EL NINO--WHEN THE WEATHER GOES WACKY! Look for my El Nino book on Amazon

El Nino is coming! You can learn more about this powerful weather phenomenon and how it may affect you in my book El Nino: Stormy Weatherfor People and Wildlife.  You can find the ebook on Amazon and read it for free if you subscribe to KindleUnlimited or you can download it for $5.99. Used copies of the hardback, paperback and audio versions are also available at Amazon.

Drought in Southeast Asia, brutal storms in Australia, and spring-like temperatures in the northeastern United States--all of these seemingly unrelated events are caused by El Nino. Disrupting weather all over the globe every three to seven years, El Nino is second only to the change of the seasons in its influence on the climate.
El Nino is the name given to the unusual increase in ocean temperatures along the Peruvian and Ecuadorian coasts that is part of a larger pattern of changes in wind and weather throughout the Pacific region and beyond. With El Nino come violent storms and upsets in the global food chain that dramatically affect both humans and wildlife.
With the use of photographs, charts and maps, this updated edition of El Nino: Stormy Weather for People and Wildlife makes clear how this remarkable weather pattern is formed, how scientists track it, what its effects are, and why following its path is of such importance.

El Nino: Stormy Weather for People and Wildlife was originally published by Clarion Books in 1998.

Review of KEEPER OF THE LIGHT by Ronna Mandel at Goodreads with Ronna

 

Many, many thanks to Ronna Mandel for her enthusiastic and detailed review of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: Juliet Fish Nichols Fights the San Francisco Fog, published at her blog https://www.goodreadswithronna.com/2022/11/09/keeper-of-the-light-caroline-arnold-rachell-sumpter/ on November 9, 2022. She captures the key elements of the story and shares several of the pictures giving readers a preview of the wonderful, atmospheric art for the book by illustrator Rachell Sumpter.

Here are the opening paragraphs of Ronna’s review:

Keeper of the Light written by Caroline Arnold and illustrated by Rachell Sumpter is a fascinating, “fictionalized account based on true events and historical documents about Juliet Fish Nichols …” I love learning about historical figures, especially women who had non-traditional careers, whose stories might never be told were it not for an inquisitive picture book author.

A widow at 42 and in need of a steady income, Juliet Fish Nichols worked for over a decade as Keeper of Angel Island Light Station in San Francisco Bay. Author Arnold presents an engaging interpretation of several years of Nichols’ life there—Point Knox to be precise—in log format so that readers can gain insight into the important responsibilities she was tasked with. This not only involved making sure the lamp (visible for up to 13 miles) was filled with oil, clean, and in working order but when needed, operating the fog bell machine.

For the full review please go to Ronna’s post at her blog.

PROJECT: KEEPING A WEATHER LOG

KEEPER OF THE LIGHT by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Rachell Sumpter

Juliet Nichols, the lighthouse keeper on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay from 1902 to 1914, is the subject of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT (Cameron Kids/Abrams 2022.)

Juliet recorded the weather in her log book twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening.  She also noted activities relevant to running the lighthouse–such as repairs, the delivery of fuel, or a visit of the lighthouse inspector.  She used the information in her log book to write her monthly reports.

Juliet's log for February 1906

You can make your own log to make a record of the weather where you live.

You will need: a large notebook with lined paper, a pencil, outdoor thermometer, graph paper.

Using Juliet’s lighthouse log as a model, write your name, the month, year, and location of your observations in the notebook at the top of the page. Along the left margin, write the numbers, 1-31, one date per line.  Once each day (at about the same time) write down your observations of the sky (clear, partly sunny, overcast, foggy), air temperature (measure with a thermometer), and precipitation (rain, snow, sleet.)    

Sample graph

At the end of each month you can make a simple graph of the daily temperatures.

What was the average temperature for the month? (Hint: Add all the temperatures and divide by the number of days in the month.)

EL NINO: Stormy Weather for People and Wildlife, Now available as an E-Book

My book, El Niño: Stormy Weather for People and Wildlife is now available as a Kindle book on Amazon. For readers age 10 and up.

Drought in Southeast Asia, brutal storms in Australia, and spring-like temperatures in the northeastern United States--all of these seemingly unrelated events are caused by El Niño. Disrupting weather all over the globe every three to seven years, El Niño is second only to the change of the seasons in its influence on the climate.
El Niño is the name given to the unusual increase in ocean temperatures along the Peruvian and Ecuadorian coasts that is part of a larger pattern of changes in wind and weather throughout the Pacific region and beyond. With El Niño come violent storms and upsets in the global food chain that dramatically affect both humans and wildlife.
With the use of photographs, charts and maps, this updated edition of El Niño: Stormy Weather for People and Wildlife makes clear how this remarkable weather pattern is formed, how scientists track it, what its effects are, and why following its path is of such importance.

Originally published by Clarion Books as a hardback book in 1998, El Nino: Stormy Weather for People and Wildlife is an Accelerated Reader book. You can look for it in your library.