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TV9 First Alert Storm Team Weather Lab Blog!

Today, I had a chance to go speak to youngsters at Love-A-Lot Early Childhood Center in Coralville.  We talked about the seasons and what to wear in each season and also the sun.  We also talked about severe weather and what to do if any happens.  They were great and already knew!  They even showed me how they ducked down on the ground and covered their heads.  They also told me a new saying that I had not heard before:  "When the thunder roars, go indoors!" 

Thanks Love-A-Lot!

I had the opportunity to visit Fulton Elementary in Dubuque recently and spoke to a lively group of about 40 second graders.  Ann Johnson is one of the second grade teachers and was thrilled to have me speak since she has been watching the KCRG-TV9 Morning News since she moved from Chicago nearly three years ago.

After explaining how weather is created and demonstrating the importance of the atmosphere, the group and I discussed severe weather safety.  I was very impressed that these kids knew exactly where to go and what to do in order to be safe during flash flooding, thunderstorms and tornadoes.  What a brilliant bunch!

Thanks for having me, Fulton!  I look forward to visiting again soon.

This morning, I headed to St. Jude's Elementary in Cedar Rapids and spoke to the Kindergarten through 2nd grade.  I had been there in the past and was glad to return.  They are a fun bunch there!  After getting set up, I took the students through about an hour of stuff involving weather, including air pressure, fronts and severe storms.

At one point, I whipped out the Airzooka and demonstrated how air can be moved around.  One brave volunteer with long hair helped me out.  She was a litle scared, but I ensured her that it would not hurt.

Thanks St. Jude's!

Today, I had the opportunity to speak to pre-schoolers at Mary's Playhouse in North Liberty.  Thankfully Mary let me in the door because I was a day early!  I was not supposed to come until tomorrow, but she let me in anyway.  The kids were great and I can tell Mary has her hands full with this lively group.  I read a book about rainbows and then talked about what to do if there are thunderstorms and tornadoes.  I also met their bunny named Ben.

Thanks everyone!  Next time I'll try to show up on the right day and not surprise you!

Thursday evening, I headed to Mary Welsh Elementary in Williamsburg for an event in coordination with an author visit from Jacqueline Briggs Martin, who wrote Snowflake Bentley.  Being that the book was about the weather, folks at Williamsburg thought it would be fun for me to stop by and put on a Weather Academy and I was happy to oblige.

Usually, we give this presentation to just young students, but being this was an evening activity, parents were also there.  I thought this was great and I hope I taught them a little something too!  Afterwards, I even gave out some autographs.

In the picture above, I was a little reluctant to autograph the piece of paper with the Iowa Hawkeye logo on it since I am Iowa State Cyclone grad, but hey, what are you going to do?  I love the Hawks...as long as they aren't playing the Clones!  :)

Thank you very much to Shannon Musser and everyone at Williamsburg for a great evening!

Today, I walked a block from KCRG-TV9's studios in downtown Cedar Rapids to Waypoint's Uptown Pre-school and Child Care Center and spoke to youngsters about the weather and what to do when it gets bad.  Waypoint is back from the flood and doing very well!

We talked about the sun, clouds, rain, snow, hail, lightning, thunderstorms, flooding and tornadoes.  From all their great questions, I feel confident that they'll all know what to do in the event of severe weather.  They were surprised when I told them the damage a tornado can do.

Thanks Waypoint!

Thursday was round three of visits to Summit Schools in Cedar Rapids.  It was a very fun way to start my day.  I was surprised by how smart these young people are!  Today's group knew about the different types of clouds, including cirrus, cumulus and stratus.  One even knew the cloud name cumulonimbus!

I tried taking a few questions, but only got a few.  Instead, the students had many stories and ideas about what to do in the event of severe weather.  So, not only did they learn from me, they learned from each other.

Thanks Summit!

Today, I had the opportunity to speak to youngsters at Summit School in Cedar Rapids about weather basics and what do to when it gets bad.  One of the things we talked about was the water cycle and how it is constantly happening in our atmosphere.

The students had great questions (and a few stories) about the weather.  One student wondered about what to do in the event of bad weather and you are camping and in a tent.  I told her that a tent is not a great place to be.  This would be a situation where you would want to be in a sturdy shelter if at all possible.  The bathroom/shower area would likely be the sturdiest shelter at a campsite.

