Weather

Being Life Learners we use life as the guide sometimes. In our area we've had a terrible summer for storms. There have been many tornadoes and this opens up a new subject, weather. Where does rain come from? What makes a tornado? What do we do if there is a tornado warning? What do the watches and warnings mean? What happens when a tornado goes through? We've had many discussions, experiences and experiments.

We visited two locations with serious damage and passed through an area that had a micro burst just minutes after. We have learned so much. Even us parents! For example, when we saw the aftermath of a micro burst, it was like the ground was painted in leaves. There were leaves covering the entire road. The damage all seemed to be in one direction. Trees, fences, road signs were all bent over and broken in the same direction. When we visited the tornado areas things were twisted all over the place it seemed and trees were displaced in strange places. One man on the news said that his tree is gone, roots and all, and they don't know where. That was a tornado. He was lucky that big tree didn't go into his house, like many in the area did.

We've learned about how trees damaged and pulled by a storm changes the landscape so much that it's almost like you can't recognize that familiar place. Although there have been bad storms, we've been lucky in this area. I think I only saw one or two houses that looked completely unlivable after a storm. It could have been much worse and nobody has been killed.