23rd March World Meteorological Day

 

On the 23rd March last year, and then again on the 2nd March this year, ironically I wrote about the flooding here on the East Coast of Australia. Had I known then that that was World Meteorological Day, on the 23rd March,  the heading would have been very different. I did mention it in 2010, but it is so much more relevant now so I am writing about it late, but so as I do remember next year. 

In the library we have two very good picture book biographies about people who had a big role in meteorology.

• The Man Who Named the Clouds  by Julie Hannah and Joan Holub and Paige Billin-Frye

This is the story of Luke Howard, the man who named the clouds and we are still using those names.

• Breaking Through the Clouds by Sandra Nickel and Helena Perez Garcia    

This is the story of Joanne Simpson the first woman to get a doctorate in meteorology and who helped us understand how weather works today.

Of course we also have a considerable number of weather books which also deal with weather forecasting (it is weather forecasters day on 5th February) and meteorology.

• What Will the Weather Be? by Linda Dewitt and Carolyn Croll

• Shapes in the Sky  by Josepha Sherman and Omarr Wesley

• Weather Words by Gail Gibbons

• Weather  by Catriona Clarke and Kuo Kang Chen

• Weather by Kristin Baird Rattini

• Curious Questions and Answers about Weather by Philip Steele

• What's the Weather? by Fraser and Judith Ralston

• Look at the Weather by Britta Teckentrup

• Weather Robots by Christine Zuchora-Walske

Plenty to start working out what meteorology is! And, for something a little different, this book 

Feelings Forecasters: A creative approach to managing emotions  by Maria Merce Conangla and Jaume Soler will give you much food for thought and some fun activities to do with students. It likens emotions to the weather and presents parallels or analogies between the world around us and our inner world.