CAREER COOL S S SCCCIENIIENIENIENENCCCEEE CAREER COOL COOL CAREER CAREERSSS TABLE OF CONTENTS I I I I I I T T T T T T S S S S S S G G G G G G O O O O O O L L L L L L O O O O O O R R R R R R O O O O O O E E E E E E T T T T T T E E E E E E M M M M M M CHAPTER ONE UNDERSTANDING WEATHER 4 CHAPTER TWO A DAY ON THE JOB 10 CHAPTER THREE BECOMING A METEOROLOGIST 18 CHAPTER FOUR METEOROLOGISTS IN THE FUTURE 24 SOME WELL-KNOWN METEOROLOGISTS 29 GLOSSARY 30 FOR MORE INFORMATION 31 INDEX 32 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 32
Y R A R B I L S L L I K S Y R U T N E C T S 1 2 COOL SCIENCE CAREERS METEOROLOGIST CHAPTER ONE UNDERSTANDING WEATHER Paul was 4 years old when he awoke to see branches littering the backyard It was October 13 1962 The previous Meteorologists help warn people when bad weather is on the way
day a huge storm had passed over his home in western Wash ington State The winds had hit the trees high above the ground Paul saw trees at the edge of his yard that were twisted 20 feet 6 meters above their roots Street signs were down This had been the most powerful storm in Washington since 1880 according to some experts They called it the Columbus Day Storm and it wrecked areas of the Pacific Northwest It was probably the strongest West Coast storm of the 20th century Gary was 5 years old when his father was caught in a snowstorm in the Chicago area Gary’s dad was in a car with friends from work when the huge storm hit It was 2 days before his father was able to make it home Weather has fascinated Paul and Gary ever since those storms in their youth Now they are meteorologists They study the atmosphere and forecast or predict the weather coming to an area The atmosphere surrounds Earth in five layers Some scientists believe the outermost layer of the atmosphere ends halfway to the moon about 60,000 miles 96,561 km from Earth In the atmosphere heat from the sun gases in the air tiny particles and water vapor mix together in various ways These combinations create wind clouds rain snow and storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes
