Monsoon Moisture - Our Summer Weather Study

I captured this image of the clouds at sunset last night coming in off the lake. Gorgeous!

Summer in our part of Northern California is HOT and DRY!

But, occasionally we get the weather phenomenon called "monsoon moisture" which really means that the storms come from the Gulf of California and are tropical in nature, reaching up into the mountains of Northern California with moisture and thunderstorms. (That is my very non-technical explanation of monsoon moisture.) We are going to be using this topic as the advanced study portion of the Summer Weather Challenge.

Monsoon Moisture in the eastern Sierra Nevada at Mono Lake 2006

When this happens, we see quite an interesting buffet of weather activity:
1. Scattered afternoon thunderstorms
2. Down pours of rain
3. Gusty high winds
4. Beautiful clouds (especially at sunset)
5. Increased fire danger because of the chance of dry lightning (no rain)

After an monsoon weather event, the air is sticky with warm moist air. The plants and trees are refreshed, the dry leaves swept away, and the air just smells so nice and fresh.

Monsoon Moisture - Bodie State Park,  Eastern Sierra Nevada 2006. We got very wet in the rainstorm that came shortly after taking this photo!

We had such an even last night which will give us an account to share as part of the Summer Weather Challenge in the More Nature Study series. It was really hot at bedtime so we decided to sleep out on the back deck under the stars. It started off fairly innocently with a few wisps of clouds slowly moving across the sky blocking out the stars. Then the wind started to gust and the first flashes of lightning came quickly one after the other. The rumble of the thunder was in the distance. No problem my husband said...he thought it was just going to be a dry lightning event where there is no rain associated with the storm.

Boy, was he wrong!

By 11 PM the lightning, thunder, wind, and rain hit with full force. The wind chimes were ringing constantly and we decided we better give up the idea of sleeping outside. This kind of weather is fairly normal for our area in the summer and we have a couple of these storms usually in July or August. What turned this into an unusual event was the length of the storm. We still were having lightning, thunder, wind, and rain until at least 4 AM. It was a restless night for all of us as we kept getting up to peer out the windows and doors at the awesome display of power in this storm.

The garden still had plenty of beautiful flowers for a bouquet this morning.

The power went out for a short time but all in all there was little other inconvenience from the storm. Today the sun rose and warmed the air and made us all feel welcome. The windows were opened and the fans turned on to drive away the humidity a bit.

Right on time for our Summer Weather Challenge!

Here are a few of our other summer weather entries:
Summer Weather 2011 - Can You Say HOT?
Summer Weather Sunrise/Sunset Observations 2010

More Nature Study Book #4 - Summer Weather Study

More Nature Study Book #4
Summer Sizzle
Weather Study

Inside Preparation Work:

• Brainstorm ways that summer weather is different from weather the rest of the year. Make a list of summer weather words to be recorded in your nature journal (or notebook page from the ebook). 

You may wish to include some of the ideas from the Summer2010 Weather Challenge.

*Sight: Observe where the sun rises and sets on the horizon

*Smell: Does the air have a certain smell when it is hot?

*Touch: Can you feel the hot sun on your skin? Make sure to cover up or put on sunblock when you are outdoors in the afternoon to protect your skin from the sun’s strong rays.

*Hearing: Observe the sounds of weather: wind or breeze, rain, thunder.

Outdoor Hour Time:

• There is so much to see outside during the summer. Birds, bees, butterflies, squirrels, and many other creatures are active during the daylight hours. There are plenty of trees, flowers, and summer views to be seen as well. Even though your weather may be hot, fit in some outdoor time for this challenge to observe what your summer world is like, paying attention to describing the season’s weather.  
• Ebook Users: There is a small scavenger hunt grid on your notebook page...have fun! Check the July 2012 Newsletter for another grid you can use as part of this challenge.

