A Change in the Weather

A Change in the Weather follows the Russell family during the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of the polar ice cap, from March 2028 through May 2029. The Arctic has inverted from heat reflector to heat sink, and the jet stream has broken from its age-old trajectory to whip the globe like an unattended fire hose. Rainfall patterns shift seasons, location, and intensity the world over. Agriculture fails. The international economy collapses. Terrorism surges.

In the ensuing panic, the United States embraces President Roland Strauch, a Biblical literalist who heads the American Homeland Party and its armed militia, the Order of the Eagle and Cross.

Each member of the Russell family does what he or she thinks is right in an America where democracy and Christianity struggle to survive. What each thinks is right couldn't be more different.

"Readers will have a hard time putting this book down, and once they have finished reading it, they will have an even harder time forgetting the gripping story that it tells."
— Jean Hegland, novelist, Into the Forest (now a major motion picture) and Still Time

"Earth's climate is unstable, and we are pushing it hard towards a sudden shift to a new state by pumping huge quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A radical shift in the climate between the years 2018-2028 as envisioned by Welch is entirely plausible."
— Dr. Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology, Weather Underground

“We are already seeing (as predicted) outsized warming of the Arctic compared to other parts of the globe. There is growing evidence that we are already seeing weather patterns being influenced by loss of Arctic sea ice.”
— Dr. Mark Serreze, Director, National Snow and Ice Data Center, U. of Colorado at Boulder

“Ray has worked in the energy business for years and knows it inside out.”
— Chris Rafael, Editor, California Energy Markets

"A Change in the Weather is a well-written and disturbing page-turner. Ray has composed an edgy mix of fact and fiction that kept each of us up late each night."
— Arjan Khalsa, CEO, Conceptua Math
— Dalbir Khalsa, Physician Assistant, Community Medicine

Raymond Welch is a former natural gas trader and energy consultant. He graduated from the creative writing master's degree program at San Francisco State University. He blogs about the social implications of climate change at achangeintheweather.com.