[Music] all right squeaks are you ready oh hey there you caught us at a really great time it's
almost spring here at the fort which means we're going to start getting a lot of different kinds
of weather rain thunder late snow warm days cold days even fog so to brush up on all the different
types of weather there are and how they happen we're going to play a game i'm going to give
sqweek some clues and he's going to try and tell me what sort of weather i'm talking about and if
he gets most of them right he'll win an amazing prize you can play along too alright you ready
hello there everyone and welcome to the game of weather wisdom what's the weather i'm your host
mr brown and our contestant today is squeaks the robot lab wrap squeaks is seven years old enjoys
science loves food and it says here that you're scared of spiders is is that true fascinating well
there won't be any spiders in today's game so you can rest easy what there will be is lots and lots
of weather let's get to our first question this type of weather happens mostly in the winter it
happens when tiny particles of water freeze high up in the clouds stick together and fall down to
earth as little crystals and it's really fun to sled in this weather too name that weather squeaks
that's right squeaks the answer is snow now here's jesse to tell us more who's up for a
word game when i say science what picture comes into your mind is it stuff like test tubes and
telescopes maybe it's computers or microscopes or living things like flowers or frogs but did
you think of anything that looks like art a lot of science is really beautiful and there might be
no better way to study the beauty of nature than by looking at snowflakes have you ever taken a
close look at snowflakes in the winter when they land on your coat or mitten just before they melt
each snowflake is a six-pointed work of art as cool and as individual as the ones you've probably
made with paper and scissors but how does nature make snowflakes first thing to know is the little
six-pointed pieces of ice that you and i call snowflakes are really made up of snow crystals
scientists use the word snowflake to describe the fluffy white things that fall from the sky
which are actually bunches of snow crystals all stuck together and the journey of a snow crystal
begins in a cloud up there water in the form of gas called water vapor freezes around a piece
of dust or pollen that's just floating around in the cloud this forms what's called a seed crystal
and seed crystals can become snow crystals if conditions inside the cloud are just right as the
sea crystal bumps around inside of the cloud lots of particles that make up water stick to it the
particles that make up water have a very specific shape they kind of look like the letter v and when
enough of these particles stick together they form shapes that have six sides called hexagons
and that's your most basic kind of snow crystal but if there's enough water around then more water
particles will attach at the little points of that six-sided crystal each becoming an arm or a branch
from there all kinds of different things can happen even though all snowflakes have six
sides they can end up looking totally different from one another in fact scientists have names
for more than 30 different shapes of snow crystals some are big and flat and are called plates others
look long and narrow called needles still others are tall and wide like columns and then there's
probably the most famous shape called dendrites they look kind of like stars that have sprouted
tree branches the shape that each snow crystal takes depends on what the conditions were like
as it formed in the cloud things like temperature and how much water is in the air can make a big
difference if you're a snowflake so for example colder temperatures often make flakes with more
pointy and fancy arms while snow crystals that are made in warmer temperatures and air with less
water in it tend to be smaller and simpler now you might have heard that no two snowflakes are alike
a lot of them do look really similar to each other but scientists think that it would be really hard
for any two to end up being exactly the same that's because the conditions in the clouds are
always changing so the flakes that they make are always changing too once a snowflake takes shape
its journey has only just begun after bouncing around in the cloud for a while it falls to the
ground and as it falls it keeps changing depending on the temperature the amount of water in the air
and other things like wind that it passes through since each flake takes a different path all the
way to the ground each one ends up being slightly different and that's why scientists say that no
two snowflakes are exactly the same but they're all really interesting and beautiful so now you
know how snow crystals are made by nature miniature works of art no scissors required
okay squeaks here's your next question this next type of weather can be a little loud and scary it
happens mostly during rainstorms and is caused by the same kind of static electricity that builds up
when you rub your socks on carpet can you name the weather squeaks
here's one more hint listen
that's right thunder and lightning you're doing great now let's take a quick break for a few words
about thunder and lightning squeaks where are you squeaks where are you
squeaks oh there you are squeaks oh it's okay squeaks thunderstorms can get kind of loud
and maybe even a little scary sometimes but you know what sometimes things that are frightening
are a little less scary when we understand what causes them and we can learn what causes things
by asking questions that's why we're so glad that we heard from our friend four-year-old