Follow-Up Activity:

• You may wish to keep a weather chart over the next few weeks or perhaps once a month for the next year. Here is a free printable Weather Chart from the Handbook of Nature Study.
• Advanced Study: Complete a nature journal recording your summer weather observations. Include temperature, cloud types, precipitation, humidity. Ebook Users: There is a custome summer weather observation notebook page for you to use with this challenge.
• Advanced Study-Optional Activity: Design a summer weather related project to complete during the next few weeks. Ask a question or make a prediction about your local weather. Write up your experiment in your nature journal, recording your results or your data gathered. You can make it simple or complex depending on your interest. Ebook Users: There is a notebook page in the ebook for you to use to record your weather related project.

Additional Links With Ideas for a Weather Related Project:

• Weather Wiz Kids—Read through some of the activities here to make up a question or to find an area that interests you.
• Weather Science Fair Projects—This list will get your juices flowing.
• Weather and Atmosphere Projects

All the summer challenges for 2012 are included in the new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook. The challenges in the ebook are the same challenges that will post every Friday here on my blog. If you want to follow along with notebook pages and coloring pages, click over and learn more about the ebook.

St Swithun's Day

It is very English to obsess about the weather and even more so this summer. It has been the wettest ever recorded. Today however we have fingers and toes crossed that it will be sunny.
For today is St Swithun's Day:

St. Swithun's day, if thou dost rain,

For forty days it will remain;
St. Swithun's day, if thou be fair,
For forty days 'twill rain na mair.

Handbook of Nature Study July 2012 Newsletter - Hot Weather Edition

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter

Companion to the Outdoor Hour Challenges

Supporting a Global Community in Their Nature Study

July 2012 Edition: Hot Weather!

The Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter is a companion to the Outdoor Hour Challenges that are posted here on the blog every Friday. In this issue there are special printable activities and a notebook page, additional links and ideas, as well as three contributed articles with wonderful ideas for your family to use when the weather is hot and humid.

I have attached the newsletter download link to the bottom of my blog feed so if you are a subscriber you will receive the link to the latest newsletter at the bottom of every post for the month of July. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can still subscribe and receive the newsletter in the next post that comes to your email box. You can subscribe to my blog by filling in your email address in the subscription box on my sidebar.

Make sure to click and save the newsletter link from the email for future reference.

Winner of the June Newsletter Giveaway!

Kristin from Broom and Crown has won theYour Backyard Monarch Butterfly DVD and Companion e-Study Guide from Crowe's Nest Media!

You can read my review of the DVD and the e-Study guides for more information on this fabulous product. Just a reminder that there will be a Monarch Butterfly Challenge later in the month of July so this would be a great supplement to your nature study.

If you have trouble getting the newsletter to download, try right clicking the link, save the link, and then open it.  (The link is in the email and not in this blog post.) I am not going to be archiving the newsletters at this point. You will need to SAVE the FILE on your computer each month if you want to save back issues.


It is not too late join in with the Summer Sizzle series of Outdoor Hour Challenges. You can find them on the summer tab of my blog or in my latest ebook. 

Diner

This is how we do the diner thing in London. Lots of colour to make up for the sky.

Sun

With so much rain lately we are all on the verge of suffering from SAD (seasonal affective disorder). The moment we get a glimpse of sunshine we race out to soak up every drop of it. Yesterday all of London was smiling, and ... we may even be lucky enough to have two days of leaving our brollies at home this week. Yahoo!!

Hail

Moments before being pelted with large hailstones. A good time for Greece to offer sunny holiday deals to the English.

5 Easy Nature Study Suggestions for the End of April

If you have been too busy this month to keep up with the Outdoor Hour Challenge, you many want to consider this week a time to get a few final April nature study activities. If you blog about it, you are welcome to submit your link to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

Five Easy Nature Study Suggestions for the End of April

1. Just get outside and take a walk! Informal nature study done while spending time together as a family is often the most meaningful. Get outside for a quick walk when you have a few minutes to spare. Printable Scavenger Hunt available from Hearts and Trees: Spring Nature Walk. You can also use my free Signs of Spring Notebook Page to follow up your walk.
2. Keep track of temperature for three days in a row. Record it in your nature journal to compare with future months. You can print and use my free Printable Weather Chart Notebook Page.
3. Observe clouds over the course of a week. Print out a Cloud Chart (scroll down and there are two choices). Record your cloud observations in your nature journal with sketches.
4. Complete a Seasonal Weather Notebook Page.
5. Finish the grid suggestions from the Apri 2012 Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter. Note: You will need to subscribe to my blog to receive the download link for the newsletter at the bottom of the next blog entry email.

