Extreme Weather for Kids Lessons and Activities All About Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Blizzards, and More!

by Cappucci, Matthew; Hathaway, Stephanie

• ISBN13: 9780760385142
• ISBN10: 0760385149
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-03-26
• Publisher: Quarry Books

Summary

Extreme Weather for Kids is a whirlwind ride through the wild world of weather, written in accessible language and complemented by vivid descriptions and imagery.

Designed to harness children’s natural curiosity, this action-packed introduction to meteorology incorporates firsthand accounts from inside Mother Nature’s most dramatic moments. For each phenomenon introduced, explanatory text, informative illustrations, sidebars, and asides allow readers to explore at their own pace. Along with storm-chasing reports and photos from in the field, each chapter includes a step-by-step hands-on activity for engaging with the science.

What is the polar vortex? And why does a disrupted “polar vortex” lead to extreme cold air outbreaks across Europe, Asia, and North America? Among the many “in case you were wondering” questions addressed:
 

• How strong can a hurricane get?
• What’s the biggest tornado to have ever happened?
• How large can hail get?
• Is “thundersnow” real? How does it form?
• How thick is lightning? And how powerful is it?
• Where can I find “fossilized lightning?” 
• Can it snow in the dessert?
• What are “solar storms?”
• What makes the northern (and southern) lights?

Weather is one of the most accessible sciences there is. Everyone experiences it in some way or another, and learning the basics behind it naturally sparks interest in other sciences. That’s why Extreme Weather for Kids also teaches the basic principles of scientific observation, while placing a key emphasis on safety.

Extreme Weather for Kids is sure to awaken the joy of learning—rain or shine.

Author Biography

Matthew Cappucci is an American meteorologist based in Washington, DC. He graduated from Harvard in 2019 with a degree in atmospheric sciences, and works on all platforms creating and delivering forecasts for an audience locally and internationally. He can be found on TV at FOX5 in Washington, DC, writes daily articles for The Washington Post, provides the forecast on WAMU radio, the capital’s NPR affiliate, and produces daily video forecasts in the MyRadar app. He also works as an educational consultant. Outside of work, Matthew is an avid storm chaser and photographer, and drives a custom armored truck into severe thunderstorms in search of tornadoes. (He has lost three windshields in hail the size of baseballs or larger). Matthew can frequently be found hopping on airplanes to travel the world in search of extreme weather, and is excited to share his adventures in Extreme Weather for Kids!

Stephanie Hathaway is a Kansas City–area artist who specializes in creating educational content inspired by our natural world. She believes in using beautiful, dynamic illustrations to make learning about science and nature exciting and accessible to children of all ages. She is guided by the notion that many of life’s valuable lessons can be learned from nature. It is her hope that her work will inspire families to explore and learn from the natural world right outside their own door. You can see more of Stephanie’s educational nature-based studies and original artwork at stephaniehathawaydesigns.com.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
 
Chapter 1: Predicting the Weather
What makes the weather? 
What are seasons? 
Making observations 
Making predictions 
What do we know and when?
Activity: Make your own weather map 
 
Chapter 2: Storm systems
What is the Coriolis Force? 
Why weather systems rotate
Low pressure systems
High pressure systems
The General Circulation
Storm Systems
What’s the jet stream?
Activity
 
Chapter 3: Thunderstorms and Tornadoes
What makes severe weather? 
Ordinary thunderstorms 
Squall lines
Supercells: The King of Thunderstorms
Hail
Tornadoes
Activity: Make your own tornado 
 
Chapter 4: Precipitation and drought
What is humidity? 
How much air can the water hold?
Floods
Monsoons
Atmospheric rivers
Drought
Activity: Make a cloud in a bottle
 
Chapter 5: Hurricanes and Tropical Cyclones
What makes a hurricane?
Where do hurricanes form? 
Storms around the world
Hurricane Hazards
Anatomy of a hurricane
Hurricane evacuations
Activity: make a hurricane kit
 
Chapter 6: Winter storms and blizzards
What makes snow?
Different precipitation types
Different types of snowstorms
Nor’easters
“Classic” snowstorms 
Mountain snowstorms
Lake-effect snows 
Ocean-effect snows
Squalls 
Activity: Finding the water content of snow
 
Chapter 7: Rainbows, fogbows and sights in the sky
What color is sunlight?
What makes a rainbow?
Double rainbows 
Supernumerary and reflected light bows 
Fogbows, moon bows, pollen bows, etc
Haloes
Light pillars 
Activity: Make a rainbow
 
Chapter 8: Sights and Storms in Space
What is a solar storm? When do they occur?
How does “space weather” affect earth? 
Where can I see the northern (southern) lights?
How do scientists predict space weather?
Eclipses
Activity: Make a pinhole projector
 
Chapter 9: Climate change 
Weather versus climate
How climate change works
Different “stable states” of Earth
How the climate changes naturally (Milankovich cycles)
How climate change affects the weather 
Activity: NASA Citizen Science projects
 
Chapter 10: Other natural disasters
Earthquakes
Tsunamis
Volcanic eruptions
Landslides
Wildfires
Activity: Make an Oreo earthquake 
 
Glossary
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index