My 12 yr old daughter is facinated with the weather after a near brush with a tornado a few years ago. I was wondering if you could tell me how to fan the flames of her interest. Are there any weather camps in the Raleigh area? Any great websights or books we should check out? Would it be possible to come and visit the weather center at WRAL if we brought a small group of kids? We homeschool and are always looking for great fieldtrips. Thanks for any help you can offer.

MIKE MOSS SAYS:      Lisa,      I can't think of a weather camp as such, but you might be able to arrange a tour of the National Weather Service Office in Raleigh (see their site at http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/rah/ where you will find both a "virtual tour" and a tour request link toward the bottom left of the page), and as far as our station there is a tour request link under the FAQ section of the "WRAL" area of the web site.

Otherwise, there are dozens of great weather-related web sites. Some of the more general that focus on education and a nice overview of the field include

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream//

and

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/home.rxml

Some good information on meteorology as a career is available through the American Meteorological Society at

http://www.ametsoc.org/AtmosCareers/index.html

Finally, a visit to the library should turn up any number of good general interest meteorology books. Good luck!