The Weather Station on Grandfather Mountain

In 2018, meteorologist Katie Nickolaou noticed something odd on her monitors in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Barometric pressure was dropping fast, wind patterns were shifting in ways the models hadn't predicted, and lake-effect clouds were stacking up in unusual formations. Her colleagues shrugged it off. The official forecast called for light snow. But Katie had learned to read the signs — not just the data on screen, but the way the atmosphere feels when something big is building.…