Long before Twister whirled across the cinema screen, librarians were having trouble keeping enough weather books on the shelf to meet demands. Tornado information was at the top of the borrowers’ wish list, followed by picture books on hurricanes and thunderstorms.

Weather features far more than bruised-looking skies and wild winds, but its comprehensive coverage of conventional weather phenomena and trendy topics such as El Niño will please adults without boring kids. While teachers and librarians will praise the book’s well-organized table of contents, glossary, and index, younger readers will head straight for the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that structure the pages, giving them an up-to-date, web site kind of appeal. Bytes of information in colour-coded boxes further the high-tech analogy.

The book’s overall organization is excellent and the graphic design is crisp and colourful, but information about meteorological extremes is what will drive readers deep into the text. The world’s biggest snowflake was bigger than a dinner plate. People in Grimsby, Ontario, really did fry an egg on the sidewalk one July day in 1936. This is the kind of information that interests readers of all ages.

The author, who published a book on weather in 1990, has also included experiments featuring simple materials and clearly illustrated directions. At home or in the classroom, kids have the recipe to set up balloon barometers, measure raindrops, or create lightning inside their mouths.

The book points out that weather forecasts are not always accurate. But predicting the future of Weather is an easier task: I call for high pressure to have it on library bookshelves and sizzling hot circulation.