Matt The Cat: Weather Explorer

By: Frank Rusch & Ryan Johnson

Introduction

My name is Matt the cat. I am a weather cat know it all. I travel all over the United States to study weather patterns. I will tell you all about my adventure that taught me many things about the weather. I will start with the plane ride....

Part 1: The journey through Weather I was traveling through Florida on a plane. My master was stroking my back gently

with his fingers. He was trying to follow a fast moving storm that had caused much damage to villages and cities. He looked out the window on the plane and started to mumble. "The sun heats up the ocean through convection,"(convection is heat being transferred by moving through the air.)"and then the moving heat creates winds and ocean currents. But convected heat moves through the atmosphere in patterns. Since the wind..." I rolled my eyes as my master droned on and on. I already knew that the suns energy created wind patterns and the wind patterns moved in different directions based on where they are the Earth and bla bla bla. It was all so BORING! A sudden jolt from the plane interrupted my train of thought. There was a crackling sound and then the pilot's voice came on the speakers. He announced "Ladies and gentlemen, please buckle your seat belt since we are passing through a low pressure air front." A low pressure air front is a wave of air that is not dense and generally warm. The pilot spoke again. "We are experiencing strong winds due to hurricane AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!!!! which was named by the locals as they ran away from the storm's wave of destruction in terror." My master looked up and quietly said, " Hmm, that hurricane was formed by a low pressure front coming from

Part 1: continued the southeast that clashed with a high pressure front coming from the northwest. Both

fronts were being moved by strong winds and they came together in between the trade winds and horse latitudes. (both are different patterns of wind currents that are caused by the suns energy and are also affected by the coriolis effect. (the Coriolis effect is caused by the Earths rotation and it makes winds and currents in the northern hemisphere flow counter clockwise and the southern hemisphere to flow clockwise. This hurricane is in the northern hemisphere so it turns counter clockwise. This could turn into a tornado!!!"

"Meow."(Master, please be quiet.) I asked. He looked at me and said " What's that Matt? Do you want a ..... TREAT? Meow...(No) I replied in a bitter voice. "My master is so annoying" I thought. "Here." he said and gave me a tuna treat. I stared at it thinking "I don't want it!!! Wait, yes i do!! No! Yes! No! Yes! No! Yes! Must resist! Must RESSSIIST!!!" Within 3 seconds I had eaten the treat. My master continued to mumble: The Atlantic Ocean currents also fueled the the Hurricane continuously. The currents brought warm water north which ended putting moisture in the air. (Currents are an area of water that moves in a specific direction with different temperatures and moisture is water in the air.)

Part 1: continued (again) I wish that my master would just stop talking. I don't know why he mumbles so much

about weather stuff and I don't care. "Based on where the hurricane is in comparison to where we are, the prevailing westerlies will bring it straight to us," he continued to mumble. That made my ears perk up. I tried to talk to my master. "Meow." (Oh No.) "Do you want another treat, Matt?" my master responded. I put my paw on my face and said "Meow..." (You never listen, do you?) He put a treat in front of me and I scratched him for not listening. He ignored me. But then there was a thundering explosion and a blinding flash and everything went black.

Part 2: Dr. Grumpy Cat I woke up falling slowly. I looked around and saw other people slowly gliding down into

the ocean water. "The plane was struck by lightning!!" I thought. I looked up and saw a smoke trail as the plane plummeted towards the ocean. I landed in the water. I couldn't swim but luckily my master grabbed me and kept me out of the water. Everyone immediately swam for a small island that was nearby. We climbed on the shore and then the pilot did a head-count. Everyone was here and no one was hurt. Meow! (Nooo!! The really obnoxious kid is still talking. GGGGAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!) I said. My master decided to be curious and started to walk towards an abandoned shack at the top of a hill. Reluctantly, I followed him. We entered the shack and looked around the dark room and found satellite equipment, barometers, and a strange looking machine that was making a constant, low humming sound. We stepped towards it. I then heard a loud creaking noise and the floor beneath us opened and we fell into darkness. I slide down a metal shoot for several yards and landed on the floor. I looked up and saw that I was in a room full of large tv monitors, control panels, and sitting on a tall chair right in front of me was a large black cat with an eyepatch over its left eye. Then he spoke to me in a German accent saying "Hello my fellow cat, I am Dr. Grumpy cat, and I intend to destroy the entire tri-state area!!!!!" Then he laughed menacingly.