eleanor who asked why do lightning and thunder happen i'm sure squeaks would like to know
experts called meteorologists study the science of weather including lightning and thunder we
can use what they've learned to explain what causes these bright flashes of light
and the big booms that follow and you may not know it but the science of what causes lightning can
happen right in your own home have you ever walked across a fuzzy carpet and then when you reach
for a door knob gotten a little shock if so then you've been part of making a mini lightning bolt
that shock that you felt was caused by the buildup of what's known as a static electrical
charge a static electrical charge is just a little bit of electricity that stays in one place for a
little while static electricity can build up any time two things rub together when you walk
across the carpet your body picks up tiny bits of charge then when you reach for that doorknob
these charges jump into the metal doorknob and zap lightning is caused by the same thing
only on a much bigger scale the kinds of clouds we see in thunderstorms have tiny bits of ice in them
and these little bits of ice bump into each other they cause an electrical charge to build up
inside the cloud and as this charge keeps building up it gets stronger but there are two kinds of
electrical charge we call them positive and negative charges that are different from one
another will attract or pull toward one another a lot like magnets but in our case the charge
in the cloud is negative the negative charge in the cloud makes some spots on the ground
get a positive charge and when the charge is in the cloud and the charges on the ground
are just right a bolt of lightning jumps between the cloud and the earth and meteorologists have
discovered that there are different kinds of lightning too some lightning goes from one part
of a cloud to another some jumps from cloud to cloud and some goes between the sky and the ground
but it's all caused by a moving electrical charge and all lightning is hot really hot and that heat
is what causes thunder thunder starts with the fact that air is made of tiny particles when
these little particles get heated up they start to move around more quickly so when the hot lightning
bolt suddenly moves through the air its heat makes the air particles around it all excited all those
particles of suddenly hot air start to move around quickly they push hard against the cooler air
around them that air then flies away really fast from where the lightning was with a lot of energy
our ears hear this movement of the air particles as a loud bang or crackle that's thunder so now
you know lightning happens when an electrical charge builds up inside of cloud and moves to
an opposite charge and thunder happens when the heat from lightning causes the particles that
make up air to push away from the lightning bolt and remember when you're not sure about something
ask questions it just might make you feel better welcome back all right this weather can be sort of
spooky and you might see it in an old scary movie when it's happening it's sort of like a cloud
has formed really close to the ground and it makes it hard to see can you name that weather squeaks
what's that oh you want to ask all our friends watching to help you figure out the answer okay
can you all out there name that weather it sounds like they're saying fog squeaks what do you think
yeah you all got it it's fog thanks everyone now here's jesse to tell us all about it have you
ever looked outside only to see that the air was thick and gray and you could barely see squeaks
nye looked out of the fort window this morning and that's exactly what we found it was such a strange
and different thing to see normally we can see a few trees outside and even a road but today we
could barely see the closest tree it was a little bit spooky and the news put out a warning to be
careful when driving on the roads all of this was because of the gray mist covering everything
and it's called fog fog can make it hard to see outside and walking through it can make you feel a
bit damp or cold when i walk through fog i always imagine that i'm walking through a big rain cloud
that's right squeaks it seems that way because fog does look a lot like clouds except really
close to the ground in fact clouds and fog are made of the same thing tiny droplets of water
from far away clouds might sometimes look like thick fluffy pillows or even cotton candy
but really walking through a cloud wouldn't feel fluffy or comfortable at all you get really wet
there's always some water in the air except it's not a liquid it's usually a gas the same type of
thing as the air itself which is why we can't see it we call that type of water water vapor but when
there's too much water in the air it condenses or pulls together really close to become a bunch of
super tiny droplets of liquid when this happens high up in the sky all those little droplets form
what we call a cloud this can happen much closer to the ground too which is when we call it fog
it just doesn't happen as often for fog to form there needs to be a lot of water that's
just reached the ground that's right just after a rainstorm is the perfect time for fog to happen
there's all that water on the ground plus there's a lot of water vapor that's still in the air next
the water vapor has to get pretty cold very quickly if the temperature drops the water vapor
in the air starts to collect into those little liquid droplets you can see this happen in real
life if you have some cold water in a glass pretty soon the outside of the glass will be wet but that
