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

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.

Dr. Barbara Boustead is a meteorologist and climatologist as well as a Laura Ingalls Wilder scholar. Her research stands in the intersection of weather, climate, and Laura Ingalls Wilder, and she has expertise in both weather data analysis and the deeper stories of the weather in Wilder’s books, homes, and life. Her love of weather and of the Little House books both grew from early elementary age and stuck with her throughout her life as she has woven together these seemingly disparate interests. Born in Michigan, Boustead lives in Nebraska with her family and frequently travels across the Plains and Midwest looking for storms, history, natural beauty, and sporting events.