Of the many people who helped with these pages—and helped care for my two exuberant children so that I could write these pages—no one has contributed more than Aaron Hoover. As well as my husband, Aaron is my first editor, a speechwriter who elevates my words as he does my life and our children’s.
Will and Ilana Hoover inspire everything I do. I thank them for being remarkably good sports—patient with my work and the sort of kids who not only swim, hike, and bike in the rain, but always aim for the puddles.
I am grateful for my writing partner, environmental historian Jack Davis, whose wisdom, critiques, and support helped shape Rain from the day I had the idea through the weeks, months, and years I worked to turn it into this book. Rain is also much better thanks to three writers who became trusted friends over our shared interest in water and words, Heather Dewar, Emily Green, and Christine Klein.
At Crown Publishing Group, I thank executive editor Rachel Klayman and publisher Molly Stern for believing in a book of rain; Domenica Alioto for her kindness and skillful editing; and Emma Berry for a million details. I treasure Anna Kochman and Chris Brand’s design, classic as an umbrella, and I thank production editor Christine Tanigawa and copy editor John McGhee for their saves. Dyana Messina and Danielle Crabtree are tireless promoters like the old-time rainmakers. At the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, my thanks to Elise Capron, known in our house as my secret agent.
I owe debts of gratitude to umpteen meteorologists and other scientists, none more than Greg Hammer at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina, who was there from the time I set up initial interviews to the final days of fact-checking. In addition to the atmospheric and other scientists quoted in these pages, I am obliged to many others behind the scenes, all devoted to helping the public understand weather and climate and their risks. They include Dave Easterling and Mike Brewer at NCDC and Kevin Kelleher and Jonathan Gourley at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma. I thank University of Oklahoma professors Bob Puls and David Sabatini, and Renee McPherson with the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. At the Met in Exeter, England, I thank Dan Williams and ever-patient Mark Beswick.
Special thanks to Melissa Griffin, assistant state climatologist of Florida, for the many years she has answered my questions on the vagaries of weather and climate.
At the University of Florida, I am indebted to the librarians, especially Florence Turcotte, and to scholars including Glenn Acomb in landscape architecture, Pierce Jones in extension, Joe Delfino in water resources, Paul Mueller in geology, and Bron Taylor in religion. For her warm and relevant introduction to India and Hinduism I am grateful to the Hindu scholar Vasudha Narayanan. At the University of Utah, thanks to Robin Craig and Robert Keiter.
I thank Orion magazine and managing editor Andrew Blechman for the opportunity to write about water in Seattle, work that made its way into several of these chapters. The Seattle rain artist Buster Simpson is a font of information and inspiration.
In Scotland, I thank Willie Ross and Daniel Dunko, and in England, Cambridge University Museum of Zoology Director Paul Brakefield. In India, a river of thanks to Jose Kalathil, Shakti Vinay Shukla, Dr. Ramesh Srivastava, and Brijesh Caturvedi; to the Rayen family: Denis Rayen and Carmela Shati and their children, Angela and Joel; and to the Gogoi family, rain-named Rimjhim, Manoj, and their parents, Dipti and Dilip.
The Society of Environmental Journalists and its members have been incomparable sources of support. Many SEJ members, including William Souder, Robert McClure, Bill Kovarik, and Craig Pittman, came through when Rain needed them. I am indebted to other SEJ members including John Fleck and Nancy Gaarder for inspired reporting on climate change, weather, and rain.
I owe much to the Escape to Create artist residency, Marsha Dowler, Karen Holland, my fellow E2C artists, and the community of Seaside, Florida—a town that proves the influence of urban design (and rainstorms) on creativity. I wrote my favorite chapters at the cottage of Seaside founders Robert and Daryl Davis, watching storms move in from the Gulf of Mexico. I am grateful to Jane Toby for caring for the children then. For other cherished writing spaces, I thank Bill and Julie Pine and the island of Cedar Key, Florida; and Bob Knight and Debra Segal and the community of Celo, North Carolina.
My heartfelt thanks for the specific assistance of Anthony Anella, Karen Arnold, Maribel Balbin, Kate Barnes, Laura Bialeck, Mindy Blum, Joe Browder, Julie Brown, Michael Campana, Gracy and Mike Castine, Brenda Chalfin, Ronnie Cochran, Mary Furman, Lesley Gamble, Gerry and Joe Garrison, Kim Gregg and the Rev. Steve Gregg, Thomas Hallock, Melanie Hobson and Charlie Hailey, Paul Hoover, Yasuko Horie, Larry Leshan, Jacki Levine, Dr. Bernie and Chris Machen, Whitey Markle, Karl Meyer, Emily Monda-Poe, John Moran, Pat Morse, Louise OFarrell, Melissa Orth, Jim and Claude Owens, Annie Pais, Nancy Peck, Jonathan Rabb, Walker Roberts, Sonya Rudenstine, Ros Sadlier, Steve Seibert, Dan Smith, Kristen and Dan Stoner, Makiko and Dave Waldrop, Virginia Walsh, and Clive Wynne.
I owe special thanks to Stephen Mulkey, president of Unity College in Maine.
Finally, for a book this wide-ranging, I sought help from many more experts than I am able to acknowledge here, including the authors in the source material. I thank them all and absolve them of any responsibility for my interpretations and any mistakes, mine alone.