Review of "Invisible Iceberg"

It is always a pleasure to be able to review a book that is well written and has a fresh point of view. One might call Dr. Joel Myers' book, Invisible Iceberg, the first biography of weather. It begins with the role of weather in the extinction of the dinosaurs and “Noah’s” flood and gradually takes us into modern times including a fascinating look at how weather affected the sinking of the Titanic, the assassination of President Kennedy, and September 11^th. 

 

Joel is a brilliant man and the meteorological entrepreneur of AccuWeather (AW) and I had hoped for years he would write a book. It was worth waiting for. Joel was my boss when I sold the assets of WeatherData, Inc. to AW in 2006 and went to work for his company (I retired in 2018).

 

Each chapter is an easy read; usually 2-6 pages and I’ve learned a lot reading it. I thought I knew, for example, how the weather affected the sinking of the Titanic, but it turns out there is much more than generally known. The book’s title comes from Joel discovering that a temperature inversion’s effects would have made the iceberg impossible to see until the ship was nearly on top of it. And even more went wrong atmospherically that evening. 

 

As Joel writes about the Wright Brothers historic flight, my only real criticism is the omission of a chapter or two pertaining to historic milestones achieved by AccuWeather. For example, in the early 2000’s Mexico did not have reliable weather radars in most of the nation. So, when Ferromex, Mexico’s largest railroad, wanted to subscribe to our track-specific storm warning service, we invented a way to issue a flash flood warning without radar. New science was created.

Here's an example of why that technology development was historic: On July 23, 2009, an email came in from Ferromex’s Al Cisneros saying, because of a flood warning, they had stopped a passenger train that went through the scenic Copper River Canyon and put the passengers on buses. A hyrail vehicle (a truck with metal railroad wheels) was sent to inspect the track. It was washed out in seven places! AccuWeather was credited with saving as many as 300 lives. Mr. Cisneros closed his email with, “Your services are excellent and make the difference between life and death.” That flood warning won the American Meteorological Society’s “Award For An Exceptional Specific Prediction.” 

I’d recommend the book as a gift for graduation (especially for weather science majors), Father’s Day, or Mother’s Day.