Speaker 1: I spent one summer on Lake Michigan, where I got to be in a home that had the view of the lake. And if any of you have ever seen Lake Michigan, it looks just like the ocean.
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Speaker 2: You can see forever and ever and ever.
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Speaker 3: And so that summer, not only did I see many thunderstorms.
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Speaker 2: But I also saw a waterspout.
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Speaker 1: A waterspout is essentially a tornado over water, and it was one of the most powerful images that an eight year old can probably ever see.
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Speaker 4: That's meteorologist Gingersey talking about her favorite subject, the fascinating world of weather. Her job includes presenting the weather forecast on TV, and once in a while, she'll face some of the planet's largest and most amazing storms. All of this to help us stay safe and informed. Welcome to Season three of Growing Up with Emily, a Lingo kids podcast. It helps kids discover how to be whatever they want to be. Join us on an epic adventure to uncover the secrets behind awesome skills, cool hobbies, and the incredible journeys of people who followed their dreams. End this episode, you better hold on to your rain boots because we're chasing tornadoes. We'll find out not only how cool weather science is, but also how it changes people's lives all over the world. Let's dive into the bold lives of meteorologists.
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Speaker 5: Maxie, what's wrong boy? Emily's picking me up any second now, Hi, Louise, why do you have a raincoat on?
00:02:03
Speaker 6: Oh?
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Speaker 4: Not only a raincoat, Louise, got my boots and my flower umbrella.
00:02:09
Speaker 5: But it's sonny outside.
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Speaker 4: You're right, Louise, it's sunny now, but it'll probably be raining by the time we get to the studios. I know it sounds strange, but the weather forecast said it is. Everything okay with Maxie?
00:02:23
Speaker 5: He just keeps howling. I don't know what it is, Maxie? What can I do? I gave you your bone, you ate my homework? What else can I do?
00:02:32
Speaker 4: You know, Louise, animals can sense a storm coming. Really well, that's what meteorologists say. Media, what meteorologists? The word's quite a mouthful, isn't it a little?
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Speaker 5: But I'll get it? And what is that again? Is this someone who loves meteorites like the ones that ended the dinosaurs?
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Speaker 4: Ooh, well, not exactly. It's someone who studies why it rains, why the sun is out why there there are white clouds or very angry gray clouds in the sky. But the word meteor actually means things in the sky, so that's why it's called meteorologists.
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Speaker 5: Oh wow, I love looking at the sky, Emily. Let's go.
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Speaker 4: You should get your raincoat first. Luise, here, let's check the forecast on TV.
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Speaker 6: We've got sunshine now, but sunshine is the fuel for thunderstorms. Those storms could have tornadoes later today, so keep an eye out because all the ingredients are present.
00:03:34
Speaker 5: Oh wow, how does she know about the storm?
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Speaker 4: You can ask her later.
00:03:39
Speaker 5: Wait what do you mean, Emily?
00:03:41
Speaker 6: But no worries. After that all passes. We'll have some clear skies and a great interview at the Lingo Kits Grown Up Podcast.
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Speaker 5: No way is she are very special guests.
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Speaker 6: The forecast for that interview, some showers, some cool science, thunderous gray stories, and the ninety nine percent chance. No, I'll give it one hundred percent. That's fun game shows. I'm ginger Z and this is your forecast.
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Speaker 4: See that's the one and only Gingers, a super famous meteor.
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Speaker 5: Wait wait, let me try a meteorologist.
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Speaker 4: Yes, exactly, you did it. She is a chief meteorologist at ABC Network. She's such an adventurer. She goes after the most roaring storms for her shows.
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Speaker 5: Wow, she sounds like a storm police. So brave she really is.
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Speaker 4: Ginger tracks all kinds of weather sparks, tornadoes, hurricanes, tropical storms, you name it. And she has traveled to so many places around the world. I think we can learn from her about why the weather gets kind of crazy sometimes.
00:04:47
Speaker 5: Oh and then she can tell us what it's like to chase storms. It must be like chasing a dragon, but made of clouds. Without a sword. I guess yeah.
