Making It Rain – Inside?

March 24, 2017 News

Community Central youth have begun looking at climate and weather.
Can you make it rain, inside? Yes! Sort of.

Graph showing weather patterns
Using M&Ms youth at the Boys & Girls Club demonstrated how each year there were different amounts of weather types that contributed to the overall climate of Maine.

Using a few easily found/recycled materials youth found that when several forces work together a storm occurs: humidity, temperature, wind, and high/low-pressure systems. Several of these activities use supplies that you might have at home! Information about this and other climate activities can be found on the Cornell Cooperative Extension website.

How does climate differ from weather? Climate describes long-term trends, weather describes short-term trends.  Both Maine and Florida have days with colder or hotter weather, but Maine gets quite a bit colder during winter. Both areas have rainy days, but it is much more likely that a hurricane will occur near Florida than in Maine.

Young man and volunteer working on drawing a topographical map.
A volunteer at the Root Cellar – Lewiston looks on as a Community Central participant measures snowfall and begins creating a topographical map.

This material is based upon the work of 4-H Community Central Maine, a project supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States (U.S.) Department of Agriculture, through a cooperative agreement with The University of Maine under award number 2014-41520-22235

General information about the CYFAR grant program can be accessed on the
Children, Youth and Families at Risk (CYFAR) page (USDA website).

For further information about the CYFAR-funded project highlighted in this publication, contact:

CYFAR Project Name: 4-H Community Central Maine
Principal Investigator: Kristy L. Ouellette
Email Address: kristy.ouellette@maine.edu
Website: 4-H Community Central