Weather patterns

[Brenda]

Does anyone know of a website I can go to find fun, teachable stuff for weather patterns? With the hurricane ripping through Louisianna, the television has been on and the boys are asking questions... seems like an opportunity to me.

(Hope anyone in that area is safe)

[KrisRV]

Brenda: Check out your local tv station on the web and then go to the weather section and they should have all kinds of things there. I know they do down south here. But, then again we are in hurricane area. So, let me know I can send you our local tv station web page and you can go from there. But, my dd's can down load tracking maps and things like that. But, check that out.

[OKmom]

Here are a couple I've used:

National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/edures.htm

The Weather Channel:
http://www.weather.com/education/

U.S. Geological Services:
http://education.usgs.gov/common/primary.htm

You can also contact your local news station and get tours of the weather center and let your kids ask questions of the meteorologists. That's alot of fun!!

[settlers]

www.accuweather.com

This is pretty good too!

[Jackie]

Considering Gods Creation has a part on weather. I will "lecture" on the one thing I learned....what causes the wind. (This was all new to me and I found it very interesting!) Everyone knows that hot air rises. So you got air that is low to the earth. It is warmed by the sun, by the earth itself, etc. As it warms, it rises. This causes a vacume. Air rushes in to fill the vacume, and that's where we get the wind!!! (Though that's probably a very simplified explaination!)

[OKmom]

Not many people realize the affect that weather has on so many other areas of our life. Hurricane Katrina is a great example:

The hurricane sweeps up through the Gulf of Mexico; which shuts down production of oil & gas (huge production area-especially offshore); which reduces the supply of available commodity; which increases the prices (supply/demand); which can affect the transportation costs to transport good and services (groceries, etc.); which drives up the cost that we pay at the stores.

It puts things into perspective when we can see the chain of events that follow weather patterns. When I was trading commodities, we had a meeting every morning where we were briefed on weather by our own meteorologists. We got daily reports because any weather (or outbreak of war, interest rate increases, etc.) can set in motion a chain of events that we all will feel.

It can make an interesting study, even for adults.