Harry the hurricane

By: Layne Allen and Andy Wray

Harry was upset. It was his first

day at school, and he did not

want to go. He wanted to stay at

home and watch the weather

channel. But deep down inside he

knew he had to go and learn more

about his other classmates and

what they do. So he put on his

backpack and walked to school.

On the way, Harry was starting to get butterflies.

"What if no one likes me because i'm different?" He

was growing up so fast. He began as tropical storms

over the warm moist waters of the Atlantic and

Pacific oceans near the equator. He swirled

clockwise south of the equator. But when he got

mad, it became ugly. The towns around him became

windy and flooded and wrecked lots of homes. He

did not want his other classmates to not like him

because of what happens when he's mad.

This was it. The door to his new classroom. He

took a breath and stepped inside.

The classroom was full of

students. He was starting to relax

a little. The teacher, Mrs. Sunspot,

called them all over and had them

sit in a circle. They were going to

play a getting to know you game.

They would go around the circle

and when it was your turn, you

would say what you were and a

little bit about yourself. Harry tried

not to be first.

Mrs. Sunspot went first. "Hi i'm Mrs.

Sunspot! I love being outdoors and I have

tons of energy. I am a big ball of gas that

gives off heat and light through nuclear

reactions. I provide heat, energy, and I am

the main source of the planet! My special

talent is that I give off temperature vibrations

so that every weather source on earth can be

traced to me!"

Mrs. Sunspot sat back down.

Harry was to the left of her. He

was happy that they went to the

person to her right and not him.

The next student did not look very

happy to be here either. He

looked sad. But he still stood up

and began talking.

"Hi.....i'm Nimbus the cloud. My brothers are sick today, so I

just have to tell about them too. I am a low lying storm cloud. I

am very thick and dark. I indicate precipitation of some kind.

One of my other 3 brothers is stratus the cloud. He is pretty

low-lying and layered. He is fat and not rounded. He's kind of

like a blanket covering the sky. He sometimes carries

precipitation. My youngest brother is Cumulus the cloud. He

is also a low-Lying cloud that looks like a cotton ball. His

special talent is he has cooling effects on the earth. And the

oldest of my brothers is Cirrus the cloud. He is the meanest of

them all. He is wispy and High-rising. If he's big enough he

can indicate a storm and he has a HUGE heating effect on

the earth." He quickly sat back down, with a frown on his

face.

Harry was getting bored. He

didn't even want to be here in the

first place. But he had to stay here

and pretend like he cared what his

classmates talents were. He

looked over at the clock and

hoped the bell would ring soon.

When he looked back over and

the kids, the next one had already

stood up. He stared at the student

and tried not to fall asleep.

"Hi i'm weather map. I show different

Meteorologic data, such as precipitation. I

don't really have many talents but showing

you the weather!"

Harry was happy she kept herself short and

sat down quickly after that. The next student

was really happy to be here. She popped

right out of her spot and started talking her

head off.

Hi! I'm Snow! And these are my

best friends, rain sleet, and

drizzle. I am a ice crystal that's

also a flake. Rainie here is just

liquid precipitation. Sleet is also

frozen pellets of rain!"

By the time she was finished,

Harry was getting a headache. He

braced himself for the next

student.

"Hi i'm the atmosphere! I am a

layer of gases that are confined to

earth by gravity. I am where

weather occurs, specifically in the

lowest layer. The differences in

my density cause change in

pressure that makes weather

patterns and currents."

Harry was starting to get

interested. He sat up a little

straighter and tried not to look at

the clock. He got a little nervous

when the next student stood up.

He was by far the biggest in the

class.

"Hi i'm the ocean current. I know

i'ma pretty big but I really am a nice

guy. I am the continuous, directed

movement of ocean water. My

different causes of ocean currents

include ocean pressure, the Coriolis

effect, wind, and temperature."

Harry already liked ocean

current. He was starting to get into

the circle and really make friends.

But then it was tornadoes turn to

talk. Harry tried to control his

temper.

"I know that everybody already

knows me here. I mean, I am the

best out of all of you. I had the best

role of the weather systems by far. I

am when two different pressure

systems collide and swirl. I am very

dangerous and get get up to very

high speeds like 250 miles per hour!

So I suggest you say on my good

side.

His cockyness made Harry so

angry. But Harry was not going to

let him ruin his own good mood.

He tried to put tornado out of his

mind and listen to the next

student.

