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Weather Or Not?

© Katherine Austinson

Living in the Midwest, I've seen all kinds of weather. I've been stranded along the road in blinding sub-zero blizzards, caught off-guard by passing tornadoes, stranding under trees during hail storms and hanging on for dear life during windstorms.

Though I am far from an expert, apparently all this weather can be predicted by watching the high-pressure or low-pressure systems passing through the neighborhood. Or so our weather people tell us on the evening news. If you've ever wondered just how to sense these systems yourself then you're gonna love this next part!

You can predict the weather by watching the bubbles in you coffee cup!

Go pour yourself a fresh cup. Now, check out the bubbles forming just after you pour it. Are they staying in the center of your cup? Then you've got a high-pressure system over your head. The high pressure creates a dip in the liquid so the bubbles collect there.

If you're in a low-pressure system, your bubbles are on the outside rim of your coffee. It's all because the low pressure makes a slight rise in the center of your coffee.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website, "Low pressure is associated with bad weather (sailor take warning), and high pressure with good weather (sailor's delight). Low pressure causes air to converge (to try to "fill" the low), and converging air causes upward motion, which in turn produces clouds and precipitation. In contrast, air diverges from the center of a high-pressure area. This causes downward motion, which suppresses cloud formation."

So now that you know what the weather is doing, what are you going to do with the rest of your day? That's right - pour another cup of java and I'm sure it will come to you!!

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