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You may have heard the expression, “Everyone talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it.” Well, we do talk about weather all the time, because this powerful force of nature affects everything we do.
As sophisticated as the modern world is, we are still pretty much at the mercy of the weather. We cancel picnics when it rains and sometimes get a day off from school when it snows. Warm, sunny days and rain help crops grow, but too much of either kills them. A storm like a tornado can cause millions of dollars in damage and take many lives.
Rain, snow, hot sunny days, wind—what creates these and all the other events we call weather? Heat from the Sun. Have you ever noticed how water boiling on the stove churns and moves around the pot? That’s exactly what happens when the Sun heats up the atmosphere, the layer of gases that surrounds Earth. All this movement gives us weather in all its great variety, from the wildest storms of winter to the most pleasant, sunny days of summer.
