This book began to take shape a dozen years ago in a (relatively) palatial
maze of editors' desks, half-jokingly and half-wishfully named " The Ball‐
room," at Heldref Publications in Washington, D.C. When the day editor‐
superior Alice Gross introduced me to the man who would be my super-
visor on a new assignment, I had no idea that I was in fact being intro-
duced to a fascinating new culture. For five years Patrick Hughes and I
would edit Weatherwise together while sequestered in a small room barely
big enough for him to stretch his long legs across his desk. In that time and
beyond, after Pat generously handed the reins of the magazine over to me,
he practically channeled an appreciation for weather into my soul and
poured into my head as much as could fit of his years of experience as a
forecaster and weather savant. Pat made Weatherwise the educational expe-
rience of a lifetime.

The world he introduced me to—of clouds and winds and terrible
tempests—is filled with legions of people who share a special affinity for,
fear of, or insight into weather. Nearly all of them, at one time or another,
came in contact with Weatherwise. They made a tremendous impression on
me with their excitement and dedication. I could not help but mark the
remarkable collegiality, good humor, and, yes, humility, that weather fa-
natics share in the face of seemingly overwhelming atmospheric chaos.
Undoubtedly, these qualities make meteorology an unusually welcoming
science. Not long ago, as I reread James Glaisher's excited tale of soaring to
the unknown heights of the clouds, I realized that writing Eye of the Storm
was my attempt to explain to the world how I came to know meteorology
as a world of enthusiasts. I cannot imagine anyone who sat in that office
with Pat and me remaining unmoved by the "sea of air" around us.

So I thank everyone who has written to or for Weatherwise, or has
called to share, help, or even complain over the years. Their ideas and
sentiments have driven me to my own unabashed excitement over weather
and its science. In particular, Murray Mitchell and Bob Ryan, on their
eagerly anticipated visits to our office, often helped clarify issues of signifi-

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