Spring has sprung ...

Typically Spring is a rather wet season in the UK. So far April has been the archetypal Spring month with monsoon like downpours, and sky based fireworks and music. Even better, April is promising to carry on as it began, right until it's end. Believe it or not most of the UK is officially in drought (I can hear you all chuckling in disbelief, but it is true!) with hose pipe bans and other water saving measures in force. Sadly though April's efforts are unlikely to break the drought.

Beauty in Freeze

Generally during the winter months the fountains at Trafalgar Square are drained. We've had such a mild winter that this has happened. The cold snap we had last week has resulted in the fountains partly freezing. Rather beautiful, don't you think?

Dry December Leading Into a Dry January - Free Weather Chart Notebook Page

I have noticed that most of my bulbs are springing up early. If we get our wet or snowy weather, it will be interesting to see what the flowers continue to do.

Last month was the driest December since 1883 in our part of California...according to my dear husband. As a wildland firefighter he keeps an eye on the weather and the humidity. Right now our area is VERY dry and the potential for fire is going to be high until it rains. This is not a typical winter.

I looked it up on the internet and the article I found said that our warm weather is because of a summer-like high pressure ridge that has remained in place since early December 2011. Here is a video: Dry December.



I looked up our normal temperatures for this time of year:
Normal high is 51 degrees.
Yesterday the high was 66 degrees!

We are going to start keeping track of our highs and lows and any precipitation we do eventually get. Keeping a weather record chart is a great tool for your nature journal and allows you to look back and make some conclusions and comparisons. This is an easy nature related study that you can do wherever you live. 

Would you like a free downloadable Weather Record Chart?


Here is a link to a free Weather Record Chart pdf.

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Weather- Find Out For Yourself

Late Autumn Sky

"The scientific method of study is: Do not take things for granted, but find out for yourself. This method trains pupils to think for themselves. Too much talking by the teacher allows the pupils' minds to lie idle and passive. Exercise strengthens them."
Nature Study and Children

As you can tell if you are a regular reader of my blog, I love to quote old nature study books. These books are full of gems that still sparkle today with wisdom and practical advice. Timeless advice like you see above will help you be a better nature study guide.

Many of us are winding down our academics for the term and this week's challenge is a great way to transition to the winter break. Weather observations are an easy to do while on a family walk or even from a window. Don't overlook the power of a simple challenge. Remember the quote above.

Suggestions for this week's challenge, pick one or do all five!
1. Take a walk and observe the weather. Informal nature study done while spending time together as a family is often the most meaningful. Get outside for a quick walk when you have a few minutes to spare.
2. Keep track of temperature for three days in a row. Record it in your nature journal to compare with future months. You can print a blank calendar page from Hearts and Trees.
3. Observe clouds over the course of a week. Advanced Study: Cloud Chart pdf  and for everyone: Clouds That Look Like Animals and Cloud Types.
4. Complete a seasonal weather notebook page.
5. Finish the grid suggestions from the November Newsletter.

Make sure to send in your entries for the blog carnival. The carnival is posted on the last day of each month. You can enter at this link: Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival Submission Form.

Balmy Autumn

Walking through St James Park yesterday if it wasn't for the leaves on the ground it was hard to believe it is the middle of November and will soon be winter. So far it is turning into the warmest November on record, even some of the plants have been fooled into thinking it is spring and we've had a few spring flowers and an extended season for strawberries.
One of the things you will notice about the English if you spend any amount of time here is that they obsess about the weather. Most conversations will include some comment on the weather at some point. I recently made a comment, that perhaps we wouldn't have a white Xmas this year. I was immediately referred to 'an expert on weather' and specifically to his comments: I am fully expecting a significant and imminent pattern change
"I am fully expecting a significant and imminent pattern change...."
"I really won't have any of this talk about a mild winter, will the people who feel the need to email me every hour of the day trying to convince me otherwise, please stop this?"

