TM: (Teachers) Lightning

Transcript: Melissa Bell: Hi everyone! I'm WBTV's new meteorologist Melissa Bell. I started my career in television in 1996 at WALA, a Fox station in Mobile, AL, as the morning and noon meteorologist. I graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson with a BS in atmospheric science. I have worked in forecasting at the National Weather Service in Tucson. After that I worked for a software development company in VA on the AWIPS computer. NCCIU: AWIPS? Melissa Bell: The AWIPS computer is the new system for the National Weather Service, which acts as the main network and integrator with the other systems (e.g., Doppler, surface observation systems). The initial phase is now being deployed. Grace: Melissa, do you find the weather in Charlotte different from Tucson? Melissa Bell: Tucson weather is hot and dry, humidity in the afternoon in the single digit 5%. During the monsoon season, it's hot (100-110 degrees) with high humidity! So it isn't always a dry heat.
	TConnect#1: Melissa, hello! My name is Sarah Lawrence and I'm a technology teacher at an elementary school here in Raleigh. I am visiting Teachers Connect at DPI today. My 8-year-old daughter is also named Melissa and is fascinated by jobs that people named Melissa have. How did you become interested in atmospheric science? Melissa Bell: I have always been interested in science and math...ever since primary school. Of course on the flip side, I've never been one for English. NCCIU: Melissa, I assume you took physics in high school. Any advice on how to get more students, especially girls, to take physics? Melissa Bell: I took a total of 6 years of math and 6 years of science during my 4 years of high school. 2 of the 6 were dedicated to physics, which turned out to be my favorite subject. TConnect#1: Melissa, I wanted to be an astronaut and took science and math in HS and college. But I became a middle school science teacher. Sometimes I wonder which is really more dangerous! Melissa Bell: My science classes have always had more boys than girls. NCCIU: It is a shame that so few American students even take physics. It is a science that is applicable in our lives daily. Melissa Bell: We should encourage girls to study the sciences...physics, which is what atmospheric science/meteorology basically is has been the most interesting and tangible science to me. TConnect#1: One of my physics classes in college was all boys, except me! Whenever anything went wrong, all the guys would say, "The girl did it" whether I was in the vicinity of the problem or not. But otherwise, they treated me as just one of the "guys". Melissa Bell: Exactly! Remembering back to HS one would have to take biology and chemistry before physics. Since many students only had to take 2 years of science in HS, they never got to physics and that is a shame. NCCIU: Is it the math that scares students off? In Russia they consider physics math. Melissa Bell: Math does scare many students. And physics is definitely calculus and that's true for atmospheric science...yes, bottom line, it's all calculus. TConnect#1: How did the majority of guys make you feel in classes where they were the majority? Melissa Bell: I never had a problem with the guys in class. In college, again the minority, we had an equal respect for each other.
Melissa Bell: So any questions? NCCIU: When are we going to get rain? I am in Raleigh. Melissa Bell: Raleigh...you may get some tomorrow...if you are lucky. Scattered showers possible. Grace: Which kind of weather do you find most exciting to report? Melissa Bell: My favorite weather...severe of course. Severe thunderstorms related to synoptic scale weather systems
	NCCIU: What is La Nina doing and how will it affect our winter? Melissa Bell: The La Nina event that is occurring now is the opposite of El Nino. El Nino - the warming of the eastern Pacific, La Nina - the cooling of the same region. Typically a reversal of weather patterns occurs. El Nino deters hurricanes in the Atlantic, La Nina is believed to enhance them. There are different theories about how La Nina will affect us in the upcoming months...trends towards warmer temps across the deep south and colder that usual to the north. It also is a player with the precipitation trends. NCCIU: I hope that means we won't have ice and snow. Let's hope we don't have too many cold rainy days.
Grace: My son is having an outdoor wedding Saturday at 7:30pm at Grandfather Mountain. Will we be happy with the weather there/then? Melissa Bell: This Saturday is the wedding? Congratulations! Well, I hope the weather cooperates. I don't think skies will be completely cleared by then. Slight chance for showers. TConnect#1: What did you think of the movie twister? Melissa Bell: Yes, I saw twister. Not bad. Some chase scenes bit ridiculous. Grace: Have you ever been interested in "chasing" hurricanes or tornadoes? Melissa Bell: I've chased hurricanes...it's fun for a little while, then being battered by wind and rain, being cold and wet takes it toll. I have not successfully chased a tornado.
	TConnect#1: What are synoptic scale weather systems? Melissa Bell: The term synoptic describes the size of the weather system...Large organized system made of a mid-latitude area of low pressure, cold front, warm front... NCCIU: Thanks for the definition! Melissa Bell: Mesoscale is the other term that describes a smaller weather system such as a sea breeze circulation or convective thunderstorms. Melissa Bell: Any questions about lightning? Or lightning safety? NCCIU: Well before I go I do have one question. A friend of mine wrote me about a lightning storm during a snowstorm? How can that happen and how often does it happen? Melissa Bell: Do you cover lightning in class? NCCIU: This was in Moscow, Russia. Melissa Bell: It's called thundersnow...and it isn't very common. But it can happen. Lightning doesn't only happen in thunderstorms. When particles in the atmosphere (e.g., water, snow, sand), negative/positive charge can build up on them. More wind velocity helps to create a charge differential that leads to lightning.
TConnect#1: I hate to say this, but as a northerner, I wish we could get more snow in NC. Are there any predictions about snow this winter? Melissa Bell: I don't have the long forecasts for snow right now. We'll wait and see. Melissa Bell: Any more questions? TC: What leads to what is referred to as "heat lightning"? Where are the charges building up? Melissa Bell: Heat lightning is misleading...when we see the sky light-up with no flash of lightning...it is just lightning that is occurring at such a distance that you don't see the actual flash. Melissa Bell: Feel free to email me at work - mbell@wbtv.com - if you have questions in the future. NCCIU: Again thanks Melissa! I hope the science teachers in the Charlotte area will invite you into their classrooms to help encourage girls to go into science. Melissa Bell: Since I am new to Charlotte, I haven't been asked to come to any schools yet. But I am available M-F just about anytime after 9 am. I really enjoyed talking to the kids when I was in Mobile. I would like to get to kids involved with a weather segment on the morning show...get video of the them from a talk...and their questions... TC: Well, thanks for being here for us today! Grace: Melissa, thanks for being with us today. It has been great!