Storm (Stewart novel)

The storm, named "Maria" by the (unnamed) Junior Meteorologist at the San Francisco Weather Bureau Office, becomes a blizzard that threatens the Sierra Nevada range with snowfall amounts of 20 feet (6.1 m).

Its harmful effects include flooding a valley near Sacramento, endangering a plane, stalling a train, and leading to the deaths of 16 people.

[1] This book was the inspiration for the Lerner and Loewe song "They Call the Wind Maria",[1] performed in the musical Paint Your Wagon, which followed Stewart's preferred pronunciation.

[5] Stewart's novel Fire (1948) was a sequel to Storm, again featuring the life of the (former) Junior Meteorologist, who was now a World War II veteran and had been promoted.

Dealing with a California wildfire, it also used the backdrop of an environmental catastrophe to disclose the personal struggles and triumphs of individual human beings.