Wonderful Weather Facts

It’s all around us, everywhere. It can make us feel happy or it could make us feel like not getting out of bed! It also plays a part in what we should wear... The Weather

Most of the weather activity takes place in the troposphere (highest portion of Earth's atmosphere.) Weathermen talk about barometric pressure. They measure air pressure with a barometer.

Air that is cool and dry weighs more which creates high pressure. Wet air has a lower weight and this makes low pressure. When there is rain outside, a barometer shows a low reading and it shows high readings whenever the weather is dry.

A falling barometer pressure means that rain; snow, sleet, or hail is on the way. If someone says the barometer pressure is showing a rise, it means that the weather will soon be clear and dry.

Snow

Did you know that snow makes the world quieter? When snow has just fallen, it muffles the sounds normally heard in the outdoors. This is because the flakes of snow trap little air pockets when they land. These trapped pockets of air work like natural sound absorbers.

Air that is too cold and has little moisture is not a great place for snowflakes to form. This is why snowfalls happen in the northern parts of the US more than it does at the North Pole.

Sleet is snowflakes that melt in mid flight and then refreezes into little pieces of ice before reaching the ground.

Do you know who Mr. Snowflake is? Wilson Bentley was the first person to study snowflakes in a scientific manner. Beginning in 1871 at the age of 15, he would catch snowflakes on velvet and smooth them with a bird feather so he could make a perfect picture of each flake with his photographic equipment. He is the person who showed us that snowflakes all have six sides.

Rainbows

A rainbow is the reflection of the sun against the raindrops still in the sky. The different colours of a rainbow occur because each of the drops is reflecting the sun at a different angle. Usually, a rainbow will be seen in the morning or in the evening when the sun is lower in the sky, but they can occur any time of day.

Rain

A raindrop has to be at least .02 inches in diameter or it is considered to be just “drizzle”.

Raindrops usually are thought to have the shape of a teardrop. Actually, they look more like the top portion of a hamburger bun. It is the wind resistance that flattens the drop of rain at the bottom and makes it look more like a teardrop.

After a rainstorm, people always say the air seems fresher and cleaner. This “freshened air” is because the raindrops trap pollution, dust, and pollens and push them out of the air and down to the ground.

Today the weather forecasters use computers, airplanes, satellites, and other technology to try to determine what the weather is going to do. Even with all of these advantages, the weather can still be very different from what is expected.

This is an original news article © The Kids Window

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