What Stands in a Storm: A True Story of Love and Resilience in the Worst Superstorm in History

by Kim Cross

Spann fans swore that they could glance at a muted TV and tell you how bad the weather was based on what they could see of Spann’s uniform. Uh-oh, I see suspenders—where’s the tornado? Those visible suspenders meant he had removed his coat, a signal that weather conditions were getting serious, and you had better pay attention. If his sleeves were rolled up, it was time to hide in the closet. “The day the tie comes off,” said one fan, “will be a very, very bad day.”

In an age when we can map the human genome, gather dust from a comet hurtling through space, and engineer synthetic DNA, science cannot predict exactly when and where a tornado will form.