Groundhog says Spring is coming...Almanac says snow

We have been using the 2011 Farmer's Almanac in our study of weather this year. So far the Almanac has been about 50% which has been better than our local weather team. Now Phil says spring is on the way. What do you think?

Snowschooling Part 1

Weatherman more aptly meteorologists are known for being wrong. So when the local weatherman indicated earlier this week that we would be in for a major snow storm most people just ignored it. We didn't for two reasons.

First we have been studying the weather as part of our homeschool academic co-op. We have learned how to make our own barometers and thermometer.

Homemade Barometer

We have learned what barometric pressure means and what it indicates. We have study clouds conditions and have been studying snow for the past week.

Snow Ice Cream

Ice Sculpture

Secondly, since we have been here the local meteorologist Doug Hill has not steered me wrong when it comes to snow. During the fall he was batting zero with the rain but that all turned around in December with that first snow fall of six inches. Being new to the area and never having to deal with snow in Texas I over prepared. But it was a learning experience. Two weeks later when he predicated 12 inches of snow the week before Christmas I battened down the hatches, hit Costco, raided the library and settled in for our first blizzard. Doug was right we got 12 inches plus 10 more inches as a Christmas present. The city came to a standstill. So now I listen to Doug every day.

Library Stash

This week Doug again indicated we would be in for possibly recorded breaking snow and winds. This time it was different, he was urging people to prepare for three to five days of being stuck at home. He even put an emergency response information guide on the website and urged people to print it out in case they lost power. Ok, no power means no heat. This was going to be epic.

That put me into overdrive so I put together the menu plan, got all the meds, raided the library again and grocery store. Friday morning dawn and I had forgotten my Costco run. The snow was scheduled to start at 10am and Costco doesn't open until 10am! YIKES! So we headed to Costco around 8am to wait outside because we knew there would be a line. I knew this was serious because Costco opened at 8AM. We were in and out in less than 20 minutes. With the car loaded with previsions and the gas tank full we headed home. The snow started to fall as we pulled into the driveway at 9:30AM.

And it didn't stop snowing for almost 30 hours……..

To Be Continued

Cool Homeschool Tool-Galileo Thermometer

The Galileo thermometer consists of a sealed glass tube that is filled with water and several floating bubbles.  The bubbles are glass spheres
filled with a colored liquid mixture.  This liquid mixture may contain alcohol, or it might simply be water with food coloring.  Attached to each
bubble is a little metal tag that indicates a temperature.  A number and degree symbol are engraved in the tag.  These metal tags are actually
calibrated counterweights.  The weight of each tag is slightly different from the others.  Since the bubbles are all hand-blown glass, they are not
exactly the same size and shape.  The bubbles are calibrated by adding a certain amount of fluid to them so that they have exact same density.  So,
after the weighted tags are attached to the bubbles, each differs very slightly in density from the other bubbles, and the density of all of them
is very close to the density of the surrounding water.

The basic idea is that as the temperature of the air outside the thermometer changes, so does the temperature of the water surrounding the
bubbles.  As the temperature of the water changes, it either expands or contracts, thereby changing its density.  At this changed density, some of
the bubbles will float and others will sink. HowStuffWorks or Wikipedia.