TORNADOES
"They've been called winds of death and nature's most terrifying spectacles. They've been labeled random killers and the most violent creatures of the atmosphere. They've been described as a huge elephant trunk searching for food . . . a delicate dance of ghosts . . . a monstrous, writhing snake biting the ground . . . the snapping of a bull whip . . . a giant column surrounded by silvery ribbons .. . . "

WEATHER
"You may have heard the expression, 'Everyone talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it.' Well, we do talk about weather all the time, because this powerful force of nature affects everything we do. As sophisticated as the modern world is, we are still pretty much at the mercy of the weather. We cancel picnics when it rains and sometimes get a day off from school when it snows. . . "

CLIMATE
"If you are suffering through a hot, humid summer day, blame the weather. But, if year after year, most summer days where you live are hot and humid, blame the climate. Climate refers to the average weather conditions in a region over a long period of time. For example, near the equator, some hot, steamy tropical rain forests are drenched by about 160 inches of rain per year-every year. . . . "

HURRICANES
"Dark clouds fill the sky. It's the middle of the day, but it looks like night. The wind howls. Rain pelts the ground so hard that holes form in the mud. Tree branches bend and crack. Whole trees are uprooted and crash down. Store windows break. The roofs of buildings sail through the air. Electric wires send out sparks and dangle dangerously from broken utility poles. Signs fly across highways. . . . "

RAIN & SNOW
"Water takes many forms. Sometimes, it arrives as a howling hurricane. At other times, it creeps around as fog. Water might pelt us as hail, or it might drift silently as snow. Every living thing on Earth needs water. In your lifetime, you will drink around 16,000 gallons of it. Though water covers two-thirds of Earth, most of it is salty, undrinkable ocean water. Only three percent is fresh, or no. . . "

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

• Wild Weather, by Caroline Harris & Warren Faidley. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
• Hurricane and Tornado (Eyewitness Books Series) by Jack Challoner. DK Publishing, Inc., 2004.
• Weather (Kingfisher Young Knowledge Series), by Caroline Harris. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.
• Amazing Weather, by Heather Maisner. School Specialty Publishing, 2006.
• Extreme Weather, by Terry J. Jennings. Smart Apple Media, 2005.

ADULT BOOKS

• Storms: Tales of Extreme Weather Events in Minnesota, by Martin Keller & Sheri O'Meara. D Media, 2006.
• Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest, by Ranulph Fiennes. Hyperion, 2005.
• Extreme Weather, by Peter Bunyard. Floris Books 2007.
• Superstorms: Extreme Weather in the Heart of the Heartland, by Terry Swails. Farcountry Press, 2005.
• Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book, by Christopher C. Burt. Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 2007.

WEBSITES

• National Weather Service Internet Weather Source
  weather.noaa.gov/
• Extreme Science, Weather:
  http://www.extremescience.com/weatherport.htm
• Discovery Channel Kids, Inside Tornadoes:
  http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tornado/tornado.html

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

• Federal Emergency Management Agency:
  FEMA: Telephone: 1 (800) 621-FEMA (3362)
  TDD: TTY users can dial 1 (800) 462-7585 to use the Federal Relay Service.