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Speaker 4: I'd say more a camera than a sword for sure.
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Speaker 5: Oops, there's that storm coming, Emily. Let me go grab my raincoat before we go. Why Maxie, don't let the storm get you off we go?
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Speaker 4: Hello everybody, and welcome to today's Talk Get game show. I hope the rain didn't keep you long from joining us today. Today we're joined by the one and only ginger z Hi.
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Speaker 1: Ginger Hi, there, I'm ginger z chief youerologists at ABC News.
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Speaker 4: So today we will start with our game show. I know Louise has something pretty cool ready for.
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Speaker 5: Us, Hi do Emily, So today's game's easy. It's called I Am Louise, And what's it about?
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Speaker 2: Louise?
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Speaker 5: I describe something and Ginger has to guess what it is before the bell rings. Heads up, it won't be about me, but it'll be about weather things that are pretty cool like me. You ready, Ginger, I'm ready?
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Speaker 2: All right.
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Speaker 5: Number one, I am the air that moves around the planet.
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Speaker 2: When am I? When?
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Speaker 4: Bingo, Ginger, what's some cool science you can tell us about wind?
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Speaker 1: I think the most exciting thing is that wind is present because our equator is hot and our poles are cold, and that difference in temperature is what the Earth very much wants to balance out but never will, and so it moves everything trying to get there, but it just won't happen.
00:06:35
Speaker 2: So we'll still have wind.
00:06:36
Speaker 5: Oh so it's like a heater in a fridge getting into a boxing fight.
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Speaker 4: Oh exactly.
00:06:42
Speaker 5: Okay. Number two, I am the water that falls from the sky. What am I.
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Speaker 3: Raining?
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Speaker 5: Correct? Again? Ah?
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Speaker 4: But there are tons of ways water can fall from the sky, right, Ginger. There's also snow and sleet.
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Speaker 1: Oh, there are so many types of water, you know, different phases of water, whether it's frozen semi frozen. There are different sizes of rain, drops, and then there's even hail hail.
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Speaker 5: What's that?
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Speaker 4: Basically ice falling from the skies epic.
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Speaker 5: I think I've seen it happen when it's very sunny. Why is that ginger?
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Speaker 6: Yeah?
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Speaker 4: What's the science behind hail?
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Speaker 2: Hail gets confused a lot.
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Speaker 1: People will say, Oh, it was a beautiful summer day, and then all of a sudden it hailed, And that's actually exactly when hail forms, because you need a lot of heat and a lot of energy to create very tall thunderstorms that sustain these water droplets that eventually freeze and then melt and freeze and then melt, and as they refreeze, they keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger, like in accumulating snowball almost, but it's hard ice, and then when it gets too heavy, it falls as hail.
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Speaker 4: I love how water is something that's in front of us all the time. We drink it, we use it to do the dishes, we even swim in it. But it's never boring.
00:08:05
Speaker 5: You're right, Emily, I guess science teaches us something new every day. Okay, on to the next question. I am tons of water floating through the sky. What am I.
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Speaker 1: Fog?
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Speaker 5: Oh? Cool. I have clouds, but fog is kind of a cloud.
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Speaker 2: Right, tog is a cloud.
00:08:26
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've dreamed of flying for the clouds. Is it like connon candy?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is something that my six year old son recently asked me because he wanted to know what it would feel like to be in a cloud. And thankfully I've had that experience paragliding. We were able to fly to a cloud base paragliding.
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Speaker 5: Huh. We definitely want to hear.
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Speaker 4: More of your stories about storms.
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Speaker 1: I've been storm chasing where we've all been really close to a wall cloud coming down, and all of us have likely been in a cloud because we've touched, so you do know what it feels like.
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Speaker 2: It feels like wet air.
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Speaker 5: Ginger, you nailed all the questions.
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Speaker 4: I told you we would learn a lot from Ginger. She is a chief meteorologist for a reason. Why don't we sit down and talk to her about her journey and weather science?
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Speaker 5: Of course?
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Speaker 4: Okay, Ginger, I heard you are a storm lover. Tell us about that.