Thanks Summit!  It's always fun with you guys!

On Thursday, I headed to three elementary schools in Dubuque County.  The day was cold, but the sun was bright, making it easy to enjoy Dubuque County's great landscape as I drove.

My first stop was to Luxemburg where I spoke to students in Kindergarten to Third grade at LaSalle Elementary.  I set up in the cafeteria, where the smell of fresh homemade bread wafted from the adjacent kitchen.  The kids were fun and really good listeners.  We talked about many things, including tornadoes and how lightning works.

From Luxemburg, I headed to Holy Cross to speak to the rest of the students who attend LaSalle.  That included the Fourth through Eighth grades.  There, I set up in the gym and the group was very good and seemed very interested in the weather.  In fact, one of the students emailed me ahead of time saying he was looking forward to my coming.  During the one experiment where I get a water balloon into a flask with the help of fire, I had some issues with the flame going out too early, but the students were patient and I eventually got it in!

After speaking at Holy Cross, I headed down Highway 52 to Dubuque.  If haven't driven that stretch of highway, I highly recommend it.  You get the sense that you are not in Iowa because of its hilly terrain.  I bet it would be especially scenic in the fall with all the colors.  My destination in Dubuque was the recently built Prescott Elementary right in the heart of downtown Dubuque.  I spoke to the very curious and eager First graders.  I talked about the water cycle and to my surprise, they already had a good understanding of it and how the sun interacts with the atmosphere.

It was a fun day for me, but I have to admit I was tired and slept like a rock that night.  I only spoke for 3 hours.  I have a lot more respect for teachers who talk more than that every day at school!

The week rounded out with a visit to Clear Creek Amana Elementary in Middle Amana.  It was a very nice drive from Cedar Rapids on such a nice day!  The students were very excited to say the least.  They were very curious about the weather.  I believe someone had their hand up almost the entire assembly.

Like every Weather Academy assembly, we always try to show the pressure experiment that involves getting a water balloon into a flask.  Usually it happens quickly, but today it was a slow, dramatic experience with a big thunk when the balloon dropped in.  The students were in ah, as was I.

Thanks Clear Creek!  You were great!

I had the opportunity to speak to the 2nd graders at Harlan Elementary in Oelwein Wednesday.  The group of about 85 students was very well-behaved and very fun to interact with.  Speaking of interacting, I even got the principal and the teachers to help me demonstrate how clouds form.  Check it out below!

During the Weather Academy assembly, we talked about tornado safety and what to do if one occurs.  I reminded them of the bad tornado that hit Oelwein back in 1968 and all the damage it caused.  I hope that highly encourages them to take tornado warnings seriously and get to their safe place!

Thanks for having me Harlan!  -Josh

After the flu bug took over the weather lab, I was the only one left!  I made my way down to Heritage Christian Elementary School in North Liberty.  I've actually driven past this school hundreds of times since my childhood home is about 10 miles away just over the Coralville Dam. 

This is our first solo Weather Academy in 2009, so the fun interactivity between meteorologists was missed, but the interactivity with the kids was tremendous.  This is the first Weather Academy I've ever been a part of where every question I asked was answered correctly.  Some of the smartest and weather knowledgable kids I've ever met!  They enjoyed all the experiments too.

In one of our first Weather Academy's of the year, Josh Baynes and I got a song on our way out the door. This time, I was given a neat card signed by everyone at the assembly and even a small cake!  It was great too, since I hadn't eaten lunch yet.

Thanks North Liberty for having us come down!  It was great!

Cedar county was the site for Joe and I today in going to the Tipton Elementary School.  They managed to pack about 400 kids into the multi-purpose room there at the school.  It got very loud during the "turn around, don't drown" chant!

Experiment were once again used to demonstrate the weather with dry ice, fire, air pressure airzookas, and experiments involving water as well.  The kids really enjoyed seeing the fire demonstration and the fire experiment went off without any problems as well.  The kids were a very interactive group and gave very good answers to some of our questions. 

After the weather academy presentation was over with, we were invited to talk to some fifth grader about how we use math in our jobs.  Don't you remember asking yourself in elementary school, "why do I need this??".   Our goal was to answer all their questions in good detail, and we did that pretty well.  Great questions too!

