Severe Weather Threat/The "New" Houston Children's Museum

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
As I write this evening and at last check, there have been 151 reports nationwide of severe weather--10 of those tornadoes. It is going to be a busy night with a bullseye of high risk for severe weather over Oklahoma with moderate areas extending into Kansas and north Texas.

On Monday, there is a slight risk of severe storms from Texas to Illinois. It will be quite warm from the northeast to the southeast U.S. New York should hit 80 and D.C. might reach the low 90s. It will also be quite warm (80s and 90s) over the south and southwest. Highs will be in the 50s and 60s along the west coast and in the 30s, 40s and 50s over the northern Rockies and plains to western Great Lakes States.

Houston will be warm, muggy and windy with some storms as early as the morning. Some of the these storms could become severe and flooding is a possibility. Look for more warm and windy weather with isolated to scattered thunderstorms through Saturday.

SPANISH WORD FOR THE DAY
Let's do museum or museo, pronounced moo-SAY-oh. You should see what they have done to the Houston Children's museo. See the And More section for details.

We love our kids...taking them places like the Children's Museum and the John C. Freeman Weather Museum here in Houston--giving their minds stimulation. It's so neat to watch children enjoy learning. And they really enjoy learning languages while reaping the rewards--like improved cognitive development and memory. You can order our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Volume 2 is almost ready for release and Volume 3 will follow soon thereafter!!! For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
We finally made it to the recently remodeled Houston Children's Museum (open since March 14th). And I was very impressed. They added a wing that doubles the size of the space (in 2 stories!) and they have the outdoor waterworks and ecology centers as well. The new space has atm cards which you can use in a machine that works, museum money, a bank, a hospital, police department, city hall, restaurant, grocery store (completely different from the old one), vetsmart and art studio. Sarah's favorite place was the vetsmart which was more of a clinic. Megan, you would have been tickled. There is this amazing 3 story play structure and much, much more. You could easily spend an entire day there. We closed it down and Sarah definitely did not want to leave. We have been to wonderful children's museums in Austin, Portland, OR, Omaha, and Santa Fe. The Houston one is now the one to beat. Really cool!

Have a great week everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Weekend Weather/Welcome Twins!/Golf Tournament

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Another copious round of rain in Houston this evening. Flood Warnings were issued again as rain swollen creeks and rivers received even more rain. Looks like a disturbance that came in from central Texas, combined with plenty of moisture, and unstable atmosphere and very weak cap--were just the right combination. More thunderstorms are possible Saturday pm (but without any shortwave, it shouldn't be as intense). Still severe indices are low and there will be plenty of moisture. So, make a backup plan for outdoor activities just in case.

Weather in Houston this weekend will be warm, breezy and muggy with a few thunderstorms.

The country is divided (diagonally) with warm and moist air (highs in the 80s and 90s) east and cool (highs in the 40s and 50s) west. My sister in Tahoe said it snowed this morning. Look for thunderstorms from Texas to Michigan and slightly eastward (but including Texas) on Sunday. Jet stream pattern is a southward dip over the Rockies. That means the Gulf is "open for business" and that is what we are seeing.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do identical twins or gemelos idénticos, pronounced hay-meh-LOS ee-DEHN-tee-cohs. Congratulations to Ned and Danielle Hibberd on the birth of their identical twins. See AND MORE section for details.

Ned and Danielle, I'm looking ahead to shooting for future volumes of our educational DVD series. Of course, we'll use Teddy again. But it is going to be fun to have twin boys in there! Our Volume 1 had one set of identical twin girls, Samantha and Gabriella. I'm talking about our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, is all about play. You can order your copy from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Volume 2 is almost ready for release and Volume 3 will follow soon thereafter!!! For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
As soon as I get a photo of the twins, I'll be sure to put it in our blog. Congratulations to Ned and Danielle on the birth of Michael Thomas and Alexander James. Now, here is the really amazing thing! Today is their birth day of course. But it is also their big brother Teddy's birthday (he's 3 today) and their Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Danielle! Wow! You know how to celebrate!

Today was the Weather Museum's Golf Classic at the Wildcat Golf Course. That's me with former Weather Channel celebrities Marshall Seese and Keith Westerledge. And of course, I got my good friend and FOX 26 meteorologist, John Dawson and Benjamin, meteorologist and master golf tournament coordinator from The Weather Museum. Dr. Neil Frank was also there...but I missed him somehow. Thanks so much to all the participants!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Hint of Summer/Important and Fun Golf Tournament

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Jet stream is dipping down over the Rockies and that is where the cooler weather (highs in the 40s) will be. Look for some potentially severe weather in the upper Midwest. It will warm and muggy in the south and parts of the southeast. Very pleasant in the northeast and along the west coast with highs in the 60s.

