Weathering

Sometimes I give you a warm hug that makes you want to eat popsicles and run through sprinklers. Other times, I gently tickle your cheeks with cool, tiny drops that pitter-patter on the window. I can be a big, strong puff of air that helps your kite dance and soar in the sky, or a soft, chilly blanket that lets you build snowmen and make snow angels. I help flowers grow with a gentle shower and paint the sky with fluffy white clouds and brilliant orange sunsets. I can be quiet and calm or loud and rumbly. You see me in the flash of lightning and hear me in the boom of thunder. I make puddles for you to splash in and bring the sun to help them dry. Have you guessed who I am? I am the Weather.

For as long as there have been people, they have looked up at the sky and wondered about me. Farmers would watch my clouds to see if I was bringing rain for their thirsty plants. Sailors would feel my wind to see if I would help push their boats across the sea. A very long time ago, a wise man named Aristotle wrote a whole book just about me, trying to understand my secrets. As people got smarter, they built special tools to understand my moods. In 1643, a clever inventor named Evangelista Torricelli made something called a barometer, which could tell if I was feeling pushy or relaxed. Then, in 1714, a man named Gabriel Fahrenheit created a much better thermometer to check if I had a fever or was feeling chilly. But the biggest peek into my secrets came on April 1st, 1960, when people sent the first weather satellite, called TIROS-1, all the way into space. Now it can take pictures of me from above, watching my swirling clouds as they travel all over the world.

All those discoveries help you every single day. Because people learned about me, your family can look at a forecast and know if you need to wear sunscreen for a sunny day or pull on your rain boots for a splashy one. Understanding me helps pilots fly airplanes safely through my skies and helps farmers grow the yummy food you eat. I am a beautiful and always-changing part of your world. So the next time you see a cloud shaped like a puppy, or feel a gentle breeze whisper past your ear, just know that it’s me, the Weather, saying hello. I’ll see you outside.