"Hi! I'm convection! The energy

from the sun drives my currents in

the ocean and atmosphere. I am

the constant movement in the

molecules due to differences in

temperature. So my currents

cause movement in the ocean and

atmosphere, causing external,

wind and ocean currents.

Before Harry could think about

convection, the next student was

already up with his twin brother.

"Hi i'm isotherm and this is my

twin brother Isobar. Were pretty

interesting. I am a map that

connects areas with the same

temperatures. And Isobar here is

the line that connects us two

together! So yes, we're kind of a

big deal."

Harry did have to admit, that was

pretty cool. But they knew they

were important, so he didn't really

get along with them that well. He

listened in on the next student.

"Hi i'm a wind current. I am the

flow of gases on a large scale. I

am caused by differences in

pressure in the atmosphere.

When an area has higher

pressure than another, it moves to

the lower area, which causes me.

I also affect the temperature of the

area.

The next student was the brain of

the class. And everybody knew it.

He humbly stood up and started to

talk.

"Hi! I am a scientist. I gather images of

weather patterns through satellite imaging.

A satellite is sent into earth’s orbit and

takes pictures of the earth, showing

weather patterns. I also have a lot of tools

that i use. I have a Barometer which

measures Air Pressure, an Anemometer

that measures wind speed, an

thermometer which measures temperature,

an

hygrometer which measures moisture in

the environment, and a rain gauge which

measures the amount of rain."

Harry was impressed! He never

knew that he could learn so much

information is just one day! And

not everyone had even shared

yet! He turned to the next student

and watched her get up.

"Hi i'm Dew point! I am the

temperature where water vapor

will condense to liquid water. I am

called “dew” when condensed. As

temperature and pressure rise, so

will I!

This day was getting better and

better for Harry! He was getting to

know his classmates and he could

tell that he was not going to be

alone after all. He listened for the

next student that stood up to

begin speaking.

"Hi I'm high pressure! I am

usually caused by air masses being

cooled, either from below or from

above as cooling of winter air

masses over land exceeds the

warming of those airmasses by

sunlight. My situations are generally

associated with fair, sunny weather.

I am an area of sinking air, and air

tends to dry out as I sink, leaving

sunny skies.

Next in the circle were a set of

triplets. The three fronts. They all

stood up and began to speak.

Harry's turn was coming up.

"Hi i'm cold front, and these are my brothers,

warm front, and stationary front. We form

when two or more air masses come in

contact with each other. The front is usually a

line where we meet. We typically form when

both warm and I meet. Both the difference in

air temperature, as well as the density of the

air, can cause a us three. Warm fronts are

more slow moving than me and usually

produce precipitation. We are depicted on

weather maps with arrows showing where we

we came from and what direction we are

moving.

There was only one more

student left until it was Harry's

turn. He starting to get those

butterflies again.

"Hi! I'm low pressure. I form when

atmospheric circulations of air up

and down remove a small amount of

atmosphere from a region. Usually,

when forecasters say my area is

moving toward your region, cloudy

weather and precipitation often

result when my area approaches.

This was it. It was Harry's turn. He

started to get up when the bell rang. He

was happy, but a little sad. He actually

wanted to go. But it was good for him to

move around a little bit and take a break

from all that sitting. When he came back

from his break his teacher told them that

they would have a little trivia game. He

got excited, and was ready to win.

There would only be three questions, so

he knew he had to be on his a game.

He listened for the first question.

Question one: The driving

force behind oceanic

currents and atmospheric

currents is what?

Before Harry could buzz in snow had

already answered. She said " the sun’s

energy. This is due to its uneven heating,

causing convection currents. In turn, the

currents cause external oceanic currents

and atmospheric currents (wind and deep

ocean currents).

Question two: Describe

The global movement of

atmospheric patterns.

Harry buzzed in. He knew this one! He

said "The global movement of

atmospheric patterns cause the high and

low pressure seen on weather maps

because the areas with more air pressure

will move to the areas of low air pressure.

In turn, this causes patterns of shifting

atmospheric pressure." He got it right! Is

was down to this last question.

Question three:

Where do hurricanes

originate?

Well this was a no brainer! This

question was talking about him! He

buzzed in and won the game by

saying " Hurricanes originate over the

tropical regions of the ocean under

conditions where high humidity, light

winds, and warm sea surface

temperatures combine."

He was so happy! He had won!

He felt a little bad for being in

such a bad attitude in the

morning, but he really had fun

getting to know about weather. He

was excited for the new year, and

he just knew that he was going to

have a storming good time!