Back in the mid-to-late 1990s, I kept a notebook with quotes from books and movies related to weather. I was a meteorology major for a year, but loved reading about weather.
These are some selections that I noted.
"Almost overhead now, the tumbling, swirling clouds changed from black to a terrifying greenish-purple. They seemed to draw themselves together, then a groping finger slowly came out of them and stretched down trying to reach the earth" (254). - Laura Ingalls Wilder, These Happy Golden Years
"As they dashed into the kitchen the light seemed to vanish, as if blown out by some mighty breath; the awful cloud rolled over the sun and a darkness as of late twilight fell across the world. At the same moment, with a crash of thunder and a blinding glare of lightning, the hail swooped down and blotted the landscape out in one white fury" (211). L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea
"The sun had now been set sometime; heavy cloud whose lower skirts were tinged with sulphurous crimson, lingered in the west, and threw a reddish tint upon the pine forests, which sent forth a solemn sound, as the breeze rolled over them" (406). - Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho
"Derry wind speeds were being clocked at an average of fifty-five miles an hour, with gusts up to seventy. The anemometer in the courthouse registered one gust of eighty-one, and then the needle dropped all the way back to zero. The wind had ripped the whirling cuplike device on the courthouse roof off its moorings and it flew away into the rainswept dimness of the day" (1042). - Stephen King, IT
"In the lightning that tore across the sky every few minutes, I could see the clouds were still low and boiling. I didn't know if we'd be safe anywhere, even when we got out" (66). - Ivy Ruckman, Night of the Twisters
"The next day the rain poured down in torrents again, and when Mary looked out of her window the moor was almost hidden by gray mist and cloud. There could be no going out today" (51). - Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
"Suddenly there was no sunshine. It went out, as if someone had blown out the sun like a lamp. The outdoors was gray, the windowpanes were gray, and at the same moment a wind crashed against the schoolhouse, rattling windows and doors and shaking the walls" (84). - Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter
"I wondered at the beauty of its intricate design / I breathed, the snowflake vanished / but for moments, it was mine" (41). - Jack Prelutsky, It's Snowing! It's Snowing!
"The only thing really that was different about Chewandswallow was its weather. It came three times a day at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything that everyone at came from the sky . . . it never rained rain. It never snowed snow. And it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed mashed potatoes and green peas. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers" (7-8). - Judi Barrett, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
"It's true there were dark storm clouds - heavy, black, and pendulous, toward which they were driving." - 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' [Not a book . . . but this has always been my favorite line from this movie.]
These are some selections that I noted.
"Almost overhead now, the tumbling, swirling clouds changed from black to a terrifying greenish-purple. They seemed to draw themselves together, then a groping finger slowly came out of them and stretched down trying to reach the earth" (254). - Laura Ingalls Wilder, These Happy Golden Years
"As they dashed into the kitchen the light seemed to vanish, as if blown out by some mighty breath; the awful cloud rolled over the sun and a darkness as of late twilight fell across the world. At the same moment, with a crash of thunder and a blinding glare of lightning, the hail swooped down and blotted the landscape out in one white fury" (211). L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea
"The sun had now been set sometime; heavy cloud whose lower skirts were tinged with sulphurous crimson, lingered in the west, and threw a reddish tint upon the pine forests, which sent forth a solemn sound, as the breeze rolled over them" (406). - Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho
"Derry wind speeds were being clocked at an average of fifty-five miles an hour, with gusts up to seventy. The anemometer in the courthouse registered one gust of eighty-one, and then the needle dropped all the way back to zero. The wind had ripped the whirling cuplike device on the courthouse roof off its moorings and it flew away into the rainswept dimness of the day" (1042). - Stephen King, IT
"In the lightning that tore across the sky every few minutes, I could see the clouds were still low and boiling. I didn't know if we'd be safe anywhere, even when we got out" (66). - Ivy Ruckman, Night of the Twisters
"The next day the rain poured down in torrents again, and when Mary looked out of her window the moor was almost hidden by gray mist and cloud. There could be no going out today" (51). - Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
"Suddenly there was no sunshine. It went out, as if someone had blown out the sun like a lamp. The outdoors was gray, the windowpanes were gray, and at the same moment a wind crashed against the schoolhouse, rattling windows and doors and shaking the walls" (84). - Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter
"I wondered at the beauty of its intricate design / I breathed, the snowflake vanished / but for moments, it was mine" (41). - Jack Prelutsky, It's Snowing! It's Snowing!
"The only thing really that was different about Chewandswallow was its weather. It came three times a day at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everything that everyone at came from the sky . . . it never rained rain. It never snowed snow. And it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed mashed potatoes and green peas. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers" (7-8). - Judi Barrett, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
"It's true there were dark storm clouds - heavy, black, and pendulous, toward which they were driving." - 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' [Not a book . . . but this has always been my favorite line from this movie.]
2 comments:
The Laura Ingalls Wilder quote was always one I found particularly harrowing as a kid, and I'm still impressed by how vivid it is!
And then there is "It was a dark and stormy night" by Snoopy. :) I think that is fascinating how many ways weather can be described. Our language is so rich, isn't it?
Just dropping in on the A to Z road trip.
tm
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