Houston will be breezy, warm and humid. The will be the case through the weekend into the middle of the coming week. An isolated shower or thunderstorm is possible. Look for more storms early in the coming week.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do tournament or torneo, pronounced tore-NAY-oh. Did I tell you there is an important golf tournament tomorrow? See AND MORE section for details.

Golf is a fun game. People of all ages can enjoy it. Kids especially love games and play and that is why Chapter 3 of our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, is all about play. You can order your copy from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Volume 2 is almost ready for release and Volume 3 will follow soon thereafter!!! For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
Tomorrow is the big day! It will be a scramble at Wildcat Golf Course benefitting the education programs provided by the John C. Freeman Weather Museum. Come on out and play a round. There will be local weather celebrities on hand and a few folks from The Weather Channel. Shotgun start is 1 pm.

Have a fantastic Friday everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Record Heat/First Toad Gets a Name from Dragon Tales

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Cool weather is dipping over the Rockies--the northern Rockies will have highs in the 30s and 40s. Most of the rest of the country will be very mild with highs in the 70s and 80s. The northeast and Pacific Northwest will be in the 40s to 60s.

Both Houston Hobby and Bush Airport in Houston had record highs of 90 today (breaking the old records set in 1963 and 1908 respectively). It won't be quite as hot Thursday, but it will be more humid and by Friday it will cloudy, warm and muggy. It will also be very breezy through the weekend.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do toad or sapo, pronounced SAH-poh. We found our first sapo tonight. Read the And More section to find out what we named it.

Sarah is the star of our youtube series, TOAD HUNTERS. You can also see her on our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. In all, 46 kids were involved. You can order your copy from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Volume 2 is almost ready for release and Volume 3 will follow soon thereafter!!! For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
I went to the Earth Day/3rd Anniversary celebration at the Weather Museum today. There were lots of students--many from MacGregor Elementary. The kids really enjoyed the popcorn and bouncee, exhibits by a wildlife expert and some seed to plant as well as games. Don't forget the golf tournament is coming up on Friday. Hope you can come out and play.

Friday, April 24th - Weather Museum Golf Classic at Wildcat Golf Course www.wxresearch.org

Big news!!! Sarah and I found our first toad of the season tonight. We think it was a boy. Sarah named him Max after the little boy on Dragon Tales. Should we start up TOAD HUNTERS again? To see a clip on youtube, see our link at the right.

Have a terrific Thursday!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Warming Up!/Earth Week Activities/Just Wondering

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Jet stream begins to flatten and then trough over the western US by week's end. This means the Gulf moisture will flow into the southeast US and really warm up the eastern 2/3 rds of the country.

On Wednesday, look for several spots with isolated thunderstorms...very warm across the south and southeast with highs in the 80s and 90s. Cooler across the Great Lakes and northeast with highs in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

Houston will be very warm on Wednesday with highs in the middle to upper 80s. Humidity increases substantially on Thursday through the weekend with temperatures staying mild to warm.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do warm-up or calentamiento, pronounced cah-lehn-tah-mee-EHN-tow. You are going to feel the calentamiento this week!

It was hot and humid on the June 23rd when we shot the big party scene for our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. Well, right after shooting finished, we had a big thunderstorm with winds which ripped up the set. We sure did breathe a sigh of relief. You can see the party scene and all of the video by ordering your copy from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Volume 2 is almost ready for release and Volume 3 will follow soon thereafter!!! For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
I attended part of today's Climate Change Seminar held at University of St. Thomas. The conference was put on by the Weather Research Center (Weather Museum) and the folks at University of St. Thomas. I really enjoyed what I heard. Here are some highlights:

John Hofmeister, CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy and former head of Shell Oil - The US and Europe only account for 20% of the world's emissions. No matter how much we are regulated, if other countries don't follow suit, we are wasting our efforts. He also recommended creating an independent (non-political) Federal Energy Reserve Board. He said otherwise we are never going to accomplish the goals we need--with administrations and elected officials changing every 2, 4 and 6 years. He said that if you talk global warming, you get opinions on 2 opposite sides of the spectrum. But, if you say, we need to lower pollution emissions into the air, most people will agree. To learn more about the grass roots effort he is behind, go to www.citizensforaffordableenergy.org.

Barry Lefer of the University of Houston reported that there is a consensus that "warming" is occurring. He did not go into any politics. He explained how ice cores from the ocean floor and Antarctica are showing co2 levels that clearly show the increases changes in co2. He explained that co2 is important even though water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas because water vapor recycles every few days while co2 only reduces by 80% in 300 years.

John Neilson-Gammon of Texas A & M said that 2 places have actually cooled--Texas and the southeast US. This has to do with El Nino/La Nina cycles.