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Speaker 2: Well, this is a big part of my origin story.
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Speaker 1: But I find thunderstorms especially, but all types of storms to be incredibly inspiring. I spent one summer on Lake Michigan, where I got to be in a home that had the view.
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Speaker 2: Of the lake.
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Speaker 4: Luis, Have you ever been to Lake Michigan?
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Speaker 5: Nope? What's it like?
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Speaker 2: Just like the ocean? You can see forever and ever and ever.
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Speaker 5: Wow.
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Speaker 3: And so that summer, not only did I see many thunderstorms, but I.
00:09:51
Speaker 1: Also saw a waterspout. A waterspout is essentially a tornado over water. It was one of the most powerful images.
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Speaker 2: That an eight year old can probably we'll ever see.
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Speaker 5: Wow, I've never seen anything like it.
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Speaker 4: And how did that eight year old girl in Lake Michigan become a storm chaser and a broadcaster?
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Speaker 5: Ginger.
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Speaker 1: There's a lot of places as a meteorologist you can kind of dive into and not just stay in forecasting. And that's actually a big part of why I was attracted to it. I did not want to be in broadcasting or television. That wasn't my initial intent.
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Speaker 5: Oh you didn't want to be on TV, but you're so good at it.
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Speaker 1: I very much wanted to just be a storm chaser that did research on tornadoes. I very much knew I did not want to be one of those people on TV talking about it because I was very shy and I did not think that, which is so funny because that's exactly what I became.
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Speaker 5: I feel shy too, Ginger, What did you do to be on TV? Did you put on a bow tie? Just like me and Emily?
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Speaker 1: So, while I was working, I would go in my free time take a class at a improv place or a comedy store or a script you know, like a theater, and I would take little voice classes to help me learn how to be more of a projector and more of a storyteller.
00:11:02
Speaker 5: Cool.
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Speaker 4: I can definitely relate to it because as an engineer, I also had to learn how to tell stories with science. It's an atomic skill.
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Speaker 5: Ginger. Have you ever been inside an actual storm?
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Speaker 4: Yeah? And is it thrilling?
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Speaker 1: It's strange because, you know, when I've fell in love with tornadoes, for example, tornadoes are much smaller they when they are out in the field that they're hurting no one, you know, like usually in the planes when we.
00:11:31
Speaker 2: Would see them and we would study.
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Speaker 1: Them, they were just out there for us to study, really, and they would die before they would hit anybody or anything.
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Speaker 2: So I found that part of nature thrilling.
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Speaker 4: Right, But I also imagine that watching the weather hurt people can be really tough. Sometimes that is.
00:11:52
Speaker 1: Terribly sad and terrifying. So in a hurricane, I don't think it's ever thrill. I think it's I'm still fascinated by how it works, how each storm is so unique, they all act differently, just like people.
00:12:07
Speaker 5: That sounds a little scary, Emily, Yeah, it can definitely be scary because storms are such well forces of nature. You know, in Ginger, you've seen your fair share of storms. What's the first big storm you covered on TV?
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Speaker 1: My first big, big storm that I covered for a lot of people was Hurricane Katrina the year two thousand and five. It is one of those storms that is just will go down in history and I got to not only see that, but then sit with the people for a week after sifting through and seeing all of it.
00:12:43
Speaker 4: And what did you learn about being a meteorologist when you covered that storm?
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Speaker 3: I realized this isn't about science.
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Speaker 2: This is about comepassion, not just passion.
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Speaker 1: It's about where those two things come together. And that's going to be my job of telling these people's stories and then making sure that this never happened. And that's when I knew I had chosen the right path because I thought I can make a difference here. We can get this information to people that need it.
00:13:09
Speaker 4: Oh, that's such an important lesson to remember. Weather isn't only about what happens up in the sky and in nature. Weather is about what happens to people too. It can be scary sometimes, but the more we study it, the better we can get at staying safe.
00:13:26
Speaker 5: Yeah, that makes me feel better. Oh wait, Emily, speaking of keeping everyone safe, I always forgot another question, I add Ginger. Is it true that dogs can feel when a storm is coming?
