CHAPTER 14 Understanding 

 the Weather 



EOPLE ARE ALWAYS talking about the 

 weather, and with good reason. The 

 weather has a vital bearing on our plans, our work, our leisure, 

 and even on our dispositions. Weather is important in great 

 and small things all the way from planning a picnic to growing 

 successful crops and keeping our nation and the world well fed. 



Children are even more dependent than grown-ups on the state 

 of the weather. Clear, sunshiny days mean happy play out-of-doors; 

 rain often means the opposite, to many a mother's despair; an 

 abundance of snow promises endless hours of merriment on a 

 strange and wondrously transformed landscape. So, be it fair or 

 foul, weather is always a meaningful and absorbing topic to ex- 

 plore with children. They are keenly interested in it even before 

 they can talk, and words like "rain" and "sun" are often among 

 the first they learn. 



Later on, as the children grow older, flashes of lightning, claps 

 of thunder, blizzards, wind, rain and ice storms give rise to a 

 never-ending series of whys and hows. They discover a fascinating 

 fellow called the weatherman; the younger ones may be under the 

 impression that he "makes" the weather, but the older ones sagely 

 pooh-pooh this juvenile belief and ask to know something of the 

 secrets of weather forecasting. 



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