ABOUT LIVE FROM THE STORM

   Hurricanes... tornadoes... winter storms... El Niño and La Niña... no matter where you live weather and climate impact your daily existence, and these 4 phenomena will be our focus in LIVE FROM THE STORM. But we look at these extreme weather events and the impressive visuals which show them in order to bring to life the fundamental forces which shape all weather--the Sun's energy and seasonal variations in day and night; how ocean and land warm and cool in different ways; how pressure gradients give birth to the winds.

   Our video crews have been to the West Coast of Africa to document experiments tracking the birth of East Coast hurricanes. We've flown through the eye of a hurricane with NOAA researchers seeking clues to where the storm will go and how intense it will become. We're on location in the mountains high about Salt Lake City with scientists using planes, balloons and "Doppler On Wheels" to study winter storms and intense snowfall. Throughout Spring 2000, we'll be roaming the Great Plains following the researchers who chase tornadoes, trying to find out what makes some 25% of intense super-cell thunderstorms give birth to twisters. Our editing room is awash with amazing scientific visualizations from NOAA, NCAR (the National Center for Atmospheric Research) and NASA, which show the origin and evolution of storms and severe weather of all kinds. All those popular specials you've seen on cable, with spectacular disaster footage that promise to explore your world? LIVE FROM THE STORM will go further: our interactive educational project will help EXPLAIN our world.

PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE also offers a 64-page Teacher's Guide, similar in format and philosophy to those accompanying LIVE FROM ANTARCTICA, LIVE FROM MARS, LIVE FROM THE RAINFOREST and LIVE FROM THE SUN, and an oversized, full-color poster. Developed by classroom teachers working closely with media producers and working researchers, the Guide contains more than 20 hands-on Activities directly related to the real-world weather seen on camera. Following the pedagogically-sound ENGAGE, EXPLORE, EXPLAIN, EXPAND format, the LIVE FROM THE STORM Guide provides a rich menu of constructivist, inquiry-based options, adaptable to just about any educational environment and grade level. The Guide and accompanying student worksheets are also accessible online in PDF format, as well as the more convenient printed format.

Online, if you're an educator or parent, you're invited to sign up for DISCUSS-STORM, our moderated forum for teacher-with-teacher sharing. If you're a student, subscribe to WRITE-STORM, and let us and students across the nation and around the world hear your stories about weather and climate. Want to know all the latest about LIVE FROM THE STORM? Sign up for UPDATES-STORM, our weekly online newsletter.

You're already at our full-featured website. We've tried to make this a comprehensive companion to the video and hands-on activities specific to LIVE FROM THE STORM, while also ensuring it's a "portal" to the wealth of excellent weather and climate materials already available on the web. Explore our site and you'll find explanatory animations, SITE TOURS of key NOAA research labs, BIOGRAPHIES and FIELD JOURNALS to take you behind the scenes to experience the personal stories of weather researchers, and much more. Awesome images, fascinating characters, fundamental science--we think LIVE FROM THE STORM is going to be one of the best PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE adventures yet, and we're glad you've joined us!

Questions, comments or to order LIVE FROM THE STORM materials?
Send e-mail to ptkinfo@passporttoknowledge.com and PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE will be back to you in a flash!