David Ludlum's Early American winters

[Ottawa Blizzard]

Yesterday at the Toronto Reference library I found myself browsing through an almost 50 year old book called early American winters by David Ludlum. What an amazing treasure trove of information! They don't make books like that anymore! Has anybody else had the opportunity to read through the two volumes? He apparently wrote other books including Early American Tornadoes and Early American Hurricanes.

[Juliancolton]

Very much a fan of Ludlum's work. I own copies of his Early American Winters 2, Early American Hurricanes, and New Jersey Weather Book. Some of the most informative and engaging literature on meteorology I know of.

[Ottawa Blizzard]

Very much a fan of Ludlum's work. I own copies of his Early American Winters 2, Early American Hurricanes, and New Jersey Weather Book. Some of the most informative and engaging literature on meteorology I know of.

I was so impressed that I've ordered a copy of both volumes of Early American Winters from a used book website. They really are fantastic reference materials. Another great book is Historic Storms of New England by Sidney Perley.

[donsutherland1]

Yesterday at the Toronto Reference library I found myself browsing through an almost 50 year old book called early American winters by David Ludlum. What an amazing treasure trove of information! They don't make books like that anymore! Has anybody else had the opportunity to read through the two volumes? He apparently wrote other books including Early American Tornadoes and Early American Hurricanes.

 

Both volumes are great. They're a good starting point for learning about the early winters. The Perley book is also good.

[michsnowfreak]

Early American winters would certainly interest me. Did it make mention of Great Lakes winters? Sounds like a must read.

[donsutherland1]

Early American winters would certainly interest me. Did it make mention of Great Lakes winters? Sounds like a must read.

There's some mention of winters in the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, etc.

[Ottawa Blizzard]

Early American winters would certainly interest me. Did it make mention of Great Lakes winters? Sounds like a must read.

There's an entire chapter devoted to winters of the early northwest (today's Michigan, midwest) in the first volume and one devoted to the midwest winters in the second volume. Book includes maps, charts and observations, including those by Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster.

[Hailstoned]

Another good source is Edgar Rowe Snow who wrote Storms and Shipwrecks of New England, among a number of other New England weather related and other, historical books. This book was first published in 1943 and includes some first hand accounts of the 38 hurricane and strong northeasters that took place during the 1940's, with accompanying photos.
 

[donsutherland1]

There's an entire chapter devoted to winters of the early northwest (today's Michigan, midwest) in the first volume and one devoted to the midwest winters in the second volume. Book includes maps, charts and observations, including those by Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster.

It's a shame that I've found no real mention of early Canadian winters in any great detail.

[Ottawa Blizzard]

It's a shame that I've found no real mention of early Canadian winters in any great detail.

He does mention it occasionally. Apparently he published a volume in 1971 which includes some Canadian statistics. I'll have to look at it the next time I'm in the reference library - you can't sign these books out likely because they're so rare.

[Turtle]

David Ludlum was the preeminent weather historian of his time.  My husband and I had the great fortune to meet him at a weather meeting in New Hampshire back in the early 90s.  Such a wealth of weather information, yet very approachable.  We also have his "American Weather Book' which, I'm thrilled to say, is autographed to me.  My hub is very much into hurricanes, and loved his "Early American Hurricanes" book.  He also served in WWII, and became famous for one of his battlefield forecasts which became known as "Operation Ludlum."  And I can't forget that he founded Weatherwise magazine.

 

Check out the Wikipedia page, and be sure to read his well written obituary that ran in the New York Times.

 

--Turtle

[donsutherland1]

He does mention it occasionally. Apparently he published a volume in 1971 which includes some Canadian statistics. I'll have to look at it the next time I'm in the reference library - you can't sign these books out likely because they're so rare.

 

Thanks for mentioning the 1971 book. I wasn't aware of it, but will look for it at some point.

[Teru Teru Bozu]

Early American Tornadoes is also a fantastic book for weather history buffs if you have a chance to read it. Several years ago, I attended the AMS Annual Meeting, and bought this book at the AMS vendor booth which turned out to be the last first ed. copy they had on hand. It is very well read

My favorite tidbit from the book is the one about the tornado that hit Washington, D.C. In 1814, during the burning of said town at the end of the War of 1812. Aside from several houses being destroyed, a few cannons were reportedly picked up and thrown by the tornado, and it is said that more British soldiers died in the storm than in the actual siege itself. They definitely didn't bring this up in history class!