Thanks Tipton!  It was great to be there, we hope to be back again someday!

Wrapping up this week's TV9 Storm Team Weather Academy, Joe Winters and Josh Baynes headed to Kenwood Elementary in Cedar Rapids.  When they arrived, the staff was great in helping to get everything all set up.  We were talking to the entire elementary, so we had to make best use of the space in the gym.  There were over 300 students!

One of the experiments we do to demonstrate air pressure involves using fire and the kids always get excited for that one.  We always tell the youngsters to not try it at home without their parent's or guardian's permission!  Below you see Josh trying to get a water balloon down into a flask using only fire.

Thanks Kenwood!  You were all great!  -Joe and Josh

The TV9 Storm Team Weather Academy continued today at St. Pius X Elementary in Cedar Rapids.  Joe and Josh were very glad to finally make it to St. Pius X because in year's past, the weather has got in the way of scheduled Weather Academies, but not today!  The group of around 300 students, including Joe's daughter Anna, was great and surely learned a lot!

One of our favorite parts of the TV9 Storm Team Weather Academy is when we get to go an "extreme makeover" on a few long-haired students.  We use our airzookas and shoot a mass of air toward the long-haired students and "redo" their hair.  The point of the demonstration is to show that a mass of air can be moved around, just like what happens in the atmosphere.

Thanks St. Pius X!  You were awesome hosts!  -Joe and Josh

Day three of the KCRG-TV9 Weather Academy landed the First Alert Storm Team in West Union.  Josh and Kaj spoke to the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders of North Fayette Community Schools.  The academy was held at the new Performing Arts Center at North Fayette High School.  It was very modern and nice!

Students were lucky today as Kaj wanted to bring dry ice and show the students how air has weight.  Smoke that is made when dry ice encounters water is carbon dioxide and he did it.  That carbon dioxide is heavier than surrounding air and tends to fall to the ground.  Kaj even poured some smoke on Josh's head!

Thanks North Fayette!  You were great!

Today was day two of the Weather Academy and Josh and I went north once again, this time to Margaretta Carey Elementary School in Waverly.  We were greeted by great staff there at the school and the kids seemed to have a great time.  The airzooka and especially the fire experiment were a real hit!

We talked a bit more about tornadoes today as well, especially considering how close Waverly was to taking a direct hit by the Parkersburg tornado last year.  We were very impressed with their tornado knowledge, and especially how quickly they told us about the safety tips when a tornado warning is issued.  These kids know their stuff!

Thanks for having us Carey!  Oh yeah, and the music class sang to us on our way out today too, how awesome is that!  Thanks again!

Audubon Elementary school was our destination as the First Alert Storm Team Weather Academy hits the road again.  Going through the hills of Dubuque, we made it just a bit after noon and had plenty of time to set up our things.  Our talk had quite a few props today, with 2 airzookas, 2 pair of oversized sunglasses, 2 lab coats, some fire, a flask, a beach ball, and some thermometers.  A fun time as usual!

The kids seemed to enjoy the presentation and Josh and I tried to make the presentation as fun and interactive as possible.  This was the first weather academy of 2009, and was one of the first 2 person talks this year, and it went rather well.  We did our usual routine of turning a teacher into a cloud as well, which the kids always enjoy!

Thanks for having us Audubon!  We had a great time out there in Dubuque!

Today, I spoke to Mrs. Townsley's and Mrs. Kimm's 4th grade classes at Keystone Elementary in Keystone, which is part of Benton Community Schools.  This was my first Weather Academy talk in a while, so I was a little rusty, but I think I got the point across!

I knew as soon as I walked in the door that I was dealing with a great group.  They were all sitting patiently waiting for me to begin when I arrived.  The majority of our talk was on the basics of weather, like the water cycle, and what to do when there is severe weather.  However, we did talk about how the weather wall works at the TV station after one student's question.  I hope I explained everything okay!  It's somewhat hard to describe when there is not actually computer graphics physically behind us in the studio when we broadcast the weather.  Ah, the magic of technology!

To top off this talk, I received a great, laminated poster that all the students signed!

Thanks Keystone!