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FreeSchool

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All About Volcanoes for Children: Introduction to Volcanoes for Kids - FreeSchool

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NOAH

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National Weather Service: Current Weather Hazards

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National Weather Service: Current Weather Hazards

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NWS Columbia SC Student and Teacher Resources

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National Geographic Interactive Biomes Mapping

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National Geographic Interactive Biomes Mapping

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Difference Between Weather and Climate | Science Lesson for Kids (Grades 3-5)

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Do you know what the difference between weather and climate is? Watch this fun weather & climate video for kids in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade to learn more.

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Weather is a specific event-like a rainstorm or hot day-that happens over a few hours, days or weeks. Climate is the average weather conditions in a place over 30 years or more. NASA has observed that Earth's climate is getting warmer.

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The Difference Between Weather vs. Climate | CBC Kids

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What's the Difference Between Weather and Climate?

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What's the Difference Between Weather and Climate?

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NASA and UN

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What's the Difference Between Weather and Climate?

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A little zany but lots of information

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Climate Zones of the Earth - The Dr. Binocs Show | Best Learning Videos For kids | Dr Binocs

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Britannica

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Most natural disasters are impossible to prevent. The forces of nature that cause them are beyond the control of humans. Their effects, however, may be reduced in several ways: by preparing for natural disasters, by preventing them where possible, and by reducing the impact they have on people.

Preparing for Natural Disasters

Developed countries that suffer from earthquakes, such as Japan and the United States, have buildings that can stand up to all but the most powerful earthquakes. Storm shelters can be built to provide a safe place for people to stay during hurricanes and tornadoes.

The Thames Barrier, in England, was built to protect London from flooding. This type of preparation is less common in developing countries because it can be very expensive.

Preventing Natural Disasters

Natural disasters that occur because of the movement of Earth's plates cannot be prevented, but some others may be preventable. Protecting the environment, for example, may prevent disasters such as avalanches and landslides. Trees on hillsides help keep snow and soil in place. If too many trees are cut down, then avalanches and landslides are more likely to happen. Flooding can be prevented in some places by strengthening a river's edges, building dams, and redirecting floodwater away from towns.

Reducing the Effects of Natural Disasters

The effects of natural disasters can be reduced in two main ways. Warning systems can tell people to prepare for a disaster, and relief agencies can help deal with the problems caused by the disaster.

Sensible planning can also prevent deaths from natural disasters. For example, people can choose not to build towns on the sides of volcanoes, in active earthquake zones, or on floodplains.

Early Warning Systems

Early warning systems can pick up clues that a natural disaster may occur. They can then send a warning message to the people it might affect. Flood and severe weather warning messages are often broadcast on television, radio, and the Internet.

Places at risk of natural disasters often have evacuation plans in place so people can get out of the area before the disaster happens. People are also taught how to cope when disaster strikes, such as keeping supplies of food and water nearby.

Relief Agencies

Relief agencies, such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent and Oxfam, help support the victims of natural disasters. These organizations set up temporary camps; provide food, medical care, and education; and help people rebuild their lives if necessary.

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Natural disasters are violent events that are outside the control of humans. They are caused by the forces of nature and may result in loss of life, injury, and damage to...

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Offers several languages as choices

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Disasters don't plan ahead. You can. Know what disasters and hazards could affect your area and learn what to do before, during, and after each type of emergency.

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National Geographic

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The Dr. Binocs Show. A little zany but full of info

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Hurricane | The Dr. Binocs Show | Educational Videos For Kids

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LearnBright

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Hurricanes for Kids | What is a Hurricane? How are Hurricanes Formed? Learn these answers and more!

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BBC

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How a Hurricane Is Born | The Science of Superstorms | BBC

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National Geographic

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Causes and Effects of Climate Change | National Geographic

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National Geographic

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Climate 101: Glaciers | National Geographic

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National Geographic

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Supervolcanoes 101 | National Geographic

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National Geographic

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Ted-Ed

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NOAH

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DEMYSTIFIED: How do tornadoes form? | Encyclopaedia Britannica

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NASA

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The Planet Voice

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Melting Glaciers | Causes, Effects and Solutions | The Planet Voice

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What Happens if All the Ice on the Earth Melts?

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What Happens if All the Ice on the Earth Melts?

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GeoGlobe

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If All the Ice on Earth Melts 🧊 Global Flood Map 🌍

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Neil deGrasse Tyson

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What Happens When Glaciers Melt 🧐 w/ Neil deGrasse Tyson

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LearnBright

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Floods for Kids | Learn about the three types of floods

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National Geographic

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Red Cross

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Weather Together

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Flooding preparedness tips Weather Together toolkit

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LearnBright

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Earthquakes for Kids STEM | Learn why earthquakes happen and how to measure them

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CBC

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Understanding earthquakes: The science behind what makes the earth shake | CBC Kids News

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National Geographic

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Tectonic Plates and Earthquakes | Motion Graphics | Pixeldust Studios

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What Causes a Tsunami | How Tsunamis are Formed | Animation Studio | 212-789-9077

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Ted-Ed

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The science of tsunami | How does an Earthquake cause Tsunami | Education.