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Speaker 2: No question.
00:13:39
Speaker 1: I have a dog, a rescue and this dog, since he was a puppy, has had such instinct. Not only is he fearful, but he goes to the lowest level of our home, inside the interior basement, away from windows. He does everything we tell people to do naturally, so he instinctively.
00:13:56
Speaker 2: Knows how to save his own life.
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Speaker 3: He also then shakes like a baby.
00:14:00
Speaker 5: Oh wow, MAXI does the same things. Well, maybe a little bit more of the shaking, but he's a very good boy.
00:14:07
Speaker 4: Well, now you know you can check in with Maxy and the forecast before going out. Louise, you got it, ginger Your work is amazing. Thank you so much for talking to us today. We had a blast learning about the weather with you. Please give a round of applause for ginger Z. So, Louise, are you ready for our next science stop. We're going to the state of Oklahoma, Oklahoma.
00:14:37
Speaker 5: How are we getting there? Let me search on your phone.
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Speaker 2: Here you go.
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Speaker 5: It's a very long drive there, Emily, like nineteen whole hours.
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Speaker 4: But we're going from the west coast, so we'll have the winds at our back.
00:14:50
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, Emily, maybe there's something from the Go Forward Lab that can help us get there even faster.
00:14:55
Speaker 4: You're right, Louise, we can use the portal map. So what now, It's a magical map that can take you anywhere anywhere.
00:15:06
Speaker 5: Let's try it.
00:15:08
Speaker 4: Okay, So Oklahoma is right here, ready to point it out?
00:15:14
Speaker 5: Ready?
00:15:15
Speaker 4: One? Two, three?
00:15:25
Speaker 5: We're are re, Emily.
00:15:26
Speaker 4: We're in the plains of Oklahoma in the United States, and we're about to see a tornado.
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Speaker 5: What do you mean. There's just a few clouds over there, but the sun is out and we can see the sky.
00:15:40
Speaker 6: Mm hmm.
00:15:40
Speaker 4: But remember, Louise, we can also get storms and tornadoes on a sunny day. In fact, the best conditions for a tornado is warm, humid air.
00:15:51
Speaker 5: I remember our science teacher said something about how tornadoes form. She said something about warm air and cool air mixing and spinning around.
00:15:59
Speaker 4: Yes, exactly. In fact, look we can start to see it right now.
00:16:06
Speaker 5: Oh, it's suddenly starting to get very dark.
00:16:09
Speaker 4: It is now, luis quick science question. What direction does warm air go up? Exactly. Warm air is less dense than regular air, so it rises. And as the warm air on the ground rises, it starts to mix with the cooler air up in the sky. And because it's moving at a different speed and direction than the air up there, they start to spin and spin and spin. After a little bit of time, we get this kind of upside down cone cloud, which is called a funnel cloud. Look, we can start to see it for now.
00:16:49
Speaker 5: Only the funnel cloud is starting to grow. What should we do.
00:16:52
Speaker 4: Don't worry. Don't worry. It's still very far away from us. We'll be fine. But remember the best place to take shelter during tornadoes is in a basement.
00:17:04
Speaker 5: Oh, look, it's starting to fade away.
00:17:06
Speaker 4: Yeah. Tornadoes usually only last a few minutes or so, and when they're in an open field like this, they don't really hurt anyone, so it's all good. So, Louise, what did you learn today about being a meteorologist?
00:17:24
Speaker 5: I learned that storm is gonna be very powerful and also very beautiful. I also learned that mediologists study so much weather science and get to help people all the time.
00:17:33
Speaker 4: I loved learning about that too, So thanks for joining us on this episode of Growing Up all about the fascinating world of weather.
00:17:42
Speaker 2: And the people who study it.
00:17:44
Speaker 4: Meteorologists. Remember there's a lot of work that goes into the weather forecast, and make sure you always follow recommendations for staying safe during storms. Louis, are you curious to learn more always well, you can check out Lingo Kids, the number one learning app for kids. It has tons of fun and educational videos, games and podcasts just like this one. Download the Lingo Kids app today for free.