Well, there is much more this week:

Wednesday, April 22nd - Free Museum Birthday/Earth Day Festivities at museum with yours truly (at 10 am) as emcee www.wxresearch.org/earthday

Friday, April 24th - Weather Museum Golf Classic at Wildcat Golf Course www.wxresearch.org

Sarah is so silly. She enjoys reading words backwards and usually the words are quite silly. But tonight she saw the word desserts and we discovered that backwards, that spells stressed. I guess if you eat too many desserts, you end up stressed.

Here's another thing I've been wondering. The first name of my Grandma Whitworth (my Dad's mom) was Yuba. Now, I wish so much I had asked her if she knew why her parents named her that. I have never met or even heard of anyone else named Yuba. Have you? I sure would like to know.

Today is Aggie Muster, a day we remember all Aggies who have passed away. I would like to especially remember my cousin, Bruce Whitworth, an Aggie, and his family.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Loving that Spring Weather/Earth Day and Global Warming

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
A few T-Storms Tuesday in the eastern US and in the western US. Coolest area will be the northeast with highs in the 40s and 50s. Most of the rest of the country will enjoy mild to warm weather.

Houston will be sunny again on Tuesday. Highs will be close to 80. Humidity will creep upward ever so slightly. Jet stream shifts to allow more heat and humidity by the end of the week. A few showers are possible on and off but no big rain events expected.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do global or global, pronounced glow-BAHL. Do you believe in global warming? Check out Tuesday's workshop at University of St. Thomas starting at 1 pm. For more info., see the link in the And More section. I'll be there! Also, be sure to answer our new poll.

We did get our big order from our big distributor--650 units. Yippee! And we got another order from Amazon. Word is spreading about our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. You can see it for yourself by ordering from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Volume 2 is almost ready for release and Volume 3 will follow soon thereafter!!! For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
Lots of events being held by The Weather Museum this week to celebrate Earth Day and the museum's 3rd birthday!

On Tuesday, April 21st - Climate Change Seminar www.wxresearch.org/events
Wednesday, April 22nd - Free Museum Birthday/Earth Day Festivities at museum with yours truly as emcee www.wxresearch.org/earthday
Friday, April 24th - Weather Museum Golf Classic at Wildcat Golf Course www.wxresearch.org

Our poll on favorite seasons has closed. Here is the breakdown for favorite season:
33% spring
33% summer
22% fall
11% winter
As for me, I love them all, but I like the refreshing change that fall brings (after the hurricane threat is gone). Only one vote was allowed. Thanks to all who participated.

Our new poll is about global warming--do you believe in it, not sure, or think it is not happening. Voice your opinion. Only one vote allowed.

Have a terrific Tuesday!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

This week's weather/Great place to take the Kids!

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Wow! What a difference in Houston...beautiful, dry, sunny Sunday after a frog drowning Saturday. The average rainfall across much of the area was 3 to 4 inches, but there were many locations on the east side of Houston with 6 to 8 inches (8.2 officially at Bush Airport) and even up to 10 and 11 inches further out...especially down around Clear Lake and in Baytown.

Now, we still have numerous River and Creek Flood Warnings in effect. The good news is that most of the rivers have either peaked or already peaking. For those not yet peaking, no homes are threatened. But there will be plenty of roads which continue to be covered with water for a few days.

This week in Houston (even into the middle of the next week) looks dry. It will be really delightful spring weather during this time period with slightly increased humidity levels by the end of the week and over the weekend.

There was one tornado near Hitchcock that blew in some garage doors. In total there were 76 reports of severe weather nationwide Saturday (with 8 of those being tornadoes).

Today (Sunday) the severe weather has been in the lower Mississippi Valley--in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. The stormy area on Monday will be along the East Coast. Highs in the northeast Monday will be in the 40s and 50s. Elsewhere in the country, look for 60s, 70s, 80s (and in Arizona and southern Nevada, some 90s).

SPANISH WORD FOR THE DAY
Let's do flooding or inundaciones, pronounced een-oon-dah-see-OWN-nehs. There was a lot of inundaciones in Houston on Saturday.

We shot our award winning Volume 1 of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco during the summer of 2007. There had been a lot of rain in June and July. So, it was amazingly green. You can see it for yourself by ordering from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Volume 2 is almost ready for release and Volume 3 will follow soon thereafter!!! For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
Don't forget to vote for your favorite season in our poll, which closes Monday evening.

Speaking of the flooding on Saturday, our street was flooded. Most of the streets in Houston are designed this way--to keep the water out of the houses. So, we were stuck at home with a very high energy child. Once the rain let up, we headed over to Stomping Grounds. This is a cool place. They have wifi and two wonderful indoor playgrounds for big kids and toddlers. You can buy food if you want--water if free. There is a charge for each child to get in, but parents get in free. The entrance is a locked gate and children and parents have invisible ink applied that is unique for each family. This is a very safe place!!! I love it! The location at Williams Trace and Hwy 59 in Sugar Land is the only one so far.

Have a wonderful week everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman