When I first moved to Colorado, someone told me, "If you don't like the weather here, wait ten minutes." They weren't wrong... Colorado weather is absolutely wacky! It's constantly changing and each year there seems to be a new vocabulary term to describe the unusualness: snowmageddon, bomb cyclone, cloud iridescence, and derecho to name a few. I wonder what "fun" weather we'll experience this year!
Speaking of fun... here are five fun weather-themed things to teach your kids:
1. A silly joke.
Take a break from being so cirrus for a moment with this cool joke.
What kind of shorts do clouds wear? Thunderpants.
2. A new vocabulary word.
Have you ever seen the Polar Lights? According to Space.com, this natural phenomenon is regarded as the Holy Grail of skywatching. It's on my bucket list for sure!
Also known as the Polar Lights, Aurora Borealis is a natural light display found primarily in the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the world. It is caused by solar wind (charged particles being ejected by the sun) slamming into the Earth's upper atmosphere.
3. A word puzzle.
To solve a rebus, consider not just the words, but the placement, size, color, and quantity of everything within the box (and sometimes just outside the box!) when trying to decipher the puzzle.
4. A fun fact.
How do hurricanes get their names? Once a tropical storm reaches a minimum of 39mph, the National Hurricane Center assigns the storm an official name to help track the hurricane's path and predicted impact.
Did you know that hurricanes are named in alphabetical order? Each year hurricane names alternate between male and female names, skipping the more obscure letters like Q, U, X, Y, and Z. If there are more than 21 tropical storms in a single calendar year, the Greek alphabet is used to name the rest.
To avoid having to come up with a new set of names each year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) rotates through six lists of names for hurricanes.
In the event that a hurricane is catastrophic, the WMO will retire that hurricane's name and replace it. Katrina, Joaquin, Irma, Maria, and Florence are examples of hurricane names that have been retired.
5. Teach a personal discovery.
If you've ever felt the urge to sneeze when you when get your first glimpse of sunlight, you're not alone.
Do you sneeze when you see the sun? Photo sneeze reflex, also known as Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst (ACHOO) syndrome or photosneezia, is a condition that affects up to 35% of the world's population. Though not fully understood by scientists, when a person with ACHOO syndrome is exposed to a sudden burst of light, they have a tendency to sneeze. Photo sneeze reflex is a dominant gene, so if one parent has it, there's a 50% chance their child has it too!
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain." – Vivian Greene
