Super weather can be anything from mild to very dangerous! Rain combined with ice, moist air or winds can be deadly. As recent as 100 years ago, meteorologists were unable to predict when or where storms were to hit. Today with the help of technology like doppler radar, satellites and radiosonde attached to weather balloons, predictions are more accurate.
As I sit in my chair and look out the window, I see rain drops stuck to the screen, down the street I see a tornado coming. The huge funnel of wind looks to be carrying cars and other objects. It’s powerful gusts easily moves a car and picks up trees from the ground. The speed of the leaves flying off the trees makes me think the winds must be at least 150 miles per hour! I don’t know where to hide! The only safe places are the basement or the closets, I think I’ll choose the basement.
Thankfully the tornado passed but, on this warm summer day as the sun starts to go down and the sky gets really dark, I hear sounds in the distance. Another 5 seconds later I hear it again. I realize it is thunder! Based on what I learned in school it was 5 miles away. According to Wikipedia lightning is made by warm air circling with electro-magnetic fields. The air felt warmer than earlier. I open my window again and watch the thunder and lightning storm in the sky. I really enjoyed watching it!
Suddenly, I felt the air growing colder and then it started to rain. The rain was hard. I thought to myself, “What is that?” Then I remembered, it’s hail! Oh, I remember that I learned about hail storms in school. I know that they can be very dangerous or very mild. I also learned that there are over 5,000 each year in the U.S.A! Here I am, watching a thunder storm as the hail chunks are getting tossed around, I think, “This is quite cool!” It was a heck of a day watching what I had learned in school come to life!