Dennis Mersereau 
The Skies Above 
Storm Clouds, Blood Moons, and Other Everyday Phenomena

‘The Skies Above explains nearly any and everything weather-related…enlightening and a worthwhile source’ — Portland Book Review




2022 National Outdoor Book Award Silver Medalist in Nature/Environment

• Full-color photography and illustrations


• Details seasonal events, from Nor’easters and northern lights to fire whirls and tornadoes


• Sidebars dive into fascinating facts, quirky phenomena, historic weather events, myths, and more

Written by self-professed weather geek Dennis Mersereau,
The Skies Above is designed to inspire equal parts amazement and curiosity. Accessible science, illuminating illustrations, and stunning photography bring the meteorological world to life. From basics such as weather fronts and types of precipitation to more unusual occurrences like polar vortexes, meteor showers, solar eclipses, and the spectacular mammatus clouds that signify a supercell thunderstorm, Mersereau tracks key phenomena across the seasons and demystifies celestial events visible to the naked eye but still enigmatic to most. He also delves into how climate change affects weather, forecasts, and other events, such as devastating wildfires and historic hurricanes churning across the Atlantic Ocean.




The Skies Above provides readers with a deeper understanding of the processes and events that fill our skies, which not only soothes the anxiety produced by raucous storms, but instills a stronger and more meaningful appreciation of the beauty of days both stormy and calm.

About the author

Dennis Mersereau enjoys all types of atmospheric tantrums, from powerful thunderstorms to heavy snow. After studying meteorology in college, he went off to write for the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang and Gawker’s weather vertical, The Vane, as well as for Popular Science, Mental Floss, Forbes, and The Weather Network. He also teamed up with survival experts to write The Extreme Weather Survival Manual (Outdoor Life, 2015). He lives in North Carolina. Find him online at damweather.com or on Twitter @wxdam.