Weather Merit Badge, Beginner Level

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,602 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—7,898 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

For this week’s Garden Gate/Weather Beginner Level Merit Badge, I stepped outside. I mean that literally. And not just that, but I decided to stay there for a minute. This is big for me because I’m not one to explore the great outdoors unless the weather is like, 74 degrees.

I know, I know. I’m spoiled rotten.

I do pay attention to the weather though. Take my Weather Rock, for instance. It’s SO much more reliable than watching the news forecast each morning. I simply pull aside my curtain and take a peek at my Weather Rock:

If it’s wet, it’s raining.

If it’s dry, it’s not.

If it’s warm, it’s sunny.

If it’s white, it’s snowing.

If it’s gone, it’s windy.

Pretty much fool-proof.

Anyway though, I have to confess anything I learned about weather I learned in kindergarten. And since I was mostly eating paste, spilling glitter, and making batty eyelashes at Ken, the info didn’t stick with me. I guess you could say, if it isn’t in the Itsy-Bitsy Spider song, I don’t know Jack.

Am I mixing metaphors? Sorry.

So I got myself over to the local public library, and I am not ashamed to say I went to the kid’s section. Hey, I like illustrations, okay? Don’t judge. After some help from my friendly librarian (who may or may not have been under the assumption that I had children), I came home with a great stack of books on such fascinating subjects as:

Atmospheric pressure (Earth’s atmosphere pressing against us as we speak. It’s in my bubble!)

Barometers (How to measure said pressure.)

High and low pressure systems (High is cooler weather, low is wet and stormy.)

Air masses (The volume of air.)

Weather formations (Self-explanatory, even for moi.)

I made myself a snack, checked on my Weather Rock (dry), and dug in. I learned all sorts of stuff I didn’t know before (merit badges have a way of doing that), and lo and behold, it actually made sense. I won’t ruin it for you to earn yourself, but this weather stuff is actually pretty interesting. I even began to daydream about being a meteorologist. This career choice had actually occurred to me before, back when I was rocking the pinstripe suits and heels and high, high hair. The higher the hair, the closer to the atmospheric pressure, you know!

Ha!

Just a little weather-girl humor there.

I wondered if, perhaps, there was a more scientific approach to weather forecasting besides my rock. Like, uh, science.

I don’t know that I’m ready for full-on predictions yet, but at least I can experience the weather outside with a degree of knowledge and education. And, last but not least, I’m also learning to be happy whatever the weather and spend a little time each day outdoors. I guess you could say I’m my own Weather Rock now.

(At at the moment, if you must know, I’m a little damp).