"Traditional histories of the Civil War describe the conflict as a war between North and South. Kenneth Noe, following the lead of environmental historians, suggests instead that it was a war between the North and South and the weather. In "The Howling Storm: Climate, Weather, and the American Civil War," Noe retells the entire history of the war with a focus on how climate and weather continually shaped the success and failure of battles and campaigns. He contends that climate and weather blunted Confederate hopes by creating flooding and droughts that constricted Confederate food supply and undermined nationalism and patriotism. Ultimately, he concludes, Union generals such as U. S. Grant as well as Federal logisticians were better able to deal with southern weather and soil, which emerged as a significant factor in an eventual Union victory, a result that weather conditions also ironically delayed. "The Howling Storm" contributes to Civil War historiography in several ways.

First, it rethinks traditional explanations of victories and defeats by factoring in weather conditions. The result is that historians will often have to reconsider what they believe they know about the conflict. By examining the war chronologically, Noe addresses how soldiers and civilians alike coped with weather conditions throughout the war. At the same time, his deep consideration of flood and drought in 1862, 1863, and 1864 reshapes traditional explanations of Confederate defeat. For decades, historians have discussed Confederate taxation and logistical problems without considering the foundational causes that forced Richmond to make tough decisions about whether to prioritize feeding soldiers or civilians. Noe describes the wars weather conditions as unusual, something geographers routinely discuss but Civil War historians have not previously known. He places the Civil Wars unusual weather in the context of broader weather phenomena such as El Niño, La Niña, and similar oscillations in the Atlantic Ocean. Noes work is the first comprehensive examination of weather and climate during the war and is certain to reshape the field in terms of its approach, coverage, and conclusions.

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