A question to ponder: Why would the temperature of the ocean water off the coast of South America cause a woman in Chicago to re-consider her purchase of soybeans? For this month’s episode of Big Word of the Month, I want to discuss my favorite oceanic/atmoshpheric phenomenon (you have one too, right!) . Climate scientists use the term El Niño , Southern Oscillation to describe the complex relationship between the patterns of atmospheric pressure over the Pacific Ocean and theRead more
Posts tagged: #bad weather
Big Word of the Month: Evaporative Cooling
The big talk around the museum lately has been the weather for obvious reasons! Being cold got me thinking about the physics of heat loss, so for this month’s BWOM post I thought I would talk about evaporative cooling. When water changes from one state to another energy is either released or absorbed; as water moves from solid -> liquid ->gas energy input is required at each transition.You might think of evaporative cooling as an issue for the summer time.Read more
QuikPost: Preparing for bad weather
Today the Keepers (Cassidy, Erin, Jill, and Kristen) are preparing for the impending precipitation. Who knows what will happen, but we’re preparing for much snow/sleet. Here’s a photo of one of the documents we use to help make sure we are dealing with everything that needs to be dealt with. Any thoughts, questions, suggestions, or comments appreciated. If time/conditions permit over the weekend, we’ll get photos to share with you. (remember the post about power outage? Some of the prepRead more