The 8th Annual Sky Awareness Week (SAW) celebration will be held April 19-25, 1998. It's theme is: "THE SKY- Where Meteorology and Astronomy Meet". Since 1991, more than 40 states and the District of Columbia have issued proclamations in support of this growing celebration. The National Weather Service, The National Weather Association, The National Science Teachers Association, and The Weather Channel are among the many organizations that have supported this effort! For the 1998 event, Polaroid Corporation, Automated Weather Source, and the National Science Foundation have become collaborators. SAW 1998 will provide opportunities galore for teachers, students, parents, homeschoolers, old-age centers, nature center staff, meteorologists and others to look toward the sky. In doing so, they can: 1. Learn how to read the sky (first by learning cloud types and their weather, and then by forecasting from them) 2. Understand sky processes (water cycle, sky color, rainbows). 3. Appreciate the sky's natural beauty. 4. Protect the sky as a natural resource (it's the only one we have). Also, SAW 1998 falls during the same time of year as National Science and Technology Week, National Mathematics Awareness Week, and Earth Day (April 22nd) and Astronomy Day. To foster these linkages, dozens of schools across the United States and internationally will share sky data across the Internet. In 1997, NOAA launched a new geostationary weather satellite during SAW. SAW encourages people across the nation and around the world to notice the myriad of cloud types, ranging from fair weather cumulus puffs to high-flying cirrus streamers. Late spring is a time when most places experience their most dramatics and changeable skies. In addition to making their own weather forecasts, just as farmers and explorers used to do, people will notice that the sky is not the same color blue every day. These changes, albeit subtle are often tied to the movement of weather systems and cumulations and transport of atmospheric pollutants. The list of "things" in the sky also includes birds, airplanes, hot air balloons, and the sun, moon and stars. We can appreciate all of these and gain an upbeat feeling by LOOKING UP! http://www.weatherworks.com/skyawareness.week.html