Extreme Weatha'

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EXTREME WEATHA’

Written by: Tucker, Allie, Enya, and Karoline!

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Created by: Tucker, Enya, Allie, and Karoline

Weather Weather Weather is the properties of the atmosphere at a give time and location including temperature, air movement, and precipitation. There are three things that either change or influence our weather. The sun influences the sun. The sun influences the weather because it causes seasons. The seasons are summer, winter, spring, and autumn. Another is the atmosphere. The atmosphere influences the weather. It does this it makes the climate warmer or colder depending on where your location is. For example, in Florida because it is so close to the ocean it has warm moist air. Then finally we have the oceans. The oceans change the weather. The oceans change the weather like with the air masses. It makes the air most which makes the climate warmer. Weather is one of the most important things we should look after. Many weather may affect other objects and people. Here in this magazine are some of the most dangerous weather conditions.

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Table of Contents

Page 3:Blizzards Page 4-5: Severe Thunderstorms Page 6:Tornadoes Page 7-10: Hurricanes

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Blizzards It was November 17 1949 in the little town of Bloomfield, Nebraska. Papa just brought in the last of the crops from the fields and mama just got done getting the rest of our veggies from the garden. We have had the best year so far; loads of crops and vegetable’s from mama’s garden and ever so charming weather. But all our luck was about to run dry....

It was early morning November 18 and I woke up to the sound of glass shattering into millions of pieces and the high pitch of my sisters screams! I jumped out bed faster than prey running from its predator. By the time I reached my sisters room my parents were already on the case. The sight I saw I wish I had never seen. The big ol e maple tree outside our house had broken the window because of the high winds which later we found out it was up to 70 mph, which usually happens in the worst of blizzards. By the time my sister was just regaining consciousness it was already time to get ready for school but when we turned on the radio and found out that all the roads were closed from heavy drifting which happens when high wind blows snow in flat areas. Because the roads were closed so was school! Me and my sister were so happy we wanted to go outside but we it was still snowing a little bit and we got 24 inches of snow, thats a lot of snow! Papa said that we are part of the great plains which usually gets snow just like the Mississippi Basin, Central part of Canada, Russia and of course the central great plains!

When I popped my head outside to see all the snow I could barely breathe because it was so cold! Oh and our barn roof caved in because there was so much snow on the roof that it couldn't hold which happened to a lot of people, believe it or not! Mama tried to call the doctor but all the telephone lines were down because of the blizzard and I doubt he was even in. I was very curious on how a blizzard forms so I asked mama and she didn't know. So I asked papa and he said that for a blizzard to form you need warm air and cold air. The warm air is needed to rise over the cold air and there is two ways this can happen. 1. Wind can pull the cold air toward the equator from the poles or 2. Wind can bring cold air towards the poles from the equator. Then when cold air and warm air mix a front is formed and precipitation occurs. “Golly” I said thats very confusing! I asked him to define a blizzard and he said “ A severe snowstorm with low visibility and high winds.” “WOW!” The power of god was unleashed that night and I hadarcu tickets tout the front row seats....

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Severe thunderstorms !

On a humid, sunshine day my brother and I were outside playing basketball. Until all the sudden the sky turned pitch black as if the electricity went out in the house. The sticky humidity still stuck in the air.

We ran inside before it began to rain. !

We knew it was going to be a severe thunderstorm when we saw the clouds turn the color of smoke. We told our parents about it and they said they already knew. My brothers were scared, as always, and hid under the blankets. I was more curious than scared. I wanted to know everything about severe thunderstorms! Like, if they named them like they name hurricanes. I mean, severe thunderstorms are pretty common here in southern Minnesota. So after all the storms I have been through I will finally under father is a weather man I went up to him and started asking him questions about severe thunderstorms. !

