Wilder Weather : What Laura Ingalls Wilder Teaches Us About the Weather, Climate, and Protecting What We Cherish

Drawing from vivid firsthand observations of blizzards, tornadoes, and prairie fires, the narrative bridges past weather phenomena with modern climate challenges. It reveals how keen attention to nature’s forces empowered early settlers and inspires communities to anticipate and act today.

Laura Ingalls Wilder wasn’t an official weather observer. She simply paid attention. Her life and livelihood intertwined with the weather and climate around her, inseparable. Science has revealed the accuracy of the vivid, detailed weather descriptions in her fictional Little House books—stories of blizzards and prairie fires, tornadoes and grasshoppers, floods and droughts. Wilder’s trusted voice builds a bridge for the millions of Americans who have enjoyed her books to connect the weather of the past to weather today and in the future, shining light on the changing climate around us and the ways to keep our families and communities safe.

In Wilder Weather, readers will find both a place in history and a deeper understanding of weather and climate phenomena in their own lives. Those who pay attention as Wilder did can experience the weather and climate with all their senses. Readers can anticipate the weather and climate that’s coming, tell stories and become part of the narrative, and take action to protect what they cherish, just as prairie settlers did a century and a half ago.