I woke up falling slowly. I looked around and saw other people slowly gliding down into

the ocean water. "The plane was struck by lightning!!" I thought. I looked up and saw a

smoke trail as the plane plummeted towards the ocean. I landed in the water. I couldn't

swim but luckily my master grabbed me and kept me out of the water. Everyone

immediately swam for a small island that was nearby. We climbed on the shore and then

the pilot did a head-count. Everyone was here and no one was hurt. Meow! (Nooo!! The

really obnoxious kid is still talking. GGGGAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!) I said. My master

decided to be curious and started to walk towards an abandoned shack at the top of a

hill. Reluctantly, I followed him. We entered the shack and looked around the dark room

and found satellite equipment, barometers, and a strange looking machine that was

making a constant, low humming sound. We stepped towards it. I then heard a loud

creaking noise and the floor beneath us opened and we fell into darkness. I slide down a

metal shoot for several yards and landed on the floor. I looked up and saw that I was in a

room full of large tv monitors, control panels, and sitting on a tall chair right in front of me

was a large black cat with an eyepatch over its left eye. Then he spoke to me in a

German accent saying "Hello my fellow cat, I am Dr. Grumpy cat, and I intend to destroy

the entire tri-state area!!!!!" Then he laughed menacingly. Meow? (where's my master?) I

asked. Dr. Grumpy Cat replied "Oh, he is safe....for now! Now let me explain how I

Part 2: Continued intend to destroy Florida!" He laughed evilly. I sat down and prepared myself for the

long boring boring speech that was about to occur. "First I heat up the atmosphere with convection currents,(The atmosphere is a layer of air around the Earth) and the convection is caused by the heat from the sun's energy. That creates uneven heating of the Earth's Atmosphere which produces wind currents. Then the wind creates friction on the water and drags it in different directions. But the deeper the water is the less it moves. This creates Ocean currents, and ocean currents can affect weather when they move water with different temperatures to different areas. Believe it or not I created Hurricane AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!!!!, which was a very boring name." (I rolled my eyes at his lack of a sense of humor.) " I use these weather maps to monitor my progress. I use this machine, the Isotherminater to create several areas with the same temperature and connect them. This is also called an isotherm. It also creates different areas with the same air pressure and connects them. This is called an Isobar. I get my weather images using simulators and satellites. But to create this hurricane, I had to create a warm front moving north and a cold front moving south until they clashed together to form a stationary front which caused the air to swirl into the hurricane. Now, for my storm to cause the most damage, I-" (This is kind of interesting,) I thought (what else does he have to say?) I looked over to him and saw that he had stopped talking. I gestured for him to comtinue. Dr. Grumpy Cat cleared his throat and

Part 2: Continued continued. "As I was saying, in order for my storm to cause the most damage, I made it

produce several types of precipitation by creating different areas with drastic temperature changes. The types of precipitation are: rain (obviously), hail, sleet and even a small amount of snow, which is ridiculous for Florida! My storm also includes several different types of clouds such as cumulonimbus (storm clouds), cumulus (rain clouds), stratus clouds (low clouds that can turn into fog), and cirrus clouds (high clouds with little moisture. Most of the storm has reached a dew point, which is causing even more water damage Mwahahahaha!! (a dew point is where the air has reached a certain temperature and pressure that allows water to condense on many objects. I also use wind gauges to measure the wind speed and barometers to measure the air pressure so that I can be sure that my plan is working. Will you join me in my quest?" I looked at him with a bored expression on my face. "Really?" I said. "You kidnap my master and you expect me to join you? NO!!! Now let my master go!" Dr. Grumpy Cat shook with rage then pounced.

Part 3: Escape!!! As Dr. Grumpy Cat sailed through the air towards me he yelled "FLYING DEATH

KITTY!! YAAAA!!!! I HURT YOU FOR SERIOUS!!!!" I looked with a bored expression on my face and as soon as Dr. Grumpy Cat got within range I hit him with a solid left paw and knocked him out cold. I then got up, stretched leisurely then strolled over to the control panel. I looked at it and saw a button that said: SELF DESTRUCT, WILL DESTROY EQUIPMENT AND STOP STORM!!! I facepalmed. "Why would he have a self-destruct button? Criminals make no sense." I said. I then pushed the button and heard a loud crack as all of the machinery broke down. Then hole opened in the wall and my master fell out of it. He grabbed my and said "Matt, I'm so glad to see you!" he started to stroke me. "Meow. " (UNHAND ME YOU CRAZY MAN!!!) I exclaimed. My master replied with a sobbing voice "You're the best cat ever." Meow. (alright you can pet me) I said with reluctance. He picked me up and said. "Come on Matt, Let's go home. We walked down to the beach and saw that the storm had stopped. Everyone was cheering. Also, the captain found a boat and saw that the mainland wasn't very far away. (The boat must have belonged to Dr. Grumpy Cat, SUCKER!!) I thought. Everyone got on the boat and rode it to the nearest sea port.

Prologue

It has been three months since my adventure occurred. I hope you found it very interesting and inspiring. I can't wait for my next adventure with my master. See you later!

-Matt the Cat