It all started on a chilly Wednesday night when my mom and I were looking at the weather app because we wanted to check if it would rain the next day. My mom and I noticed that there was a warning saying it might snow the next day. I was uninterested but had some hope. On Thursday, it snowed! I then felt an urge of curiosity. How do meteorologists predict the weather? I thought. I decided right then to start researching right away! It all starts with the satellites. Satellites orbit around the earth and use their cameras to see the weather up above. Several satellites are up there, each covering a piece of land. Satellites pictures can help meteorologists, people who study the weather. There are three types of satellites so meteorologists can get a better understanding of future weather. The first type of satellites is polar-orbiting satellites. They orbit closely to the earth and take approximately 7 detailed shots a day. Geostationary satellites stay at the same location and take the same picture around every half a minute. Lastly, there are deep-space satellites. They stay close to the sun to monitor space weather or solar storms. NOAA also may use information from other satellites owned by other companies. For a review in temperature, airspeed, wind direction, and wind speed, they use something called weather balloons. Weather balloons have special devices attached to them to measure. They are made of latex and synthetic rubber and inflated with either hydrogen or helium. Most people know what weather balloons are, but don’t know much about what they do. Parachutes are often attached to help retrieve it once it falls. Radars are used to measure participation, which means the chance of it going to rain. They can also be used to see if there are any thunderstorms or tornadoes. To be more specific, the radar used to measure participation are called doppler radars. They detect radio waves, which show wind speed and even direction. They use the Doppler effect to predict the chances of rain from a far distance. The doppler effect is when the frequency from a sound wave changes as the observer moves away or closer. Lastly, the information from these devices is gathered and sent to the meteorologists’ computers. They use a system called AWIPS (NOAA’s Advanced Weather Information Processing System), which is a computer system that combines all the data received from the following devices and turns it into a graph. They use that for predicting the actual weather and then display it onto a map. Humans there also predict the weather. To predict storms or blizzards, humans can use the forecasts from previous years. For example, if there was a blizzard every year for the past 6 years, chances are there will be a blizzard the current year. Also, if the clouds might be grey, chances are it might start raining! At 10:33 a.m, when my mom and I looked at the weather, that question popped in my head, making me feel very inquisitive. Weather is an unpredictable part of mother nature and most people have many questions about it. But using modern technology thanks to humans, we can precut weather using radars, balloons, satellites, and even our brains! Sources: Warrilo, Chrissy. “Students Ask: How Do Meteorologists Predict The Weather?” GPB Blogs, 5 Feb. 2012. Web. 29 Feb. 2021. “6 tools our meteorologists use to forecast the weather”. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 14 Aug. 2017. Web. 29 Feb. 2021.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Ghost of a Killer
Artist description of the piece (translated from Arabic): The colors are nice. Behind the picture, there is a ghost. It is the ghost of a killer. This artwork was published in the June 2021 issue of Stone Soup Magazine
The Beast Player, Reviewed by Aditi, 12
Have you ever wished to communicate with animals and understand their thoughts and feelings? The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi (translated by Cathy Hirano) is not your usual fantasy book. Even if it has magical creatures and kingdoms, it is unique in almost every other way. Elin, The Beast Player’s main character, has a special gift; she can communicate with magical beasts! No one else in her kingdom has this unique power. Elin’s life seems to be perfect until the untimely passing of some Toda called Kiba, the largest and strongest group. The Toda are creatures similar to water serpents and dragons. Some of them were held in captivity to be used in war, while some remained in the wild. Elin’s mother, Sohyon, isn’t native to the village; since she is an Ahlyo, the villagers allowed her to care for the Toda. Ahlyo is a group of people adept at controlling creatures as they hold special skills, or as the villagers call it–magical powers. They, however, are sworn to secrecy. The initial setback to Elin’s perfect life occurs when these captive creatures are found dead. Immediately after discovering the dead Toda, Sohyon was certain that their life would change for the worse. She uses her ‘powers’ to summon a wild Toda, puts Elin on its back, and signals it to save Elin’s life by leaving the village. When Elin finally reached land, she was miles away from her village, and worst of all, she had just lost her mother. Soon, Elin meets Joeun, who cares for her and becomes her foster father. Joeun taught Elin many things: from making a harp to caring for the bees, and best of all, to read! Nonetheless, things change when Elin starts school–a special one that trains students to care for the Royal Beasts. Royal Beasts are animals that are not allowed to understand humans nor communicate with them. Soon after arriving at Kazalumu Sanctuary, Elin’s school, she meets a young and injured Royal Beast, Leelan. After convincing the headteacher, Elin was allowed to care for the young beast. As months passed by at Leelan’s side, Elin became a motherly figure to theyoung animal. Elin’s encounter reflects upon my own experience of developing a strong bond with my pet fish, whom I lovingly named Bluey; his blue and red hues were stunning! I cared for him very much and spent hours at a stretch just watching Bluey swim around in his cozy tank. Sadly, he didn’t live for long. In retrospect, maybe Bluey’s ‘cozy’ tank was not so comfortable after all. Perhaps he would have lived longer if he was in the wild. The Beast Player is a well-paced and captivating book that left me spellbound till the end. Even if Elin’s bond with Leelan meant breaking foreign rules, she loved Leelan. Elin wanted to keep her safe from the queen’s nephew, who was determined to use the Royal Beasts as weapons of war. “She had never dreamed that people would manipulate Royal Beasts with the Silent Whistle, just like the Toda. Her heart sank as she listened.” spoke deep into my heart and resonated with Elin’s empathy for these animals. If you like adventure, animals, and some action, then The Beast Player is the right book for you! The well-crafted story of a strong-willed girl conveys a beautiful message of love, empathy, and perseverance. After reading this book, I learned an important lesson: never stop trying, even if your hard work leads to brick walls. There is always hope for a change! The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano. Square Fish, 2020. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
