Tuesday, April 28 - Nature Break

Hi Vikings and Friends,

Did you hear the thunderstorms last night? I thought it a little ironic that we had hail on our make-up snow day. But hail is definitely not something you experience every day, so if you're keeping a nature journal, you might want to include a little information about last night's storm. Most reports of hail indicated a diameter of 1.25'' to 1.75'', so you can include a sketch of the size. Did you know that if you split a hail stone in half, you can see rings inside? They form as the raindrop gets tossed higher into the atmosphere, freezes, falls back to warmer temperatures and gets tossed back up again and refreezes, until the air can no longer support the weight.

As you wander outside today, do you see any indications of the hail storm? We didn't find hail stones, but the storm definitely knocked some leaves, twigs, and bits of bark off of our trees. Fortunately, all of our plants survived the storm.

I hope you get to enjoy the cooler temperatures over the next couple of days. It's a perfect excuse to unplug and explore your backyard or neighborhood!

Happy Adventuring! -Mrs. Breclaw