagined scenarios of what might happen in specific regions in the future. The cue to the reader is simple: a date that hasn’t happened yet. And this is 1) clear to any reader who’s paying attention and 2) eminently helpful. What she does is take the dire and abstract predictions of science and make them REAL and also more specific and human by imagining one scenario of how global warming might affect people, geography, the environment, and the weather. This is a lovely example of genre-bending as well as a clear use of fiction, clearly demarcated, within nonfiction, for the purposes of reader edification.
The takeaway: imagination is NOT anathema in the field of literary nonfiction. In fact, I think it’s a no-brainer for good nonfiction. All you have to do is communicate to the reader that you’re stepping into the land of “let’s imagine.”
September 1, 2010
For a look at what the world may look like in the event that we do little or nothing to combat carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, comes “The Weather of the Future” (Harper) by meteorologist/climatologist, Heidi Cullen. Cullen, a research scientist at the non-profit outfit, Climate Central, (and former host of the Weather Channel’s ‘Forecast Earth’) describes in detail what is likely to occur at seven different hot-spot locations around the planet in the wake of elevated temperatures and rising waters. Using predictive modeling from a variety of accredited sources, Cullen describes what effects can be expected in areas from New York City (major hurricanes, rampant flooding) to Bangladesh (becoming a massive refugee state) to the farm regions of Central California (massive drought) as well as the implications for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Greenland’s arctic ice cap and others. Using data models from NASA, the IPCC, MIT, the California Climate Change Center and others, Cullen predicts a seismic shift in global weather patterns, sea life, agriculture and terrain that, while may be off in some meaningful ways (as expected in a 50 year prediction) certainly cover the range of detailed possibilities awaiting our future. Her personal, yet readable account, is of course, speculative in nature, but with all the research and modeling referenced here and elsewhere, it’s hard not to believe that somewhere in these patterns lies our own inconvenient truth.
May 15, 2012
This was an interesting and frightening book. Cullen describes what has already been happening to the climate and projects what models predict. While prediction is difficult and modeling is difficult to explain, she does a fair job. I don't know if anyone can explain climate modeling well enough to make it sound believable.
Having said that, there is enough current research that clearly shows what is happening today. The one that concerns me most is ocean acidification (OA). No matter what we do, OA could damage the food chain enough to wipe out most animal life on the planet.
I remember when anthropogenic global warming was first mentioned. Scientists' first reaction was, "Huh?" Years later, when data started coming in, scientists used the same word over and over again. That word was "terrified." I'd hear it repeatedly in interviews and read it repeatedly in reviews of research. Today, the data are flowing in quickly, not just current data, but historic data from cores from land, oceans, and glaciers. It's very clear to the scientific community what's happening. We're at the point where the models closely predicted what we're seeing now. Pretty soon (barring people's short memories), we'll see things happening that were clearly predicted just several years before.
We definitely live in interesting times.
Having said that, there is enough current research that clearly shows what is happening today. The one that concerns me most is ocean acidification (OA). No matter what we do, OA could damage the food chain enough to wipe out most animal life on the planet.
I remember when anthropogenic global warming was first mentioned. Scientists' first reaction was, "Huh?" Years later, when data started coming in, scientists used the same word over and over again. That word was "terrified." I'd hear it repeatedly in interviews and read it repeatedly in reviews of research. Today, the data are flowing in quickly, not just current data, but historic data from cores from land, oceans, and glaciers. It's very clear to the scientific community what's happening. We're at the point where the models closely predicted what we're seeing now. Pretty soon (barring people's short memories), we'll see things happening that were clearly predicted just several years before.
We definitely live in interesting times.
November 21, 2014
Dr Cullen provides interesting commentary describing the causes and outcomes of changes to the climate in selected areas of the planet. Some of the locations are familiar to me; other locations are unfamiliar. In particular, I did not consider the Sahel as a large and interconnected area until it was described in this book. Her approach to large geographic areas was particularly helpful.
The first part of the book, as others have mentioned, provided a reasonable scientific background for information about climate. The rest of the book localized how a changing climate could affect each area.
For me, though, the forecasts were too speculative. In general, they may be somewhere between plausible and probably, but it is really hard to tell. Too many variable. Not enough reliable data.
Nevertheless, Weather of the Future was informative and helpful. I would like to think she is wrong. I don't. That is really scary. I'm old enough that it won't have much effect on me. But my children, in their forties, should pay attention.
The first part of the book, as others have mentioned, provided a reasonable scientific background for information about climate. The rest of the book localized how a changing climate could affect each area.
For me, though, the forecasts were too speculative. In general, they may be somewhere between plausible and probably, but it is really hard to tell. Too many variable. Not enough reliable data.
Nevertheless, Weather of the Future was informative and helpful. I would like to think she is wrong. I don't. That is really scary. I'm old enough that it won't have much effect on me. But my children, in their forties, should pay attention.
December 11, 2016
While it may appear as a What If? book of the Earth's future climate, only about 5% of the text deals with scenarios describing what the future may hold. Instead, there informative early chapters about the development of both weather and climate forecasts. It describes both the history and gradual implementation as well as some of the science behind the technology. The gems, however, are the focusing on a few regions across the globe. Each region, varying in size from the bulk of a continent to a single city, first has its history told. Before any mention of the coming changes, the life already present and thriving has its story told in terms of what it has already overcome before the new threat of global warming. This gives a much needed personification of the impact of climate change since there is finally a context for the often cited numbers of temperature spikes and CO2 levels. This book humanizes the scientific data.
October 19, 2010
I wish I could give this book three and a half stars. I think the second half of the book was awesome, it's exactly what I thought the whole book would be when I picked it up. It had case studies, gave some projections, etc. The first half of the book made me want to beat my head against the wall. I suppose this could be attributed to the fact I study environmental science, but even so. Too much explaining.
I think it's a great concept and is half heartening/half depressing, but overall the message is good. If you know a lot about climate science already and just want to read the predictions, ideas, and work of several respected climatologists working around the world, I recommend you skip the first 50 pages or so and just start on Part II. If you are less familiar with climate science, the first part might be ok for you.
I think it's a great concept and is half heartening/half depressing, but overall the message is good. If you know a lot about climate science already and just want to read the predictions, ideas, and work of several respected climatologists working around the world, I recommend you skip the first 50 pages or so and just start on Part II. If you are less familiar with climate science, the first part might be ok for you.
June 1, 2011
Basic, but clear and concise. Spends the first half walking the reader through an overview of the science of climate prediction in general and human-caused climate change in particular. If you're reasonably well-read on this topic, not a whole lot new, but very well expressed. The second half looks at scenarios for particular locations: Sahel, Great Barrier Reef, California Central Valley*, Canadian/Greenland Arctic, Bangladesh, and New York City. Covers possibilities for both disaster and adaptation, although honestly it doesn't look good anywhere.
* Having read A Dangerous Place: California's Unsettling Fate, some of this was actually familiar, if still totally unnerving.
* Having read A Dangerous Place: California's Unsettling Fate, some of this was actually familiar, if still totally unnerving.
October 28, 2010
Great concept -- first half gives the science and the second half includes case studies of representative places and what their weather will look like in the future. I especially like Cullen's storytelling style -- a very easy read and not too impenetrable. Also like the way stories of future weather are told as though they have already happened; this is a style that makes it feel more real. Climate change is real and we're living through it now. As she says: "Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get." What we're getting is more and more extreme, more and more often. As she points out, a warmer atmosphere can absorb and hold more water, leading to more cloudbursts a fewer gentle rains. Ah! So that's why my garden is flatter and flatter every spring!
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