Meteorology Club educates children affected by tornado

The tornado that hit Windsor on May 22 was a cause for concern for many people in Northern Colorado, including young children. But Colorado SPIRIT and the UNC Meteorology Club are helping dispel some of the anxiety those children feel, especially those at Benjamin Eaton Elementary School.

The students of Eaton were given a presentation Monday explaining weather safety and how tornadoes, blizzards and lightning storms form.

Members of the University of Northern Colorado's Meteorology Club gave the presentations with assistance from Colorado SPIRIT, an outreach team funded by FEMA that's helping the families affected by the tornado.

"We decided that the UNC Meteorology Club would be a good resource and outlet for us to use to help ease the fears children are having as a result of the tornado," said Candy Brunner, the team leader for Colorado SPIRIT.

SPIRIT has also sponsored crisis counseling, community meetings and support groups for people affected by the disaster.

So far, SPIRIT and the Meteorology Club have done four presentations, with UNC students such as sophomore meteorology major Becky Elliott leading the presentation. Elliott and her partner stood before the young, fidgety students and explained the rare and unusual conditions that led to the Windsor tornado, showing students the path of the tornado and radar images of the storm.

"Five officers (of the Meteorology Club) were the first people to know about the project," Elliott said. "I'm actually from Windsor, so I was really looking for a project to get involved with and to have an impact on the community and all the surrounding communities that were involved with the tornado."

One slide showed a map of tornado tracks, dating from 1950 to 2002, which was covered with small dots representing weak tornadoes that didn't do much damage, and a couple long lines representing strong, powerful tornadoes. It was revealed to students that only six tornadoes in that timeframe were as strong as the Windsor twister.

The UNC students also played games with the students, such as "Lightning: True or False" and "Good Clouds, Bad Clouds," and gave a demonstration of a low pressure system using a glass jar with a balloon in it hooked up to a modified bicycle pump.

Kevin Connaughty, a third grade teacher, estimated that 20 percent of his students had relatives who lived in Windsor at the time of the tornado.

"I think it was wonderful," said Connaughty of the presentation. "It settled a lot of the fears the kids had from last years' tornado."