water doesn't come from inside the glass it comes from the air the cold glass makes water vapor
in the air collect into liquid drops when this happens in the air outside the little droplets
are so small that they can float through the air and we can see them all spread out and that's fog
it really is just like a cloud on the ground there are lots of different types of fog and
each happens in different places with different amounts of cold air the most common kind is called
radiation fog this is the kind of fog that sets in overnight when air with a lot of water vapor
in it cools down in the morning when the sunlight warms the air again the radiation fog disappears
good question squeaks where does the water go when the fog disappears when the water
in the fog starts to heat up it begins to evaporate or turn back into water vapor
and spread out when the water vapor is spread out again in the air we can't see it it's too
small for our eyes but just you wait squeaks i hear it's supposed to get pretty cold tonight and
i bet we'll get some more fog all right squeaks here's the last question this weather can also be
scary and dangerous they form when warm and cold air starts spinning around high up in the clouds
and they look like a big spinning funnel of clouds that touches the ground name that weapon
ah you want to call a fort friend for help answering this question okay
who do you want to call
howdy gravy the tardigrade speaking
wow you're on what's the weather congratulations and you want my help answering a question well i'd
be much obliged great i'll put the question up on the screen for you hmm a funnel of clouds eh
well i may not be but a simple tardigrade but i do pride myself on knowing a thing or two about
weather and this here sounds like a rip-roaring tornado squeaks what do you think is it a tornado
that's right it is a tornado i'm glad i could help little partner i'll see you around bye grady now
here's more about tornadoes from jesse the weather is a funny thing one day it can be sunny and warm
perfect day for sunglasses and flip-flops but the next day it can be cold and rainy most of
the time the weather doesn't give us anything that we can't handle with maybe some sunscreen
or an umbrella or a snow shovel but sometimes and in some places there can be extreme weather like
big thunderstorms or hurricanes or snow storms and one of the most powerful kinds of extreme weather
out there is a type of a storm that scientists pay close attention to tornadoes a tornado is a fast
spinning column of air that stretches all the way from a thunderstorm cloud in the sky down to the
earth's surface because tornadoes turn and twist as they move they're sometimes called twisters
they form inside really big thunderstorms when cold dry air moving from one direction bumps into
warm wet air coming from a different direction because the cold air is heavier it slides down
under the warm air and pushes it up really fast all this fast-moving air rushing up and down can
create a sort of spinning thunderstorm and it can eventually keep going to form a tornado and when a
tornado forms it can be one of the most powerful forces in nature tornado winds are the strongest
in the world even stronger than hurricanes in some twisters we know that the wind can blow to almost
500 kilometers an hour strong enough to lift heavy things like cars and trucks into the air and
they're loud too people who have seen them or even been in them say they sound like giant roaring
trains but they don't move as fast as a speeding train usually tornadoes travel across the land
at about 50 kilometers an hour slower than most cars go now weather can be really unpredictable
which means that you just can't predict or know what's going to happen before it happens and
that's especially true for tornadoes these windy storms can speed up slow down change direction
or even stand still and they can last anywhere from a few seconds to as long as an hour while
tornadoes can happen all over the world they're most common in the united states about two-thirds
of all the tornadoes in the world happen right down the middle of the country from the dakotas
down to texas especially in the late spring and early summer because tornadoes are so powerful
and so unpredictable meteorologists spend a lot of time studying them they want to understand
more about exactly how and when tornadoes can form and hopefully predict when they'll show up there
are even people called storm chasers who follow big storms around the middle of the u.s hoping
to spot one as it turns into a tornado so we can get a better picture of what really happens when a
twister forms scientists still don't know for sure when a tornado is going to happen but they have
gotten better at predicting which thunderstorms might be strong enough to create one and if they
spot a bad looking storm early enough then they can give people who live nearby a warning that
a twister might be coming that's one of the most important jobs that a meteorologist has
helping people get ready for extreme weather so the more they learn about tornadoes the better
we can prepare for them and the more they can help us understand how our weather works even
when it's not so extreme wow squeaks you got all the questions right you win what's that weather
and your prize is [Applause] [Music] all of the great weather science knowledge you learned today
it is an amazing prize squeaks it's amazing because
it's a prize you can share with all of your friends
okay okay how about i make you a cheese sandwich too would that be a good prize
thanks for playing with us today if you want to keep having fun with me squeaks and all of our
friends hit the subscribe button and we'll see you next time here at the fort [Music]