[Intro Playing]

Jessi: Welcome back to the fort! Squeaks and I are spending the day inside... because it’s raining! It rained yesterday too, and I remember that, because I wrote it down in my weather journal. My weather journal is where I write down what the weather is like every day.

Do you keep a weather journal? Well, you can! It’s easy! Each day, you just look out your window or step outside, and see what the weather is like. Then, you write it down--or draw a picture, like Squeaks does--of what you see. There are a few different kinds of weather to look for. It can be rainy, like it is today. Or sunny, when the sun is high in the sky, and shining bright. Or when there’s no sun, but lots of clouds, that’s cloudy! There’s also snowy, when snowflakes fall from the sky. And windy, when you might need to hold onto your hat!

Weather can be unpredictable, it’s hard to guess what’s gonna happen next. It can be cloudy one day and sunny the next. But over long periods of time, weather often follows certain patterns. For example, it might be mostly sunny in the summer, but it might snow a lot in the winter. So depending on what season it is where you live, the weather might have a certain pattern.

If you’re in the middle of a season, like summer, you might notice it’s sunny and warm for five days in a row. That’s a pattern! But if the season is changing, the weather might not follow a pattern that’s easy to guess. Say, if winter is ending, you might find that a few days are colder and windier, but then the next few days are sunny and warm. That’s because the season is changing, going from a chillier winter to a warmer spring.

That’s why I like to keep a weather journal, to see what weather patterns I can observe for myself! Scientists who study the weather every day, as their job, are called meteorologists. But you don’t have to be a meteorologist to watch the weather where you live. In fact, all you need is a notebook, a pencil or crayon... and a thermometer! Besides going outside to see and feel what the weather is like, you can also look at a thermometer to find out more about the weather.

This is a thermometer--it tells you what the temperature is outside -- how hot or cold it is outside. The higher the liquid is inside of the thermometer, the hotter it is outside. And the lower the liquid is, the colder it is outside. If you want to keep a weather journal like I do, then you might want to see if your family can get an outdoor thermometer, to help you record the temperature. Then, every day, you can look outside and write down what you see -- or draw a picture! Next, look at the temperature on your thermometer and write down how hot or cold it is. Just look for the line on the thermometer that’s closest to the top of the liquid. That’s your temperature!

I like to write in my weather journal at the same time every day, right after breakfast. You can pick a time that works for you, and observe the weather at that same time every day for five days. After five days, look back through your weather journal, what was the weather like this week? Did you see any patterns? Can you guess what the weather might be like on the sixth day, based on what you’ve seen already? Share your journal with your friends! And, if you want, you can keep observing the weather for more than five days.

If you watch the weather for, say, a whole month, you’ll be able to watch the weather change. In fact, you’ll probably see at least of few of the different types of weather that we talked about earlier -- a mix of sunny, cloudy, and rainy days. And if you keep your weather journal for a whole year, you’ll be able to see the weather where you live at its hottest and its coldest. And you’ll have a list -- either in your words or your pictures -- of everything that happened that year. Then you'll know when the first snow of winter was, The highest and lowest temperatures of the year, And if it rained more some times the year, than others. So grab your notebook and get outside, it’s time to watch the weather!

Thanks for joining us on SciShow Kids, And remember, if you have a question for any of us here at the fort, let us know by leaving a comment or emailing us at kids@thescishow.com, and we’ll see you next time.