What say you? Do you think I'll have a white Xmas?

Rainbow

The clocks have gone back, extra hours sleep welcomed. Our days will be darker for a few weeks so a lovely rainbow to add some colour to your day.

Morning Circle Time - Noticing the Gradual Changes

"The morning talk is the most appropriate time for the weather reports, and for the arranging of the pictorial weather chart. different designs are in common use by teachers, and are thoroughly enjoyed by the children. The facts observed each day are of little value in themselves, but are used to lead to thoughts of the gradual change that is taking place - the shorter days, sun lower at noon, cooler winds, early frosts. Consequently the changes in plant and animal life."
Nature Study By The Months, by Arthur Boyden, 1900.

Morning Circle Time - Nature Study

October's Party
October gave a party; the leaves by hundreds came,
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, and leaves of every name.
The Chestnuts came in yellow, the Oaks in crimson dressed,
The lovely Misses Maple, in scarlet looked their best.
-Unknown Author

Many families already implement the idea of a morning circle time. Even in our family with high school age children (and above) we meet together each morning for our version of "circle time" because it has been our established routine for many, many years. Circle time is a great time to include some nature study themes and activities. Here are some ideas to get you started and that will tie into your Outdoor Hour Challenge time.

Image from PreKinders

• The morning is the perfect time to share daily weather and changes in the trees or plants outdoors. Each day your child can go outside briefly or look out the window to give the morning "nature report". Younger children can share with their words or use pre-made pictorial cards, then progress to keeping a daily weather/nature journal, and finally older students can record temperatures, wind direction, cloud types, and changes in plants, animals, and birds.  (PreKinders has weather themed printables for your circle time activities.)
• Memorize a seasonal poem or a stanza from a poem like the one quoted at the top of this blog entry.
• If you already include a "color of the week", why not ask what things in nature are that particular color? Try to get them to dig deeper than the ordinary by building on your outdoor time. You can give them hints to get started by reminding them of subjects you observed outdoors. What did we see yesterday in the garden that was yellow? Can you remember the name of a yellow bird? What yellow object did you sketch in your nature journal last week?
• If you have a "number of the week", ask them to list objects they have learned about as part of their nature study? Can you name four birds? What are five garden flowers? Can you think of six mammals?
• You can use this time to work on your verbal skills by having an object from your nature table to pass to each child. They take turns describing the object using as many adjectives as they can. 

Gently work into your circle time some references to your nature study and it will make some important connections as your children get in the routine of observing and learning about their very own backyard.

If you haven't had a chance to read about circle time on Kendra's Preschoolers and Peace blog, I highly recommend you pop over and take a look.

Circle Time- Plan The Best Part of Your Day: Kendra has an ebook outlining ideas for circle time and she has generously offered to share a copy with one of my readers. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment here on this entry (one comment per person please). Each comment will have a chance in the random drawing of names on Friday, October 14, 2011 8 AM (EST).
Thanks Kendra.

Summer Weather Observations 2011 - Can You Say HOT?

As part of the July Newsletter Summer Weather Challenge, we looked back to the Summer Series Weather Observation Challenge from last year. 

Our roses love the heat and this is our Disneyland Rose...sweet fragrance.

July weather is always hot but this year we have had alternating weeks of HOT and then cooling off to the 80's. It makes for a nice mix of summer weather. The garden likes the heat but once the temperatures heat up we need to water our garden everyday. We don't get much in the way of rain in the months of July and August and our heat does not bring any humidity with it.

The mullein this year is really TALL.

