His father warned him not to do it. Neil Stephenson can control the weather—but should he?

He is already a rising star TV meteorologist in Baltimore. During a snowstorm that isn’t producing as much snow as predicted, Neil discovers his gift: he can make the snow increase or decrease and make it start or stop raining.

The latest science shows that extreme weather has increased in frequency and severity due to climate change. Being able to prevent some of those disasters sounds great, but… weakening one hurricane in the Atlantic could strengthen a typhoon in the Pacific. Preventing floods in one country might lead to drought next door (“They stole our rain!”).

Neil is torn between preventing disasters that save the insurance industry billions and saving lives from drought in Africa. The most famous actress in Hollywood seduces him so he will do the latter. The military and organized crime want to use him, too. He becomes a national hero to many. On the other hand, lawsuits, criminal charges, and even death threats follow his actions.

The Weathermaker is a “cli-fi” genre-bending thriller, with the action aspects of Twister. It shows the tragic aspects of climate change (like The Day After Tomorrow) and “the cure is worse than the disease” (Snowpiercer). There is also evidence that controlling nature can lead to disaster (Jurassic Park). The added bonus is that the author is a meteorologist, and the science is accurate. Plus, 40 years on TV has given him lots of “inside TV news” stories.

The Weathermaker is a 2020 SUNNY Award winner!

What Others Are Saying:

Science doesn't only belong in conferences and textbooks. It needs to be accessible to the public. The climate and extreme weather affect almost every aspect of our lives, yet the only scientist that many people encounter daily is their favorite TV meteorologists. Meteorologist Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz is a respected and acclaimed scientist and communicator that has offered up a fascinating fictional narrative anchored in science. It is sneaky, effective and entertaining way to share weather and climate science to the masses. -- Dr. Marshall Shepherd; Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography; Director, UGA Atmospheric Sciences Program; Full Professor, Department of Geography

The Weathermaker is both a cli-fi thriller and a who-dun-it, written by a professional TV meteorologist. In this age of eco-anxiety over floods, droughts and hurricanes, this novel is both a grippping read and an entertaining wake up call. -- Dan Bloom, editor, The Cli-Fi Report

Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz gives us that true rarity in fiction: an entertaining story that also has great meteorology. Tornadoes, droughts, hurricanes, winter storms, and how climate change may be affecting them are all featured as the hero meteorologist travels the world. And the Hurricane Hunters should definitely not repeat the type of hurricane flight featured in The Weathermaker! -- Dr. Jeff Masters, former Hurricane Hunter, co-founder of Weather Underground, and extreme weather and climate change writer for Scientific American

People are fascinated by meteorological phenomena, and Hurricane Schwartz has taken explaining extreme weather to another level. The Weathermaker is not just a page-turner, it showcases the ability of a science communicator to help people connect the dots. -- John Morales, CBM, CCM, AMS Fellow Chief Meteorologist, WTVJ NBC 6, Miami, @JohnMoralesNBC6

It has been said that "Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it”. In The Weathermaker, however, Philadelphia’s legendary TV Meteorologist Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz spins an entertaining yarn about a meteorologist who does indeed do something about the weather. And in the process, Schwartz tells a cautionary tale about the threats posed both by human-caused climate change and perilous “geoengineering” quick fixes that have been proposed to deal with it. -- Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State University and author of The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Destroying the Planet, Ruining our Politics, and Driving us Crazy

The popular meme that truth is stranger than fiction often holds true. But in the increasingly strange world of long-term climate change and every-day weather -- and especially in the words of a masterful practitioner and communicator of both -- one can only hope that "Hurricane" Schwartrz's story-telling remains just that: engrossing and creative fictiion, with a clarity and sense of purpose that sucks the reader in with tornadic zest. If his Weathermakers really come to be, we'll all be in for far more than just stormy days ahead, but at least this wizened Philadelphia weathercaster will have given us a few needed laughs along the way. -- Bud Ward, veteran journalist and Editor, Yale Climate Connections