HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Western Kentucky University’s on-campus weather service, White Squirrel Weather Team, travels with a mobile unit for outreach and education as well as helping with on-site weather-related decision making.

Students at Randolph School were rotated through stations focused on severe and tropical weather, weather versus climate, and storm chasing.

Students asked engaging questions about how storm chasers avoid getting hurt, why water vapor is important and how do you know where a tornado is headed?

“I have been a little scared of weather before and tornadoes, but now that I’m older I’m a little interested in it,” 6th grader Hailie Frost said.

The university team created the mobile unit to have access to all weather data and use it as a mobile classroom and mobile forecast lab.

“It does affect everything that goes on in the world,” said university meteorologist Josh Durkee. “Whether you’re into art, music, sports, whatever your likes are, whatever your interests are, weather plays a role and some decision in that.”

They teach that meteorology is a lot more than what the average person sees on TV. Meteorology includes lots of research, lab forecasting, and application for all sorts of things.

The university team says that if the kids take away one thing from this experience, they hope it’s that they learn that weather is involved in everything they do, every single day.