Weather Award & Helps
Some images taken from Peterson's First Guides: Clouds and Weather, Mifflin, 1991
Weather is all around us. The requirements for the weather award are designed to give the Ranger or Scouter a keen sense of those things unseen around us. God put the universe in motion. Weather is the movement of air masses gasses and water vapor on the surface of the planet, and in the atmosphere.
Since the National Weather Service (NWS) has become largely automated in the 1980's, it would be impractical for most Ranger's to get to the one or maybe two human-controlled sites left in each state. Use this site to help you along in your award. Check your local television station's meteorologist out. They have in most cases, all the same equipment that you'll find at the NWS.
FURTHER READING:
Petersons First Field Guide to Clouds & Weather
Peterson's Field Guide to the Atmosphere
Audubon's Field Guide to Weather
EXPLAIN THE CAUSES OF:
Is caused by clouds descending to the earth's surface, as on a mountain. It can also be caused by condensation of water vapor over a body of water, such as you see on a lake. Changes in temperature and pressure are the physical factors behind the creation of fog.
fog -
Are caused by water droplets in the atmosphere freezing, falling, thawing, refreezing, combining with other droplets and crystals to form the familiar shapes in the sky. What kind of cloud forms depends upon altitude, the wind and temperature amongst other things.
clouds -
dew -
Is caused by a layer of water formed on the surface of the ground caused by the condensation of water droplets. It typically happens by early morning due to a temperature inversion in the atmosphere from warm to cold, then back to warm as the sun rises. Have you ever fealt the most cold just prior to sunrise ?? This is the same temperature effect at play.
rain -
Is caused by the process of the water cycle. It results when humidification causes water droplets within the clouds to grow and coalesce with each other. As the water droplets, or ice crystals grow large enough for gravity to pull them to earth, they fall as rain in a hamburger bun shaped drop. They are not shaped like the typically drawn raindrop due to friction with air.
snow -
Is a frozen water droplet that has sufficient wieght to fall to earth. Snow is formed as the temperature of the air proceeds below freezing (32 degrees F), at a particular elevation. Snow will fall to the earth as snow if all air levels have temperatures below freezing. If the ground temperature is below freezing, it will stick. If the ground or air is above freezing, it melts.
sleet -
Occurs as water drops freeze from the outside inward. Just before it completely freezes, the water in the center expands, fracturing the frozen outer shell. When this happens, the water oozes out in a needle-like or other shape and freezes. The sleet then falls to the ground. The temperature range for it is in the mid 30's F.
hail -
Causes the most damage. It forms in cumulonimbus clouds as frozen precipitation gets trapped in tremendous updrafts of air within the cloud. The ice chunk may grow as large as softballs before falling to earth. Hail is indicitave of strong updraft, but not neccessarily of tornadoes as is popularly believed.
EXPLAIN THE CAUSES OF:
rainbows -
Are caused as light from the sun passes through water vapor in the air and splits apart into the basic color wavelengths of visible light. As can be seen from the drawing to the right, there is considerable physics and math involved in a more in depth definition.
northern lights -
mirages -
are caused by radiation given off in the very high atmosphere by molecules that are energized by particles from the sun or solar winds.
are caused as heat rising from the surface of the earth displaces light rays between the observer and an object. Mirages can also simply be bent light from the same process misinterpreted by the eye as a recognizable object by the observer that does not exist.
a mature thundercloud develops a negative charge in its base and a positive charge at its peak. The ground beneath the cloud forms a positive charge as a result of opposite charges repelling each other. An electrical field grows between the cloud and the ground. When it exceeds 3,000,000 volts/meter, the air conducts electricity. A leader leaves the cloud to the ground, then a hotter, and brighter return stroke goes from the ground to the cloud. Danger from lightning occurs at any path of least resistance to electricity. Do not hide in caves. Do not be the tallest point, or be near it as lightning may travel along the ground and get you. If caught in the open, squat and balance yourself by grabbing your lower legs. Do not be in or near water. Use an insulating layer between you and the ground if possible. Abandon tents. Hide in a short stand of bushes if there are taller points nearby, so you don't stand out. If you are about to get hit, you will experience a static build-up and your hairs will stand up. STOP-SQUAT-PRAY.
lightning -
thunder -
is the result of lightning. As the super-heated air is instantly separated by the lightning, it slams back together with a clap, or sonic boom. You are hearing the air masses colliding together. If you hear thunder, you are in the lightning-strike danger zone. Take Cover.
cumulus
cirus
stratus
These are layer clouds. They may form as fog in a valley, or at a mountain peak. They are wide and thin, and often appear featureless..
Low level fair weather clouds formed in late morning or early afternoon. If the air becomes unstable, they mutate into the thuderstorm shown below.
These consist as ice crystals. In temparate regions, they are found at the highest levels, yet in cold weather they can appear as fog.
nimbus
Nimbus (right) These are the clouds that produce continuous rain or snow. They are a thick mass with no discernable base or top. They result from a mass of warm moist air rising over the surface of a warm or occluded front. They may be as large as a state.
TORNADOES & HURRICANES & SAFETY
Tornadoes and hurricanes are amongst the most destructive forces on the planet. A tornado has been likened to the finger of God by our ancestors. My first campout was visited by a tornado. The 1981 Ohio District Pow Wow.
There are many books on tornadoes and hurricanes out with great information. These are complex storms beyond the descriptive capability of this page. The name of the game if faced with one of these storms is not to be where they are. Get to safety.
The second picture shows a tornado path, click on it to see the scope of the devistation. In your home, have a reinforced area designated as shelter. Stay away from windows. Have emergency supplies ready and secure.
If a hurricane threatens, evacuate if told to do so, they produce flooding, lightning, tornadoes, hail, severe storms and high winds.
Do not try to cross rapidly rising water. Do not stay outside if at all possible. Do not stay in a vehicle in event of either type storm.
