Mnii Book Review: So Cold A Sky by Karl Bohnak

Among a number of interesting books that I’ve been reading, is So Cold A Sky: Upper Michigan Weather Stories by Marquette, Michigan meteorologist Karl Bohnak. This volume’s blend of weather and history since the arrival of the Europeans and recorded history has been a wonderful read for me. Like Bohnak, who was raised in southern Wisconsin, I have always been fascinated by weather, in particular severe weather in the north.

Karl surveyed a lot of missionary and settler journals and statistics from early upper Midwest military forts to write the over 300 page book. Included in the book is a detailed bibliography, glossary and index. There are numerous sidebars that delve further into the "rest of the story" concerning the people and natural phenomena that the book portrays so well. The reader is given an illuminating glimpse into the lives of most of the early explorers, such as Father Marquette, Alexander Henry, Henry Schoolcraft, and Peter White.
Much of the book features Lake Superior and the surrounding south shore land mass and the notable storms and weather patterns that have impacted humanity up to our 21st century. It is interesting to note the the weather over the last 50 years that I have been around and to try to recall from memory what I was doing and where I was during the time of these notable weather events.

With the wealth of interesting historical pictures and historical events as noted from original sources, So Cold A Sky makes for an unparalled reading treat for any Upper Peninsula buff.