The nights are cool so we can expect to have cool breezes sometime in the night that are our natural air conditioning. We do most of our cooking outdoors this time of year, either on the grill or our outdoor oven. This keeps the kitchen cooler and we don't have to run the a/c.

The yarrow, lavender, and butterfly bushes are full of bees.

We decided to complete these two activities from last year's challenge:

• 1. Use some of your outdoor time to take temperature readings on your thermometer at sunrise (or early morning), noon, and then again at sunset. Record these temperatures, making comparisons. You can also use your outdoor time to use the suggested observations using your senses as noted in the box above.
• 2. Get up early and watch the sunrise. Note the place where the sunrises by observing something on the horizon such as a tree, a building, a mountain, or something else that can serve as a landmark for the sunrise. Do the same thing at sundown, finding a landmark to note.

Here are our statistics.
6 AM 59 degrees and 76% humidity
Noon 74 degrees and 52% humidity
4 PM 83 degrees and 32% humidity

Sunrise at 5:53 AM and Sunset at 8:25 PM

Don't forget to make your own Summer Weather Observations and submit your entry to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

Waiting for Summer

This is how we feel about our misplaced summer. Where is it?

Spring Weather Observations 2011: Clouds and Sky and Green

The sky has been amazingly beautiful this past week. Although the temperatures are still a little cold, we have enjoyed bright sunshine every day except for last Friday when it snowed! Just a little. Today it hit 60 degrees on the thermometer with breezes from the south....just enough to stir up the pollen and drive me indoors. I really needed to get this Spring Weather Observation Challenge posted anyway.



We were able to do a little hiking this week in the afternoons where we noticed the buttercups are in full bloom. The hounds tongue and the shooting stars are still going strong as well.

Other things we noticed this week:

• First mosquito
• First hummingbird at the feeder
• Dandelions!
• Apple tree blossoming
• Tulips blooming
• Dew in the mornings and not frost
• Longer daylight hours after dinner
• Robins singing

Look at the color of that apple blossom bud! This is on our tree that we planted last year so I am excited to see it growing. I need to research whether it is better to let the apples form on a new tree or if I should take the blossoms off for a year or two to allow the tree to grow. I am new to apple trees.

So is anyone else already suffering from spring allergies? It has hit me fast and hard this year so whatever is pollinating right now is killing me. With sniffling nose and itchy eyes, I spent three days in the yard working on clean-up, pruning, and getting garden boxes ready.


They are looking better than they did when I shared our garden progess a couple of weeks ago. We are adding pea gravel around the boxes as a way to keep the weeds down. We have a stockpile of gravel in another area of the garden so we are just moving it by wheelbarrow from one side of the yard to the other. More on the garden next week when I have my plans done and a few more things to share.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom 



Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Weather, Weather, Weather....Nature Study in the Day to Day

We all have weather.....no doubt about it. Our family seems to notice the weather everyday and we often talk about how cold or how dry or how windy it is in comparison to last year or to the previous season. Sort of related this week, two family members came to me at separate times to tell me that the days are definitely getting longer. I had actually noticed it in the mornings and this morning in particular I realized that I did not need to turn the back lights on when I took the dog outside. The sky was just tinged with blue and the only luminary that I saw was Venus...nice and bright!

Weather Chart from the Autumn Series Ebook

We started this week keeping a daily record of our temperatures, sometimes several times a day just to see the variation. We compared this to our autumn study record that we kept in November 2010. There is virtually no difference except for perhaps we had more rain in November. We are going to keep going with our chart and see when we have a change in our weather.

Our tree silhouette study goes pretty much all winter so I had to try to come up with a new aspect to offer to the boys this week. We decided to note tree buds and to bring in some twigs from the forsythia bush to see if we can force some blooms.


Our sweet gum tree is already making some changes...the buds look like this right now.

Our birch is looking pretty much the same, it is in a shadier and cooler part of the yard.


The forsythia twigs are all gathered in a vase, sitting in the front window. I will let you know when and if they blossom.

Hope you had a great week of winter nature study and are getting outdoors a little each week to discover some interesting things in your part of the world.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom