Whether it is used as an icebreaker in conversation or as the subject of serious inquiry, ''the weather'' is one of the few subjects that everyone talks about. And though we recognize the faces that bring us the weather on television, how government meteorologists and forecasters go about their jobs is rarely scrutinized. Given recent weather-related disasters, it's time we find out more. In Authors of the Storm, Gary Alan Fine offers an inside look at how meteorologists and forecasters predict the weather. Based on field observation and interviews at the Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma, the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., and a handful of mid western outlets, Fine finds a supremely hard-working, insular clique of professionals who often refer to themselves as a ''band of brothers.'' In Fine's skilled hands, we learn their lingo, how they ''read'' weather conditions, how forecasts are written, and, of course, how those messages are conveyed to the public.

Weather forecasts, he shows, are often shaped as much by social and cultural factors inside local offices as they are by approaching cumulus clouds. By opening up this unique world to us, Authors of the Storm offers a valuable and fascinating glimpse of a crucial profession.