The night was still. I could hear his breath coming easily beside me. Occasionally there was a sudden breeze that hit my bare legs, but it was all that remained of a promised windy night. This was the stillness before a thunderstorm.
– Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 28. Here an atmosphere of anticipation and foreboding is created, the calm before the storm, foreshadowing that something tumultuous was indeed about to happen.