Our new topic this term is called Extreme Earth and Wild Weather!
It is going to be an exciting and interesting topic!
The weather changes all the time and differs all around the world.
What do you already know about wild weather events from around the world?
Can you share any fascinating facts or perhaps you have some questions about the topic that we could investigate as a class?
Did you know that earthquakes happen when tectonic plates rub together?
There is wild weather right now in Australia- they are having terrible forest fires that have taken lives, homes and animals .
Last year also saw tropical storms across the coast of America that also caused destruction.
Also, Tsunamis happen when they rub together underwater and tornadoes are made when moist air gets trapped under dry air. This is then pushed upwards by warmth near the ground.
A hurricane is a strong wind that causes a lot of damage. This is one of the many natural disasters like earthquakes, volcano eruptions, avalanches, snow storms, sand storms and don’t forget tidal waves. These are the many natural disasters that happen all over the world.
This term, I am looking forward to learning about how natural disasters form and how we can prevent them from happening.
Facts about extreme weather;
1) You can tell the temperature by counting a crickets chirps
2) Sand storms can swallow up entire cities
3) Wild autumn weather often means bigger spiders inside our homes
4) A heatwave can make train tracks bend
5) In 2003 a heatwave turned grapes turn into raisons even before they were picked from their vines
Did you know how tornadoes form where warm moist air is trapped underneath a layer of cold, dry air? This instability is upset when the warm bottom layer gets pushed up – either by heating near the ground, or by an influx of cold air. As the moist air rises, it cools, forming clouds and thunderstorms.
Do you know these facts about Aussie thunderstorms and bush fires?
#1. A lightening strike can start a bush fire especially if it strikes where vegetation is dry and suffering due to drought.
#2. If you see lightening and count seconds until you hear the thunder, the amount of seconds you counted is approximately the distance in KM the storm is away from you.
#3. If you are in an outdoor swimming pool and a storm with lightening comes you’d have to get out straight away as water could conduct electricity, and you (and others in the pool) could get killed or very badly injured.
Facts about extreme earth and wild weather.
There is still wild weather in Australia they have terrible weather right now. They have terrible forest fires that have taken lives, homes and animals.
Even though it is very rare, it sometimes snows in the Sahara desert.
And during lightning, each lightning bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity. What is more, tornadoes move at speeds of about 16 to 32 km per hour.
Did you know during ice storms, falling rain freezes as it lands?
A hurricane is an intense tropical storm with powerful winds and rains. Other names for a hurricane include cyclone, typhoon and tropical storms. Hurricanes usually form in tropical areas of the world.
Weather is a state of the atmosphere describing the degree to which it’s hotter or colder. Most weather depends on the lowest level of the atmosphere.
The naming of hurricanes and tropical storms officially began in 1953.
The wind doesn’t make a sound unless it hits a solid object.
Volcanoes are extremely dangerous things. But we can stop them by throwing water over them. How? Well, lava is really hot and water is cold. So if we throw water over the lava,the lava will shrivel up and turn into stone.
Did you know that the biggest eruption that has ever happened was in Mount Tambora on the 10th of April 1815 ! The volcano erupted more than 50 cubic kilometers of magma and collapsed afterwards to form a 6 km wide and 1250 m deep hole. Tornado alley get around 1000 tornadoes per year! Imagine living there, having to experience a natural disaster!
Lightning is one of the most dramatic weather phenomena. Lightning occurs in storms clouds when ice and water rub together. This creates static electricity and makes part of the clouds become charged. The charge is eventually released as a fork of lightning that shoots down the earth or as flashes in the clouds.
A tsunami has killed more than 1,000 people in Indonesia!
Hurricanes begin as tropical storms over the worm moist waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans near the equator. The great Galveston storm 1900 the deadliest storm in American History the Galveston hurricane killed 8,000 to 12,000 people.
Some more hurricanes include:
Hurricane Maria 2017
The Okeechobee Hurricane 1928
Hurricane Katrina 2005
Did you know there are different types of climate?
These five are:
– Tropical: hot weather all year round
– Dry: very dry regions (dessert)
– Temperate: warm but wet summers and mild winters
– Continental: warm summers and very cold winters
– Polar: extremely cold region with only ice
What kind of climate do you think we have in London?
Hurricanes form a really warm ocean water. The atmosphere must cool off very quickly the higher you go. Also the wind must be blowing at the same direction and at the same speed to force the air up from the ocean surface.
Did you know that I climbed a volcano in Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands!
When I was in France to see my grandma, I saw on tv that there are terrible weather conditions in Australia with terrible fires caused by climate change that are killing over 1 billion animals.
More earthquakes happen in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere.
The most powerful earthquake ever to be recorded on earth was in Valdivia,Chile,1960. It had a magnitude of 9.5.
An earthquake on the moon is called a moonquake. A moonquake is usually weaker than a earthquake.
Hurricanes have destroyed more than 1,000 homes.
Mount Fuji is the biggest volcano in the WORLD!!!
According to Google, animals can sense earthquakes a few minutes before humans. Volcanoes are openings in the earths surface and the word volcano came from the Roman God of fire,Vulcan. A hot liquid, known as magma, is called lava when it comes out of the volcano.
You can tell the temperature by counting a cricket’s chirps and in 2003, a heatwave turned grapes into raisins! Sometimes, Wildfires create tornadoes that are made of fire. They’re called Fire Whirls! Apparently cats and dogs can sense when a tornado is coming!
Hey did you know that the first day I arrived in England there was a massive snow storm?
In Australia there are forest fires and one day I saw a football match and lightning struck onto the pitch!
Did you know?
In Australia there have been lots of bush fires and thousands of animals have been killed.
There was over 5,000 people who were injured or dead and the fire is still on today. It is true that a lot of animals are injured though hopefully some have been able to be rescued by human beings.
Did you know?
Over the earths crust there’s a great big kind of puzzle that can be put together.
A long time ago there was only one shell which was surrounded by water.
Over the years it separated and the sea went through the empty space.
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
When an earthquake is erupting it means that two plates are meeting at one point.They push very hard which makes an earthquake. If an earthquake is under a volcano the magma pushes up through the throat of the volcano.
No Martin, I did not know that there was a massive snow storm when you first arrived in England.