13 Weather Horror Books to Bring You a Degree of Discomfort
Weather: A force to be reckoned with
Isn’t it fantastic when the weather’s mild; when it’s not too hot and not too cold?
The sun’s warming, not cooking. The wind’s cooling, not raging. The rain’s calming, not flooding.
But when the weather tips towards the extreme, that’s when we start to feel uncomfortable. That’s when the weather reminds us of how unpredictable it is and there’s not a thing we can do about it.
And what if you’re alone or something hungry for blood uses the weather to disguise itself? That’s where weather horror stories come into their own.
The following thirteen weather horror novels are great examples of weather causing frightening situations.
As you’re reading these, think about just how helpless you are when it comes to the weather.
Try to stand your ground, but you’ll never win against a force of nature.
Contents
The Shotgun House (2021)
By Michael Gajeski
“He neared the break in the trees as the rain hit in earnest. Sheets of cold broke over him as he finally turned into a narrow overgrown driveway. Through it all, he could see a deteriorating house nestled back into a small clearing.”
The Shotgun House is a supernatural horror story in which the weather – storms and tornadoes – force people to take cover.
Months into a cross-country soul-searching motorcycle trip, Dan Harper finds himself facing down a storm deep in the forests of the Ozark foothills.
He seeks shelter in a long-abandoned house, but a chance discovery and a voice from his past pull him into the middle of a decades-old mystery that the local constable will do anything to cover up.
As tornadoes ravage the town in the night, Dan learns that there is more to the story than meets the eye.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 4.95* | Amazon: 4.90 | Goodreads: 5.00
*This book only has 19 ratings on Amazon and 5 reviews on Goodreads, but the ones it has are very positive.
The Last Storm (2022)
By Sam Sisavath
“The fusillade of raindrops against the van’s roof reminded him of a song. Something about raindrops on…something. He couldn’t quite remember the lyrics for some reason. Maybe it was because there was nothing pleasant about these raindrops.”
The Last Storm is a supernatural crime horror story, the first in a trilogy, in which the weather – hurricane – causes a disaster and releases something.
Hurricane Matthew is about to drown the city of Houston in an unrelenting torrent of rain. In the days before its arrival, the city was evacuated, leaving behind only a skeleton police force and civilians unable to flee its destructive path.
It’s the perfect time and the perfect place for the perfect crime.
Richter has it all figured out. A professional with years of experience, he leads a group of similar professionals. The plan goes down without a hitch; it’s everything else that goes off the rails.
Forced to seek refuge in an abandoned apartment building to wait out the storm, Richter crosses paths with a police officer and her partner. They think they’re each other’s worst enemies, but they’re wrong. Very wrong. There is a creature of endless hunger waiting in the shadows, and it’s ready to feed.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 4.37 | Amazon: 4.40 | Goodreads: 4.33
They Came with the Storm (2021)
By Christopher Coleman
“The black frame of the pavement, which only seconds earlier had seemed to snake subtly and infinitely into the horizon, had suddenly been erased, as had the horizon itself and the air and sky that bled into it. The world ahead, some five-hundred feet in the distance in an instant had been cut off from Chris and Jaycee and their ten-year-old Tacoma pickup, blocked off now by a wall of dust that was as thick as it was high.”
They Came with the Storm is a supernatural horror story in which the weather – dust storm – releases something.
It started with a raging dust storm. Then they came. And everything changed.
Through an innocent act of mischief, a trio of ancient witches is unleashed in the small town of Clayton, New Mexico.
Years later, a dust storm suddenly appears across a stretch of Interstate 412, causing a massive crash that includes Chris Boylin and his daughter, Jaycee. They are uninjured, but while Chris goes to assist others who were not so lucky, his daughter disappears.
In the thick air of the storm, just before the clouds clear, Chris sees a pair of haunting shapes outlined in a glow of light.
The search for Jaycee comes to a dead end, but a website article about an eerily similar abduction in 1939 leads Chris to an elderly man, whose terrifying childhood story of his sister might be the answer to saving a Jaycee’s life.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 4.35 | Amazon: 4.40 | Goodreads: 4.30
The Terror (2007)
By Dan Simmons
“Captain Crozier comes up on deck to find his ship under attack by celestial ghosts. Above him – above Terror – shimmering folds of light lunge but then quickly withdraw like the colourful arms of aggressive but ultimately uncertain spectres. Ectoplasmic skeletal fingers extend toward the ship, open, prepare to grasp, and pull back.”
The Terror is a monster horror story in which the weather – ice and cold – forces the characters into survival mode.
This book is also now an AMC TV series.
The men on board the HMS Terror – part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage – are entering a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness.
Endlessly cold, they struggle to survive with poisonous rations, a dwindling coal supply, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice.