First, I asked him the definition of severe thunderstorms. He said that his definition was,“A heavy-winded storm contained with an electrical current creating lighting with a hail.” Then I started questioning him about what causes these storms. He replied saying,”Severe Thunderstorms are caused by evaporation and condensation.” After asking him just two questions, i decided to do a report on severe thunderstorms for school. We were doing projects on weather anyways, so this would be perfect! I grabbed a paper and pen to start writing down what my father was telling me. I then asked him how it affects the

environment. He replied,” It may cause flooding

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Severe Thunderstorms which tear down trees and can kill the animals living in them.” Right after he answered my question, the electricity died out. I had no way to write my report with no light! So my mother went and got some candles. As she lit the candles, I asked my father another question. I asked him ,” How dangerous are thunderstorms?” My father simply responded by saying,” Well, severe thunderstorms kill more people each year than tornadoes do.” My eyes turned big and bold when I heard his answer and questioned,” Really?” My father quickly responded,” yes, really!” It was such a surprise, I had no idea it was so dangerous! !

I then glanced at my report and saw that I had written a full page. I realized it was a good enough report and gave my dad a thank you hug. The lights turned on five minutes after and the sun shining so beautifully. This report is going to get an A+ and I’m going outside to see what kind of damage this storm caused.

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Tornados Afternoon, May 20, 2013. Moore, OK. My mom and I were outside doing yard work in the baking sun. I look up towards the sky and turn to my mom. “There’s a storm coming.”

I announce. My mom glances up, a faint trace of worry painted on her face. “Those don’t look like normal storm clouds.” she responds.

As we continued to work, the sun faded away and the clouds got greener. My mom pulled out her iPhone and checked the weather. A supercell was headed for us, but it would take a while to get there. A supercell is a thunderstorm most likely to produce a tornado. Other names for tornadoes are twisters. A twister is formed when there is normal than normal temperatures in the lower atmosphere, and higher than normal temperatures in the upper atmosphere.

On this particular day, the conditions were just right for a tornado. A tornado can happen anytime, anywhere, but usually between three and nine P.M. Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas all make up Tornado Alley; where tornadoes are most likely to -and usually do- hit.

I was terrified to be living in Tornado Alley at that moment, because the clouds started spinning! A tornado is a rotating column of air that touches the Earth and the clouds.

Knowing this, I ran over to my Mom and screamed, “Mom! A twister is forming!”

The most powerful tornadoes occur in the U.S, and they also have been reported in every state and season. The average number of tornadoes per year in the U.S is 800.

This season was spring, and the National Weather Center was going to have to add yet another tornado to their ever-growing list, because a tornado was touching down! My mom grabbed my arm and we sprinted to the nearest ditch, where we waited out the storm.

A typical twister lasts only a few minutes, but this one was powerful. It tore right through the town unstopped. Tornadoes begin white, but the dirt and debris they pick up causes them to turn black or brown. Every tornado has a different size shape, and color.

This tornado was humongous, and a brownish-black. When the storm was over finally, we crawled out of the ditch and were startled to see almost the whole town blown away.

A strong twister can move houses. This twister was 1â…“ miles wide and had wind speeds of 210 miles per hour. It was categorised as an F5 tornado. The Fujta-Pearson chart (or the F scale) is used to measure just how strong a tornado was based on the damage it caused. An F5 is the strongest rating, and the chance of a twister that rating touching 8 down is 0.1%. We were lucky we survived. Maybe we should consider Nullam arcumoving leo, facilisis ut out of Tornado Alley.

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Hurricanes “I was laying in my room after an extremely long night of hanging out with my friends when I heard the phone ring. I laid there praying that my mom would answer the phone because I was beyond tired and there was no way in the world I could get up. I figured the call was just one of my mom’s girlfriends, and she’d be on the phone for a couple hours, so I could get some sleep. So I laid there, and laid there and laid there, after what felt like hours, I still hadn’t fallen asleep, so I closed my eyes, and started to count sheep. I had gotten to about 35 sheep when I heard a crash right outside my door. My eyes flew open as fast as prey running away from it’s predator. I slowly looked toward my door, and before I could react, my younger brother and sister, Michael and Abby, came running in my room as my door slammed against the wall making the entire house shake. At least at the moment that’s what I thought it was....

But, the more I listened, I realized, that it wasn’t my door that made that sound, it was the wind outside. I sat there, trying to figure out what would make the wind so bad, and then I remembered when our hurricane season was, and that was June 1st to November 30th, and it was October 22nd. I sat up with a panicked look on my face I’m sure, and called out to my mom, except, there was no answer.