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LearnBright

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Volcanoes for Kids | A fun and engaging introduction to volcanoes for children

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National Geographic

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Weather Wiz Kids

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Weather Wiz Kids weather information for kids

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Weather Wiz Kids is a fun and safe website for kids about all the weather info they need to know. It contains tools for weather education, including weather games, activities, experiments, photos, a glossary and educational teaching materials for the classroom.

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The Dr. Binocs Show - a little zany but useful

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Drought - The Dr. Binocs Show | Best Learning Videos For Kids | Peekaboo Kidz

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Bureau of Meteorology, Australia

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Bureau of Meteorology, Australia

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Climate Space

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Drought Explained: Causes and Consequences - A Short Documentary

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National Geographic

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The Telegraph

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What causes a wildfire? | Natural Disasters

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Bureau of Meteorology

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Bureau of Meteorology, Australia

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Is the weather actually becoming more extreme? - R. Saravanan

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Here are the ten biggest tsunamis in recorded history, ranked by the devastation they wrought.

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011 showed just how vulnerable modern society is to the power of Mother Nature. While tsunamis were largely unknown to the wider public before the hugely destructive 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, they have occurred many times in the past.

Tsunamis can be generated by any significant displacement of water in oceans or lakes, though are most commonly created by the movement of tectonic plates under the ocean floor, during an earthquake. But they can also be caused by volcanic eruptions, glacial carving, meteorite impacts or landslides.

Larger tsunamis don't alway cause the most destruction

Tsunamis have occurred often throughout history. So frequently in Japan, in fact, that they invented the word specifically for the phenomenon: ' tsu' meaning harbour and ' nami ' meaning wave.

"It's actually quite frightening to think that this [Japanese tsunami] event is smaller than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, smaller even than the 1960 Chilean tsunami, yet the damage to Japan's people and economy is still profound," says Professor James Goff, co-director of the Australian Tsunami Research Centre and Natural Hazards Research Lab at the University of New South Wales. "It's a horrendous tragedy, caused by a completely unpredictable event."

Because little historical data exist on the size of tsunami waves, how many occur in one event, or how far they advance on shore, scientists rank them according to how much damage they wreak. However, assessing just how much damage a single tsunami event causes may take many months to years; and it may be some time before the Japan earthquake and tsunami can be truly rated on a historical scale.

1. Sumatra, Indonesia - 26 December 2004

The 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra was estimated to occur at a depth of 30 km. The fault zone that caused the tsunami was roughly 1300 km long, vertically displacing the sea floor by several metres along that length. The ensuing tsunami was as tall as 50 m, reaching 5 km inland near Meubolah, Sumatra. This tsunami is also the most widely recorded, with nearly one thousand combined tide gauge and eyewitness measurements from around the world reporting a rise in wave height, including places in the US, the UK and Antarctica. An estimated US$10b of damages is attributed to the disaster, with around 230,000 people reported dead.

2. North Pacific Coast, Japan - 11 March 2011

A powerful tsunami travelling 800km per hour with 10m-high waves swept over the east coast of Japan, killing more than 18,000 people. The tsunami was spawned by an 9.0 magnitude earthquake that reached depths of 24.4km- making it the fourth-largest earthquake ever recorded. Approximately 452,000 people were relocated to shelters, and still remain displaced from their destroyed homes. The violent shaking resulted in a nuclear emergency, in which the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began leaking radioactive steam. The World Bank estimates that it could take Japan up to five years to financially overcome the $235 billion damages.

3. Lisbon, Portugal - 1 November 1755

A magnitude 8.5 earthquake caused a series of three huge waves to strike various towns along the west coast of Portugal and southern Spain, up to 30 m high, in some places. The tsunami affected waves as far away as Carlisle Bay, Barbados, where waves were said to rise by 1.5 m. The earthquake and ensuing tsunami killed 60,000 in the Portugal, Morocco and Spain.

4. Krakatau, Indonesia - 27 August 1883

This tsunami event is actually linked to the explosion of the Krakatau caldera volcano. Multiple waves as high as 37 m were propagated by the violent eruptions and demolished the towns of Anjer and Merak. The sea was reported to recede from the shore at Bombay, India and is said to have killed one person in Sri Lanka. This event killed around 40,000 people in total; however, as many as 2,000 deaths can be attributed directly to the volcanic eruptions, rather than the ensuing tsunami.

5. Enshunada Sea, Japan - 20 September 1498

An earthquake, estimated to have been at least magnitude 8.3, caused tsunami waves along the coasts of Kii, Mikawa, Surugu, Izu and Sagami. The waves were powerful enough to breach a spit, which had previously separated Lake Hamana from the sea. There were reports of homes flooding and being swept away throughout the region, with a total of at least 31,000 people killed.

