Looking Up: True Adventures of a Storm-Chasing Weather Nerd

Meteorologist and self-proclaimed “weather weenie” Cappucci shares the ups and downs of his lifelong obsession with atmospheric spectacles in his thoughtful debut. For Cappucci, storm chasing is more than a job or a hobby: “I spend my life in tireless pursuit of those rare, beautiful moments that will remain forever etched in my memory.” He recounts spending his first communion money on a camcorder to record thunderstorms, giving a presentation to the American Meteorological Society at age 15, and landing an on-air job as a weatherman in Washington, D.C., all the while chasing and documenting storms in his spare time. In exciting and humorous prose, Cappucci describes chasing “villainous” supercell storms and “frolicking about as golf-ball-sized hail showered down from the sky.” He also has a sure hand in making intense natural phenomena understandable to lay readers: “Picture stirring your cup of coffee with a teaspoon. You know that dip in the middle of the whirlpool? The deeper the dip, or fluid deficit, the faster the fluid must be spinning. Hurricanes are the same.” And his reveling in the “everyday simple gifts” of life—such as a flash of lightning or the meals at his “all-time favorite restaurant,” Waffle House—is charming. This is fun from start to finish. Agent: Dylan Colligan, Javelin. (Aug.)

Correction: The author's last name was misspelled in an earlier version of this review.