
In order to chase tornados you had to predict where they might form. But she discovered, much to her chagrin, that forecasting the weather wasn’t one of her skills.


Dreaming of chasing tornados, Maria earned a bachelors of science degree in meteorology at Penn State University. The classes give her the wonderful opportunity to encourage fellow writers, and to keep improving her craft.Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria always had a fascination with big storms.

Since then, she has published numerous freelance articles in magazines and newspapers, and teaches fiction-writing classes at the local college and area libraries. Snyder changed from being a meteorologist to a novelist in 1995, when she began writing to keep her sanity while raising two children.
