Experiencing all kinds of weird weather is pretty much ubiquitous—unless you live in an underground bunker like in Hugh Howey’s Wool (2012)—so it’s no wonder that it often materializes in fiction. There are many SFF stories that use weather to great effect—just think of the raging snow storm at the end of Stephen King’s The Shining (1977) or the catastrophic climate change in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993).
Below are seven stories where weather is not only the driving force of the narrative, but is also decidedly strange in some way—think along the lines of the suspiciously motionless fluffy cloud in Jordan Peele’s Nope (2022). Prepare to get swept away by these novellas and short stories that center on bizarre clouds, fog, rain, and tornadoes.
“The Long Rain” (1950) and “All Summer in a Day” (1954) by Ray Bradbury
These two Bradbury short stories are standalones, but they’re both set on a version of Venus where it rains nearly endlessly, so in my mind they feel connected.
In “The Long Rain” a group of four men have crash landed in a Venusian jungle. They know that their only hope of survival is to make it to one of the Sun Domes—warm and dry buildings that are filled with provisions—and so they set off on a soggy and miserable trek. The story is bleak (but in the best way!), with the lack of respite from the rain driving the men to madness in various horrifying ways.
“All Summer in a Day” is one of Bradbury’s most well-known short stories, and for good reason. In this tale the sun only appears for two hours every seven years. A class of nine-year-old children have no memory of the last time the sun came out, except for Margot, who moved from Earth five years earlier. You might think that this is going to be a joyful story about children enjoying some rays, and it sort of is… but just remember that kids can be incredibly cruel.
The Mist (1980) by Stephen King
The Mist starts with a fierce thunderstorm besieging a small Maine town. The next morning, David takes his young son, Billy, and next-door neighbor, Brent, to the grocery store for supplies, but while there a strangely thick mist begins envelopes the building.
Although eerie, at first it seems that the only issue with the mist is poor visibility for driving. But then the shoppers and workers realize that there are dangerous otherworldly monsters hidden within the murky white vapor. Alongside these strange creatures, The Mist also offers a fascinating examination of how people react and behave—both individually and as a group—in stressful situations.
I also highly recommend Frank Darabont’s 2007 film adaptation. The visuals are terrifying and it features a brilliant cast, with Thomas Jane in the lead role and numerous actors who went on to star in The Walking Dead (Darabont was the series’ first showrunner) making appearances. Plus, the darker ending is an improvement on the novella’s meandering closing pages—even King himself agrees, calling Darabont’s ending “terrific” and “anti-Hollywood.”
“The Water That Falls on You From Nowhere” (2013) by John Chu
A few weeks prior to the beginning of Chu’s short story, a strange worldwide weather phenomenon has started happening: whenever someone lies, water falls on them. Small lies result in just a gentle misting, while big lies bring forth a torrential soaking.
This development makes life rather challenging for Matt, who hasn’t told his traditional Chinese value-holding parents that he’s in a relationship with a man. As well as delving into the mechanics of how this strange lie-induced water works—like what happens when someone is dishonest sarcastically or unintentionally—the story is also a poignant portrayal of the emotional complexities of coming out.
“Nimbus” (1993) by Peter Watts
Throughout the ages humanity has spent a long time gazing up at the clouds, but what if the clouds were gazing back at us? That’s essentially what’s happening in “Nimbus,” with the clouds seeming to have become sentient—and definitely having become apocalyptically destructive. The story flips back and forth in the life of a father and his daughter as they try to make sense of what exactly these strange storm clouds are and how they’ve changed their lives. Perhaps not every cloud has a silver lining.
We Need to Do Something (2020) by Max Booth III
A tornado warning kicks off We Need to Do Something, forcing teenager Mel and her family—which consists of an alcoholic dad, a stifled mom, and an annoying little brother—to take shelter in their bathroom. The entire novella takes place within those walls thanks to a fallen tree trapping them inside, which gives the story an inescapably claustrophobic feeling.
While the family wait for help (surely someone will come… right?), they begin to fracture under the pressures of surviving in the tiny space without food and with no idea of what’s happening outside. Things start to get surreal and it seems that the storm might not have just been a regular tornado, but then again, maybe it’s all in their stress-addled minds…
If you prefer to listen to your books, Booth uploaded the entire audiobook for free on his podcast.
“For a Foggy Night” (1968) by Larry Niven
A man sits in a bar across from his hotel thinking about the dense fog that has rolled in. A stranger then sits down next to him and tells him that he shouldn’t venture out until the weather has cleared, declaring that the hotel might not be out there anymore. According to this stranger, the fog allows different realties to converge, meaning that anyone who walks through the opaque haze will likely find themselves in a timeline that isn’t their own.
It’s sure not a risk I’d be willing to take, but then I’m not the protagonist in a sci-fi story (thankfully!).
If you have any recommendations for stories about weird weather (I’ll note that this list is severely lacking in full-length novels!), please feel free to share them in the comments below. Be it sci-fi, fantasy, or horror, if it concerns rain or shine, wind or mist, I’d love to add it to my TBR.
