Wilder Weather
What Laura Ingalls Wilder Teaches Us About the Weather, Climate, and Protecting What We Cherish
Barbara Boustead
May 2025 · 318 pages · 28 black-and-white images
Laura Ingalls Wilder wasn’t an official weather observer. She simply paid attention. Her life and livelihood intertwined with the weather and climate around her, inseparable. Science has revealed the accuracy of the vivid, detailed weather descriptions in her fictional Little House books—stories of blizzards and prairie fires, tornadoes and grasshoppers, floods and droughts. Wilder’s trusted voice builds a bridge for the millions of Americans who have enjoyed her books to connect the weather of the past to weather today and in the future, shining light on the changing climate around us and the ways to keep our families and communities safe.
In Wilder Weather , readers will find both a place in history and a deeper understanding of weather and climate phenomena in their own lives. Those who pay attention as Wilder did can experience the weather and climate with all their senses. Readers can anticipate the weather and climate that’s coming, tell stories and become part of the narrative, and take action to protect what they cherish, just as prairie settlers did a century and a half ago.
“In this intriguing and enjoyable book, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist Barbara Boustead weaves author Laura Ingalls Wilder's encounters with dangerous blizzards, hailstorms, flash floods, tornados and other weather phenomena with details of present-day weather observing and forecasting.” — Lori Van Pelt , Roundup Magazine , Dec. 2025
Dr. Barbara Boustead is a meteorologist and climatologist as well as a Laura Ingalls Wilder scholar. Her research stands in the intersection of weather, climate, and Laura Ingalls Wilder, and she has expertise in both weather data analysis and the deeper stories of the weather in Wilder’s books, homes, and life. Her love of weather and of the Little House books both grew from early elementary age and stuck with her throughout her life as she has woven together these seemingly disparate interests. Born in Michigan, Boustead lives in Nebraska with her family and frequently travels across the Plains and Midwest looking for storms, history, natural beauty, and sporting events. (Photo credit: Megan Michael Photography)