But their real enemy is even more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror clawing to get in.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 4.18 | Amazon: 4.50 | Goodreads: 4.06 | LibraryThing: 3.97
White Fire (2018)
By Brian Keene
“A fat raindrop struck the windshield, followed by another and another. They sounded like rocks falling from the sky. Collins leaned forward and peered upward. A series of dark, ominous thunderheads rolled in from the west, pushing through the sky like a steamroller. More drops pelted the windshield.”
White Fire is a supernatural plague horror story in which the weather – tornado – causes unforeseen consequences.
When a freak storm hits, time is the enemy as a government-created super virus gets loose and spreads through the quiet little town of Godfrey, Illinois.
But the virus isn’t the only threat. There are mysterious forces at play and disease is just one instrument of fear.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 4.14 | Amazon: 4.50 | Goodreads: 3.84 | LibraryThing: 4.08
Storm of the Century (1999)
By Stephen King
“When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, “Why god? Why me?” and the thundering voice of God answered, There’s just something about you that pisses me off.”
Storm of the Century is a supernatural horror story in which the weather – snow and hurricane – brings with it something horrifying.
This story was written specifically to be a television mini-series.
The residents of Little Tall Island have seen their share of nasty Maine Nor’easters, but this one is different. Not only is it packing hurricane-force winds and up to five feet of snow, it’s bringing something worse. Something even the islanders have never seen before. Something no one wants to see.
Just as the first flakes begin to fall, Martha Clarendon suffers a violent death. The man responsible sits calmly in Martha’s easy chair holding his cane topped with a silver wolf’s head waiting, knowing the townsfolk will come to arrest him. He’ll let them because he’s here for a purpose.
When he meets Little Tall’s tight-knit community, this stranger will make one simple proposition to them all: “If you give me what I want, I’ll go away”.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 4.01 | Amazon: 4.50 | Goodreads: 3.95 | LibraryThing: 3.57
Calm Before the Storm (2017)
By Ryan Mullaney
“Crouched against a derelict Chevy older than her by a generous number of years, Samantha kept her arm clutched to her side. A chill ran through her. She drew short, pained breaths. The ribs weren’t broken, she told herself for the twentieth time. It just hurt like hell.”
Calm Before the Storm is a thriller horror story in which the weather – tornado – forces people into a less-than-desirable situation.
What should have been a relaxing cross-country road trip through the heart of the American Midwest takes a turn for the worse when four friends find themselves in a severe storm. As the wind picks up and the skies darken, they soon learn first-hand why the region is known as Tornado Alley.
One isolated farmhouse is the only shelter in sight. It’s no longer safe to travel and they have to get indoors. As they approach the farmhouse, three of the four friends are greeted at gunpoint by the distraught homeowner and taken inside.
Samantha is the only one to avoid being seen by the unhinged man. She’s the only hope for her friends getting out alive and the storm is only getting worse.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 3.94 | Amazon: 4.20 | Goodreads: 3.68
The Shuddering (2013)
By Ania Ahlborn
“He saw nothing – only thin swaying pines bending in the breeze, cutting into the cold blue of the sky, drowning him in their shadow – but Don knew they were there. The drips of blood that trailed him like scarlet breadcrumbs assured him that this wasn’t a dream.”
The Shuddering is an isolation monster horror story in which the weather – blizzard – traps the characters and hides the monsters.
The Adler twins gather with their closest friends for one last snowboarding-filled holiday before their parents’ cabin is sold. As drama builds among the friends, something lurks in the forest, watching the cabin, growing ever bolder as the snow falls and their hunger rises.
After a blizzard leaves the group stranded, the true test of their love and loyalty begins as the hideous creatures outside close in, one bloody attack at a time.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 3.92 | Amazon: 4.10 | Goodreads: 3.73
Snow (2021)
By Ronald Malfi
“Wiping strands of sweat-slicked hair from her face, Shawna Dupree crouched below the counter inside the deserted Pack-N-Go. Too frightened to sit up and peer over the countertop, she managed to survey the store in the reflection of the tortoiseshell antitheft mirror above her head. The blood on her hands was starting to freeze to the rifle’s cold steel.”
Snow is a supernatural horror story in which the weather – snow – causes a strange series of events.
The blizzard begins on Christmas Eve, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Todd Curry doesn’t need another reason to disappoint his son, so he joins three other people in renting the last four-wheel drive available and they set out into the blinding snow.
Two hours into the treacherous trip, Todd swerves to avoid a man in the middle of the highway. The stranger claims his daughter is lost somewhere in the snow. Though his odd demeanor and ripped clothes make Todd and his group uneasy, they agree to take the man to the nearest town, if the now-damaged car can make it.
What awaits them at the next exit, however, is nothing they could have imagined. Around an empty town square, fires burn, cars are abandoned, storefronts are smashed. And there is no one to be seen.
But soon the shadows lurking on the edges of their vision will step into the light, and Todd and his fellow travelers will find themselves facing a sharp-scythed evil shaped from the snow, tearing its way into human form and taking the neighborhood by storm.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 3.90 | Amazon: 4.10 | Goodreads: 3.69 | LibraryThing: 3.90
We Need to Do Something (2020)
By Max Booth III
“We form a line and pile into the bathroom – Mom first, hugging a rolled-up blanket to her chest; followed by Bobby with a stack of board games nearly matching his height; then me, still soaked from the storm outside, walking on autopilot while jabbing my thumbs against the weather alert on my phone; and behind me, whiskey fresh on his breath, my dad.”
We Need to Do Something is a psychological horror story in which the weather – tornado – traps a family in a small space.
This book is also a movie.
A family on the verge of self-destruction finds themselves isolated in their bathroom during a tornado warning.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 3.89 | Amazon: 3.90 | Goodreads: 3.51 | LibraryThing: 4.25
The Boys of Summer (2016)
By Richard Cox
“The day was electric, charged with possibility. Bobby Steele could feel it in the humid air and freshening wind, the power of the world. Ahead of him the sky was a gathering darkness. He was ten years old and had the strange feeling something important was about to happen, something that would alter the story of his life forever.”
The Boys of Summer is a supernatural thriller horror story in which the weather – tornado – changes the course of the survivors’ lives.
In 1979, a massive tornado devastates the city of Wichita Falls, Texas, leaving scores dead, thousands homeless, and nine-year-old Todd Willis in a coma.
Four years later, Todd awakens to a world that looks the same but feels different in a way he can’t quite grasp. For Todd, it’s a struggle to separate fact from fiction as he battles lingering hallucinations from his long sleep.
The new friends Todd makes in 1983 are fascinated with his experience and become mesmerized by his strange relationship with the world. Together the five boys come of age during a dark, fiery summer where they find first love, betrayal, and a secret so terrible they agree to never speak of it again.
But darkness returns to Wichita Falls twenty-five years later, and the boys – now men – reunite and confront the wounds from their past. When their memories of that childhood summer refuse to align with reality, the friends embark upon a search for truth that will threaten their lives, and transform their understanding of each other and the world forever.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 3.68 | Amazon: 4.0 | Goodreads: 3.45 | LibraryThing: 3.60
Extinct (2013)
By Ike Hamill
“Channel Two said the storm wouldn’t hit until Sunday, but they were wrong, as usual. Winter hit like a hammer, right on Thanksgiving Day.”
Extinct is a supernatural apocalypse horror story, the first of five books, in which the weather – blizzard – disappears people.
Channel Two predicted a blanket of snow for Thanksgiving weekend. What arrives is a blinding blizzard.
Robby Pierce and his family flee, trying to escape the snow and the invisible forces stealing people right from the street.
Miles away, Brad Jenkins battles the same storm. Alone, he attempts to survive as snow envelops his house. When the storm breaks, Brad makes his way south to where the snow ends and the world lies empty.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 3.60 | Amazon: 4.10 | Goodreads: 3.63 | LibraryThing: 3.06
Stranded (2016)
By Bracken MacLeod
“The void churned and swelled, reaching up to pull them down into frigid darkness, clamoring to embrace them, every one. A cold womb inviting them to return to the lightless source of all life, and die, each man alone in its black silence.”
Stranded is an isolation survival horror story in which the weather – ice and fog – strands people, leaving them vulnerable to the elements and their own thoughts.
Badly battered by a monstrous storm, the crew of the Arctic Promise find themselves in increasingly dire circumstances as they sail blindly into unfamiliar waters and an ominously thickening fog. Without functioning navigation or communication equipment, they are lost and completely alone.
One by one, the men fall prey to a mysterious illness. Deckhand Noah Cabot is the only person unaffected by the strange force plaguing the ship and her crew, which does little to ease their growing distrust of him.
Dismissing Noah’s warnings of worsening conditions, the captain of the ship presses on until the sea freezes into ice and they can go no farther. When the men are ordered overboard to try to break the ship free by hand, the fog clears, revealing a faint shape in the distance that may or may not be their destination.
Noah leads the last of the able-bodied crew on a journey across the ice and into an uncertain future where they must fight for their lives against the elements, the ghosts of the past and, ultimately, themselves.
Average Star Ratings out of 5
Average: 3.40 | Amazon: 3.70 | Goodreads: 3.44 | LibraryThing: 3.05
Published: 16 November 2022
