A Day in the Life of a Weatherman

By: Jabril and Josh

His Private Journal

November 16, 2011 5:55 a.m.

My favorite part of being a weatherman is being able to constantly learn more about simple subjects and materials. For example, a lot of my job involves water. Many people just think of it as a simple drink that is healthy for you. However, my job allows me to study its many effects on the weather and our vast environment.

November 16, 2011 6:02 a.m.

I start out my day by checking on information from the National Weather Service. That’s where we get our weather information. We track it all day so our viewers can get the most accurate predictions. We also make future predictions by observing the current weather conditions, putting the observations into a computer model, and polishing up the results.

I also make sure to fix a warm cup of coffee so that I can start working in the morning. If it wasn’t for water, I wouldn’t be able to have my coffee. That reminds me of a cool thing about H2O—it’s often referred to as the universal solvent. That’s because it dissolves more substances than any other liquid. It doesn’t dissolve everything in the universe, just more than other substances. So, water dissolves things like glucose in your blood, ground soil (which is what creates mud if it rains enough), and the coffee bean for my coffee.

November 16, 2011 6:45 a.m.

In 15 minutes, I will have to make a live weather forecast on the morning news. I enjoy doing this, because I get to explain complex systems like the water cycle in ways everybody can relate to. Viewers always need to know about the progress of the water cycle (when precipitation will be, when clouds will form, or when groundwater will evaporate) so they can plan their day. However, they rarely need to know that the water cycle also helps to make Earth a closed system, meaning it rarely loses or gains its water. The same water we have now existed millions of years ago! So, even though there is lots of science and interesting facts involved with temperature and the water cycle, I help people the most by saying something as simple as, “It’s going to be cold with a 50/50 chance of showers on Wednesday.”

November 16, 2011 8:56 a.m.

One thing I have to do throughout the day is observe our Doppler radar to track storms. It’s important to let our viewers know about incoming tornadoes, hurricanes, or even just rain. I always find it fascinating how storms move together as a giant mass. This is because of polarity. Polarity is when a molecule has two opposite sides that cause an imbalance. Water is made up of one large, negative oxygen atom and two small, positive hydrogen atoms. H2O is more negative than positive, so it’s lopsided, and it wants to bond with other polar substances. A prime example would be your skin and why it’s so hard to get completely dry after being in the pool. Or a large storm mass, which is an example of water bonding with itself. Windows, cars, and lots of other objects are polar. Water’s polarity is the reason water seems “sticky”. Oil is not a polar substance, which is why it never mixes with water. If you poured both liquids in a glass, the oil would simply rise to the top because it is less dense.

November 16, 2011 12:34 p.m.

After a few hours of tracking the weather and making another noon forecast, I’m on a lunch break. I use this opportunity to answer emails I receive. I sometimes get questions from students asking about weather and water. I enjoy answering these questions for the same reason I enjoy weather forecasts: I answer complex questions in ways that people can easily relate to. So, I can define terms like adhesion and cohesion simply. Adhesion would be when water is added to another substance, like water sticking to your window after it rains. And cohesion is when water sticks to more water using hydrogen bonds, such as when lakes and ponds form from rain. Hydrogen bonds are weak bonds formed between hydrogen and oxygen when separate water molecules connect.

I also enjoy providing people with cool water facts. One that I find surprising is that although 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, only about 0.3% of that water is fresh water that can sustain life.

November 16, 2011 3:51 p.m.

One thing I do, other than observe weather patterns, is study how weather (and water particularly) affects the environment. Water has a huge effect on plant and animal life—it’s vital for all living things. In fact, 70% of an adult human’s body is composed of water. However, another important part of water is its specific heat. Water has a high specific heat, meaning that it can absorb a lot of heat before it begins to get hot. It absorbs and releases heat very slowly. This is significant because it prevents bodies of water and the air near them from heating up or freezing too fast. This protects Earth’s marine life and climate, because it keeps temperatures from going too high or too low to sustain life.

Like water’s specific heat, its density has a large effect on marine life as well. For example, in arctic places, there are ice glaciers. Because the glaciers have a lower density than water, they float on the arctic water. This is very beneficial to the marine environment because the glaciers prevent the water from freezing, thus protecting the plants and animals. Also, I learned that people in La Paz, Bolivia actually rely on glacial melting for fresh water during dry spells, another great benefit of water’s density.

November 16, 2011 4:34 p.m.

When I’m studying how water effects the environment, I sometimes like to observe the simple changes water makes in my local community when I’m not at work. One thing that is easy to notice is the gradual weathering down of rocks and cement. This is often because of water rising up into small openings in the rocks or cement, causing them to expand and crack. This is called capillary action. Capillary action is responsible for allowing water to move through lots of small openings, such as roots of plants, or through tiny blood vessels in our bodies.

Also, in ponds you can sometimes see thin spiders moving around on the surface. This is made possible by water’s high surface tension. Surface tension makes water sticky and elastic. This makes what looks like an elastic film appear over drops of water and small bodies of water. Because it requires a certain amount of energy to break through it, small creatures are able to move on it, as if it’s a sheet of ice. One intriguing creature that lives on the water is the diving bell spider, which actually spins its web on the water’s surface.

November 16, 2011 6:20 p.m.

After more weather predictions and a final 6:00 live forecast, it is time for me to go home from work. I really enjoy having the opportunity to work in such a science-filled career and constantly being able to learn and observe new things about simple subjects and materials. There are always so many things to explore and teach others. That is my favorite part of being a weatherman.