February 5th is National Weatherman's Day

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I admit to having a long love/ hate relationship with the weatherman.  I love that he tells me what to expect from dear old Mother Nature. Hate that he (or she, lets not differentiate here) is more often then not...way, WAY off. Can't really blame the meteorologist though,since we all know women are tough to interpret.

So in light of their rather difficult place in life, I found it terribly appropriate to give them a whole day of appreciation and recognition. I also quickly decided that instead of celebrating the individuals who tell us what the weather will be as a profession, I thought it would be great to find things to do that helped us learn more about the actual weather that provided them a job.

Weather Experiments

So there is the great website I found called Weather Wiz Kids. They have a ton of quick and easy experiments on all different kinds of weather from tornadoes and hurricanes to snow and ice. The best thing was that none of the activities took fancy equipment, and most of it I had in my house. For example, the " Make Lighting in Your Mouth" but only required wintergreen lifesavers, a dark room and a mirror. I can do that.

Weather Games

I was totally, and I do mean totally AND completely, shocked to discover that NASA had a weather section on their website with super fun interactive games. The good news is; the kids liked them just as much as I did AND we played together! Check out their Wild Weather Adventure where you travel around the world in a blimp and make progress my answering weather questions.

Make your Own Weather Station

I remember being completely fascinated by this idea as a child. My own weather station! Amazing! Unfortunately, when completed, it was hardly educational. I lived in Wyoming where the four seasons are Snow, Recovering from Snow, Waiting for Snow and Road Construction.

But for those of you who can actually find something more then powdery white stuff and dudes in orange vests to measure, here is a great starting point.

The Franklin Institute has a whole page on making the assorted instruments necessary to establish a real (well, almost real) weather station.  Make a Barometer, a Hygrometer (which evidently measure humidity...another non necessity in Wyoming), a Rain Gauge, a Weather Vane (rooster optional), and Anemometer ( measure wind speed..now THAT I could have used) and even a compass.

Totally Cool. Totally Fun.