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Weird Canadian Weather    by A. H. Jackson Amazon.com order for
Weird Canadian Weather
by A. H. Jackson
Order:  USA  Can
Blue Bike Books, 2009 (2009)
Paperback
* *   Reviewed by Martina Bexte

A. H. Jackson says that since the age of seven, and then later on as a airline pilot, he's observed and/or survived numerous weather extremes, some imaginable and others, unimaginable. He goes on to point out that he wrote this book 'as a kind of weather primer for the uninitiated and a historical oversight of extreme and weird Canadian weather'.

Jackson trots out loads of weather information that varies from scientific to scary to disastrous, with bits of trivia thrown in - data that encompasses all the highs and lows, as it were, of Canadian weather. He discusses the various theories (including some of his own) that are contributing to climate change and how we can, in our small way, possibly turn it around. He explains how clouds are formed and their different classifications. He talks about the formation and the destructive power of hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, ice storms, avalanches and hailstorms. Want to learn more about how man has been trying to modify or control weather? Jackson discusses that as well and points out how doing so is not always a good thing.

There are even a few oddities that totally tip the weird-o-meter scale like The Rubber Ducky Chronicle, the story of a huge container ship that, during a violent 1992 typhoon, lost various of its containers, one of which contained some twenty nine thousand plastic tub toys. Since their release the errant flotilla of ducks, frogs, turtles and beavers have bobbed along with the gulf streams and currents. Some of them to this day continue circling the globe numerous times while others were eventually tossed up on a distant beach or coastline.

The author does tend to get a bit preachy about his subject at times, but overall Jackson's book on Weird Canadian Weather presents an intriguing look at the country's weird and wacky weather, where, if you wait for five minutes, it might settle down or get even wackier.

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