I knew hurricanes moved in slowly, but I didn’t know when the winds started, so I grabbed my younger siblings, and ran to our safe room, which was pretty much the one room we had in the house that had absolutely zero windows, told them to stay there, not to move, and ran to find my mom and dad. I looked everywhere in our house, and there was no sign of them anywhere. I had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. I didn’t know where in the world they were, but I knew for a fact that they would want me to keep Abby and Michael safe. I ran back to them, and they were both in tears, they looked at me and said “Meredith, what’s going on? Where are mommy and daddy?” I squatted down, hugged them both, and said the only thing I could think of, “I don’t know, but don’t worry, I promise, I’ll keep you guys safe.”. I grabbed some blankets, a couple flashlights just in case the power went out, and turned on the news. I watched intently as Michael and Abby looked at me with wide eyes, and then I heard it, “This is a hurricane warning. Please relocate and try to stay safe.”.

I hadn’t lived in New Jersey long, only for about a year or two, but there had never been a hurricane hit the part of Jersey I lived in, so I had no idea what I should do, how I needed to react. I was a 15 year old girl for crying out loud, what was I supposed to

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Hurricanes I was just about to call my neighbor to ask what I needed to do to keep Abby and Michael safe, when the lights started flickering, and then the television shut off, and before I could blink, all the power shut off.

I frantically reached for my cell phone, and dialed my aunt, Molly’s cell phone number, there were three rings, and just as I was about to hang up, she answered. with, “Meredith! Are you guys okay?! I was just about to call! How are things over there?!”. She sounded extremely desperate, but that’s perfectly fine with me because I was too. I talked to my aunt for about 30 minutes, and she said that since the power had just gone out, we had at least 35 minutes before the flooding started, and for the first time in a really long time, I was scared. I needed to ask her something, but couldn’t find the courage to say it. I realized that I was in charge of two children’s lives, and my own, with that reality check, I said with my voice trembling, “Hey Aunt Molly, I have a question, and I know this is dangerous, but, can you drive out here?

Mom and dad are missing, and I can’t do this alone.. “. She didn’t even skip a beat before responding, “Of course Meredith! I’ll be there in 10 minutes. Promise.”. She had already hung up, but I didn’t care. I whispered “thank you” into the phone sobbing.

When we were waiting for Aunt Molly to get to our house, I started researching. I wanted to know exactly what was going to be happening outside my home in about 20 minutes. I refreshed my memory on what exactly hurricanes were, which is a storm with strong winds and rain that form over tropical waters that form when warm air fronts and warm water meet. I learned that they can cause erosion, and that they bring high levels of bacteria in, and that they can destroy many things. I also learned some famous ones, Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008. Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Katrina were category 5’s and Hurricane Ike was a category 4. I was about to read more about the damages from Andrew and Katrina when there was an enormous bang on the door.

There were two possibilities on what it could’ve been, Aunt Molly, or a tree.

Fortunately, it was Aunt Molly, and let me tell you, I’ve never been happier to see someone in my life ever. I ran up to her and gave her the biggest hug of all time. For the next couple of days, Aunt Molly, Abby, Michael and I just played board games, and waited for the power to come back on. After five days of playing the same games over

and over again, the power came back on, we sat around and watched the news, we

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Hurricanes learned that they named the hurricane Hurricane Sandy, and that it was a category 3, and that there were only 285 total fatalities, and out of those 285, my parents were two of them. They were on their way to a safe house when they first got the news of the hurricane, and a tree fell on their car. I was only 15 years old, and Abby and Michael were only 5, so we obviously needed somewhere to live, we could choose any of our family members to live with, and I chose that we should live with Aunt Molly because she was there for us during the whole time, and helped us through it.

I thank god everyday that Aunt Molly came to stay with us those long, dreadful 10 days. If she hadn’t come to stay with us, odds are there would have been 288 fatalities.�

Safety Tips

Bibliography http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/HurricaneFacts/when-and-where-dohurricanes-o/31028 http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/us/northeast-blizzard http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-blizzards http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/a/hurricanecauses.htm http://library.thinkquest.org/5431/Effects.htm http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/life_30.html www.myfoxchicago.com http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/thunderstorms/ www.science20.com/news_articles/what_causes_tornadoes www.tornado-facts.com www.tornado-facts.com/interesting-tornado-facts/ http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_causes_hurricanes.htm http://www.weatherwizkids.com www.wikipedia.com