6. Nankaido, Japan - 28 October 1707

A magnitude 8.4 earthquake caused sea waves as high as 25 m to hammer into the Pacific coasts of Kyushyu, Shikoku and Honshin. Osaka was also damaged. A total of nearly 30,000 buildings were damaged in the affected regions and about 30,000 people were killed. It was reported that roughly a dozen large waves were counted between 3 pm and 4 pm, some of them extending several kilometres inland at Kochi.

7. Sanriku, Japan - 15 June 1896

This tsunami propagated after an estimated magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurred off the coast of Sanriku, Japan. The tsunami was reported at Shirahama to have reached a height of 38.2 m, causing damage to more than 11,000 homes and killing some 22,000 people. Reports have also been found that chronicle a corresponding tsunami hitting the east coast of China, killing around 4000 people and doing extensive damage to local crops.

8. Northern Chile - 13 August 1868

This tsunami event was caused by a series of two significant earthquakes, estimated at a magnitude of 8.5, off the coast of Arica, Peru (now Chile). The ensuing waves affected the entire Pacific Rim, with waves reported to be up to 21 m high, which lasted between two and three days. The Arica tsunami was registered by six tide gauges, as far off as Sydney, Australia. A total of 25,000 deaths and an estimated US$300 million in damages were caused by the tsunami and earthquakes combined along the Peru-Chile coast.

9. Ryuku Islands, Japan - 24 April 1771

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake is believed to have caused a tsunami that damaged a large number of islands in the region; however, the most serious damage was restricted to Ishigaki and Miyako Islands. It is commonly cited that the waves that struck Ishigaki Island was 85.4 m high, but it appears this is due to a confusion of the original Japanese measurements, and is more accurately estimated to have been around 11 to 15 m high. The tsunami destroyed a total of 3,137 homes, killing nearly 12,000 people in total.

10. Ise Bay, Japan - 18 January 1586

The earthquake that caused the Ise Bay tsunami is best estimated as being of magnitude 8.2. The waves rose to a height of 6m, causing damage to a number of towns. The town of Nagahama experienced an outbreak of fire as the earthquake first occurred, destroying half the city. It is reported that the nearby Lake Biwa surged over the town, leaving no trace except for the castle. The Ise Bay tsunamis caused more than 8000 deaths and a large amount damage.

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Read more about the 10 biggest tsunamis in recorded history, ranked by the destruction and devastation they wrought.

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IMO-WMO

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Heatwave intensity varies. Most people can generally manage during low-intensity heatwaves, but as heatwave intensity increases, vulnerable people and people with pre-existing conditions need a warning to protect themselves.

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Heatwave intensity varies. Most people can generally manage during low-intensity heatwaves, but as heatwave intensity increases, vulnerable people and people with pre-existing conditions need a warning to protect themselves.

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Dangerous Heat

For some, a heat wave might sound like an excuse to run around with a hose or into some sprinklers. In reality, though, heat waves are no laughing matter. They are serious weather phenomena that can be quite dangerous.

You see, there's hot and then there's HOT. One example of a HOT time was in late June and early July 2012 in the United States. During that time period, more than 8,000 warm temperature records were broken or tied. Many of these records had been unchallenged since the 1930s. Roads actually buckled in Chicago. Many deaths were attributed to the heat nationwide.

How Do Heat Waves Form?

Heat waves are generally the result of trapped air. During the 2012 heat wave, air was trapped above much of North America for a long period of time. As opposed to cycling around the globe, it simply stayed put and warmed like the air inside an oven.

The culprit? A high-pressure system from Mexico. Between June 20th and June 23rd, this system migrated north. It grew in size, and it parked itself over the Great Plains of the United States.

High-pressure systems force air downward. This force prevents air near the ground from rising. The sinking air acts like a cap. It traps warm ground air in place. Without rising air, there was no rain, and nothing to prevent the hot air from getting hotter.

But that wasn't all. A weather pattern that normally pulls air toward the east was also weaker at the time. That meant that there was little that could be done to push this high-pressure cap out of the way.

Heat Wave Safety

Heat waves like this may be less exciting or dramatic than other natural disasters like tornados, hurricanes, flooding, or even thunderstorms, but heat waves kill more people in the United States than all other weather-related disasters combined.

Check out the sidebar to learn more about what you can do to stay safe!

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How did the Youth Climate Movement Begin?

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How did the Youth Climate Movement Begin?

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BBC

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How did the Youth Climate Movement begin? - BBC My World

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Our campaign to ban plastic bags in Bali | Melati and Isabel Wijsen

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AYCM Qatar | Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar | Environmental Advocacy

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Discover Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar, a non-profit dedicated to environmental awareness, advocacy, and sustainable policy research in the Arab world.

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A Masdar global initiative that empowers the next generation of sustainability leaders.

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Xiuhtezcatl Martinez's speech : a young eco-activist

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Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

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Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

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The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace generates strategic ideas and independent analysis, supports diplomacy, and trains the next generation of international scholar-practitioners to help countries and institutions take on the most difficult global problems and advance peace.