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.
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Flash Contest #14: Write About a Pivotal Change in the Weather. Our Winners and Their Work!
Weekly Flash Contest #14: Write a poem or a story where a sudden change in the weather provides a pivotal point. The week commencing June 29th (Daily Creativity prompt #71) was our fourteenth week of flash contests–and we would not have guessed so many of you would be inspired by the weather! We had a record number of entries (more than 50 this week), and we were, as usual, very impressed. Everyone brought to life various weather events–from blizzards to rainstorms–in varying forms–from poems (including concrete poems) to prose. The judges had a hard time battling through all those changes in temperature, but in the end we emerged, windswept and drenched, into the warm sunshine of decisions made. Well done to everyone who entered, but particular congratulations to those who made it with us through the storm as Honorable Mentions and Winners. See below for all their names, and read the whole blog post to experience the weather conjured up by our top-placed winners. Winners “Cabin Catastrophe” by Isabel Bashaw, 10, Enumclaw, WA “Michi and Kieto” by Lucy Berberich, 11, Oxford, OH “Transformation” by Sofie Dardzinski, 9, Potomac, MD “A Line of Cars” by Wesley Moniz, 9, Belmont, MA “The Hotel of Angels” by Emerson Swift, 12, Mill Valley, CA Honorable Mention “The Flower’s Lesson” by Audrey Fan, 10, Cary, NC “Driftwood on the Sea” by Meleah Goldman, 10, Oakland, CA “Rain” by Misha Nasarpuri, 12, Portland, OR “Rose After Rain” by Amruta Krishnan Srinivasan, 9, San Jose, CA “The Money Rain” by Cici Zou, 11, Concord, MA Isabel Bashaw, 10Enumclaw, WA Cabin Catastrophe Isabel Bashaw, 10 ¨Dad! Where did you put my slippers?? I can’t find them!¨ Hi, my name is Bella. I live in Seal Rock, Oregon. It’s spring break, so my family went on a trip from the damp Oregon coast where we live, to even damper forests in the mountains. We were staying in the same small, cozy cabin we always did, but this year it seemed to be raining even more than usual. It was nearly time for dinner, and our family was almost done unpacking. ¨I don’t know honey!” replied my Dad. ¨Check in the bags.¨ I rolled my eyes, since obviously I already had. I gave one last glance at my bedroom before I walked out. My bed was creaky, but the rest was fine. There was an antique dresser, where I had put my clothes and my ipad, as well as an old wooden bookshelf. Each year I neatly lined up the collection of books I would read that week. Deciding that I must have left my slippers at home, I sat in an old armchair and looked out the window. The misty fog had drifted away (thank goodness), but in its place a slow drizzle showered the forest. Dull gray clouds wandered along the dark sky, but the cheerful cabin was cozy. There were radiators for heat, so I put my cold toes on one to warm up. The cabin was at least as warm as our own house in Seal Rock, but each year my little sister, Lola, still insisted on having Dad light a fire in the fireplace every day. ¨Well, time for dinner! Dish up!¨ my Mom said as I walked into the kitchen. I took a slice of sourdough bread and a bit of salad, but nothing else. Lola took the opposite: roasted potatoes, broccoli, and chicken. I despised anything roasted or burned, and I didn’t eat meat. For some reason my parents made whatever dinner they wanted to anyway. I nibbled at my bread and picked at my salad. I never really wanted to leave home to visit this small cabin. I didn’t like nature walks or rain (or worst of all, nature walks in the rain). I preferred the idea of tropical climates, five star hotels, and crystal clear oceans with white, sandy beaches. ¨Bella. You hardly have any food and you aren’t even touching that! Are you sick? Do you feel alright?¨ Mom looked at me, worried. I shrugged. ¨Can I go to bed?¨ I asked, not wanting to eat. Mom sighed. ¨Okay, go ahead. I´ll come and tuck you in after dinner.¨ As she picked up my plate I went back to my room and got into my pajamas. I clambered into my soft bed, and read until I heard Mom coming up. I turned off the lamplight and shoved my book under my pillow. Pretending to be asleep, I closed my eyes as my mom kissed me on the forehead and whispered, ¨Goodnight, Bella.¨ After she left the room, I pulled out my flashlight and read until dark. Then I put my book on top of my dresser, and laid on my back, trying to sleep. After a while my eyelids felt heavy, and I drifted off to sleep. … BOOM!! BOOM!! I shot up in bed. Was this a nightmare, or real thunder? I couldn’t tell. I rolled over on my side, trying to get back to sleep. BOOM!! BOOM!! It was louder this time. I tried to ignore the noise and just go back to sleep, but it just went on. I couldn’t sleep, and it was all nature’s fault. I bet it wasn´t thundering back at the beach, where my friends were probably hanging out at a sleepover, playing video games and having fun. I sleepily got out of my bed, and shuffled down to the kitchen, dimly lit by one light. I made myself hot cocoa to try to make myself drowsy again. As I sipped it, I looked out the window into the pouring rain. It was all blackness, but during the day we had a great view of the mountainside from here. I was startled out of my thoughts when a great white flash of lighting struck across the midnight sky. Then almost immediately came more booms of thunder. Suddenly Lola appeared in the kitchen doorway. She glanced at my cocoa. ¨I can’t sleep. Can
