Here in mid-Michigan, as in many areas perhaps, we have been experiencing a bizarrely warm spring after a rather warm and nearly snowless winter. It’s strange and unsettling and occasionally glorious. Our last frost date is after Mother’s Day, so to have multiple days in the 60s in February is really weird. A week ago it was 72 degrees and sunny one day only to plummet into the 20s with a winter weather advisory the next. Two truly rare February tornados touched down not too far away from my town. One day people are riding motorcycles or tooling around town in convertibles, and the next the winter coats are back on.
No matter how divided our culture gets, we all experience weather and we all seem to enjoy talking about it, especially when it is wild or out of the ordinary. And while it perhaps a bit cliché to start a story with weather, if it is done well and with an eye to not letting it get too long, it can set just the right mood. It can also be more than just atmosphere. (See what I did there?)
Sometimes a weather event can kick off a story, like the tornado in The Wizard of Oz or the heavy rain in Identity. Sometimes it is the story—or at least a major plot device—like in Twister or The Long Winter. The hurricane in Their Eyes Were Watching God, the strong wind in How to Make and American Quilt, the perfect storm in The Perfect Storm…whether the weather is the point or a symbol or a convenient plot device, we all connect at some level with it because we’ve all experienced it.
But can it be a writing prompt? Can you take unseasonably cold or warm weather and develop a story from it? Well, let’s see…
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