American weather has helped shape our culture, national character, folklore, and conversation. It has frequented the pages of our history and, at times, changed its course. The stories that follow trace the American weather experience from the hurricanes that threatened Columbus and colonial settlers to the peculiar run of bad weather that has plagued American presidents on Inauguration Day; from Americans who documented the weather and climate of the Revolutionary and Civil War eras to those who suffered through the "year without a summer," the Blizzard of '88, and the dust-bowl drought of the 1930's. Contents: American Weather Acknowledgments Hurricanes Haunt Our History Early American Weathermen The Year Without a Summer View From a Civil War Cornfield The Blizzard of '88 Drought: The Land Killer The Weather on Inauguration Day Photo Credits.