Late spring and summer offer a host of weather hazards that disrupt families. In 2026, tornadoes and other severe storms have ravaged the Midwest and Southeast. Tropical Storm Arthur caused historic flooding in Louisiana, and the peak of hurricane season is still months award. Much of the eastern half of the United States is about to endure a brutal heatwave with heat index temperatures potentially reaching 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat kills more people in the U.S. each year than any other weather hazard, according to the National Weather Service, but the public often treats it differently than a tornado or hurricane. Cumulative effects of extreme weather events disrupt families, the economy, national security, and more. As with many things, some communities disproportionately suffer more from extreme weather outcomes. A new book explores the intersections of weather, culture, risk, and communities.

The book is called “Protect The House: Weather Doesn’t Discriminate But Impacts Do. ” It is written by first-time author and Mississippi native Jamese Sims , an atmospheric scientist and assistant professor of meteorology at Jackson State University. Scholarly studies have consistently shown that everyone in a community is exposed and affected by tornadoes, ice storms, heatwaves, floods, and hurricanes. However, communities of color, people living in poverty, the elderly, and children are disproportionately vulnerable because they often have lower incomes and less resiliency to withstand or bounce back from the event. Hurricane Katrina (2005) is still the poster child.

During Katrina, I was discussing the storm from my lens as a NASA scientist and weather expert on many media outlets. I knew the storm was going to be a tragedy for all people irrespective of color, income level, or age. However, those images from the Superdome painted a picture of how recovery and adaptive capacity are so strongly tied to economic capacity, history, and education. We see this in current extreme events too.

Like me, Sims grew up in a community shaped by common sense, history, and cultural norms. Like me, she also did something very different from her peers. She became a meteorologist and atmospheric scientist. Only about 2% of the American Meteorological Society membership is Black. Sims studied at Jackson State University, the nation’s first Historically Black College or University to offer an undergraduate degree in meteorology. She moved on to Howard University to attain her doctorate degree. That program, which has produced a large percentage of Black federal meteorologists holding advanced degrees, is where I first met Sims.

I reached out to her to learn more about the book, and what follows is a sample of our discussion.

Who Are You Speaking To In Protect the House ?

Sims says she wrote the book for communities of color, vulnerable communities, and anyone, irrespective of race, who wants insight on understanding what she means when she says, “Weather doesn’t discriminate, but impact does. “In this book, I combine storytelling, lived experiences, historical weather events, and practical guidance to assist in understanding how to prepare for severe weather long-term,” she told me. “Even in this year, 2026, we are experiencing weather conditions that we haven’t experienced in our lifetime, and it shows that we can’t just be prepared for what we have seen, but we must also prepare for what can come,” she went on to day.

This is a critical point identified in a recent National Academies report on compound weather disasters that affected the Gulf region in 2020 and 2021. That report, which I co-authored, found that one of the greatest challenges in weather risk communication is that people anchor to benchmark weather events of their past to inform how they perceive or prepare for current events. I actually saw examples of this with Hurricane Melissa last year. Some of my Jamaican friends compared what they expected to happen to experiences with Hurricane Gilbert (1988). Unfortunately, that’s “apples and oranges.” Gilbert was “only” a Category 3 hurricane. There are several orders of magnitude difference in expected outcomes from a Category 5 storm like Melissa, which is now tied by some metrics as the strongest hurricane we have ever witnessed in the Atlantic Basin.

“Scientifically, our earth system is being impacted by global warming, and we are witnessing the transition from what we thought we knew about seasons,” Sims said. “We’re seeing storms rapidly intensify more often and we’re seeing more anomalies and weather extremes happening year to year,” she continued. Her primary goal was to help people, “Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready," she added.

What Role Did Culture, Rural Communities And Southern Experience Play In The Book?

“Our culture means everything to me. I value our history, our intellect, intuition, and innovative mindsets that have nurtured our families, our land, and our future,” Sims noted. “Understanding why we do what we do, why we respond a certain way, why we trust or don’t trust people plays a major role in what we naturally do to protect ourselves even against weather,” she continued. She has a point here as many of our communities are shaped by experiences, common sense, historical, past benchmarks and mistrust of systems because of things like the Tuskegee Experiments on Syphilis. As I read the book, I could hear Sims’ voice and see the culture in the writing.

She paints a vivid picture of a culture steeped in Sunday family dinners after church service or hot summer days when people sat on the porch or around park tables drinking sweet tea. “We, myself included, depend on computers and algorithms to predict storms, but we can’t depend on that alone,” Sims stated. Sims spent some of her career at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as an expert on technology like weather satellites and artificial intelligence. Weather forecasts and knowledge are as good as they have ever been in history, yet, there is a persistent false narrative that weather forecasts are bad. On the contrary, forecast error for hurricane landfalls have been reduced, and the amount of reliable lead time has increased. New modeling technology is now making it possible to predict an actual tornado up to two hours in advance for some locations. I knew almost two weeks ago that places like Atlanta, Charlotte, and Washington D.C. would experience extreme heat during the first week of July.

Yet, Sims went on to say, “We must include the knowledge of our land and its changes, and the strengths and needs of various cultures to provide accessible information and strategies that will truly save lives and protect our legacies.” That’s why many social and behavioral sciences are now working at the intersection of weather and climate. Satellites, radars, and models can produce the perfect forecast, but people can still die if they didn’t receive it, understand it, or trust it. “The needs of rural communities are different from the needs of urban communities…. The needs of people that are working to survive day to day are different from those with generational wealth and resources,” Sims cautioned. “It is my job to be a good steward of my God given gifts and talents and to reach as many people as I can,” she reflected.

What Conflicts Exist At Intersections Of Tradition And Scientific Knowledge?

“I often hear our elders say that God will protect them or that they can look in the sky and know what will happen. I believe that these things are true, but multiple things can be true at the same time,” Sims told me. She makes a point that we can anchor in faith and other personal beliefs and listen to credible forecasts, have safety plans in place, get to areas of safety, and allow others to help when needed. She also makes a poignant point about trust, human “marinades” and experiences. “When it comes to elders, we must understand why they feel the way that they do, understand their vulnerabilities, and assist them in a way that directly addresses their needs,” Sims stated. There are a variety of reasons people in our communities may be hesitant to evacuate or make plans related to impending weather. Those include limited resources, mobility concerns, and medical conditions, according to Sims. Her book also hits on another reason. Lived experiences and mistrust also shape decision making. She noted that may have played a role in why her father did not evacuate during Hurricane Katrina and instead, “protected his house.”

Sims ended our conversation with an important reflection. “We must speak out and use our voices to advocate for better policies, mitigation plans, and accessibility to data and resources that will address various vulnerabilities,” she argued. Additionally, we need to practice one of the first tenets of good risk communication — know your audience. “As meteorologists, we’re trained to communicate the weather in general and often technical terms, and it doesn’t always resonate with everyone," ended Sims.