While it's still warm outside (and enjoy it now, because it will be getting cold sometime soon!), let's look at warm fronts.
Warm fronts mark the boundary between a cool air mass and a mass of advancing warm air. On a weather map, the warm front is usually depicted as a red line with red semi-circles.
- The warm front (the boundary itself) often brings stormy weather.
- The weather behind a warm front can quickly turn hot and humid.
If you like weather, you might be interested in joining a weather club. There several throughout the country.
Some fun weather clubs include:
You can make sure the kids get in on the weather fun at a young age with these weather games and activities designed just for them!
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offers a chance to look down upon the weather from above with weather satellite imagery. These are the types of satellite images you may see on your local weather forecasts.
You may be surprised how many desktop-friendly weather applications, programs, and other goodies are available to average computer users. These great programs make watching the weather easy and fun!
Weather does not always work with us. Sometimes it gets in the way of travel and commerce, causing flight delays.
The FAA offers real-time flight delay information for travelers and their friends and family who want to know if a plane is going to be on time... or not.
Knowing where the flight delays are going to be may be even easier if you can read weather maps on your own. Some weather maps may look confusing with all those numbers and symbols. But with a little knowledge, you will quickly be able to spot:
Ever heard of a pluviometer? Maybe not, but I bet you've heard of a rain gauge.
Actually, pluviometers and rain gauges are the same thing. They are very important in telling us how much rain is falling around us!
What about purchasing your very own pluviometer -- I mean rain gauge? Buying a rain gauge online is very easy and gives you a convenient method for measuring the rain that falls in your yard.
Using rain gauges is also a great way to get kids involved in measurments and encouraging curiosity in weather and nature!
Winter is one of the best times of years to get "sporting," because snow, ice, and cold weather gives us the chance to do all kinds of sports that are impossible during warmer months: sledding, skiiing, skating, and ice hockey, just to name a few. Of course, with sports come rules, and with cold weather comes safety concerns, such as:
And with cold weather comes another great sport: ice fishing! But beware the dangers of ice fishing when weather is just a tad to warm. Too many accidents occur every year because a fisher was a little to eager to get out on a lake with ice that is too thin and ice floes are two common dangers of being out on an ice-covered lake when temperatures are a little too warm.
The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reports the Arctic's average temperatures late last year were 7 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. This accompanies findings that the Arctic ice sheet melting continues, with the summer ice sheet coverage 25% below 1979-2000 averages.
While many people may find this news just another alarming footnote in our planet's march toward ever-warming temperatures, the problem is finding solid information about global warming and what it means for our planet.
While there are many weather forecasters across the country who go on the air everyday and announce their predictions for the weather, there are few who have done the same job -- for the same station -- like Howard Shapiro, who worked at WTVT-13 in Tampa, Florida for his entire 35-year career.
He retires today and leaves a legacy of helping local residents manuever heat, rain, hurricanes, freezes, and even (yes) some Tampa snow.
Sometimes, however, weather forecasters don't always quite get the job done right when on screen. You'll see what I mean if you take a look at some of these funny weatherman videos. These are hilarious!
Doing some fun weather crosswords is a great way to get the gears in your head turning! Weather crosswords can be a great challenge, and you may even learn a thing or two while doing them.
And after you burn up your brain trying to complete the puzzles, chill out by looking at some cool pictures of snowmen -- a great way to relax as the winter approaches!
Did you know that raindrops come in different sizes?
It's true! The size of raindroops has a lot to do with how many other rain drops the single raindrop meets while still in the air. Every time a raindrop meets another, they combine and get bigger, until the single drop gets too big to stay intact as one.
Raindrops can fall even when the ground-level relative humidity is lower than 100%. Interestingly, some storms may be so quick, the ground-level relative humidity may not even reach 100%!
How To Build A Snow House Or Snow Fort With Kids