Middle-school meteorologists have questions about burn

It's an ill wind that blows no man good, the saying goes, and for children at Jacoby Creek School, a burn turned bad became a hands-on science lesson.

Jacoby Creek is one of 14 schools on four continents to receive state-of-the-art weather stations donated by a Canadian foundation. When an effort to burn brush from state wildlife lands several miles west of their school went awry on

Oct. 17, the students used their new equipment to determine why it happened.

They found a local weather pattern that suggested the likelihood of the wind shift that carried clouds of choking smoke and soot over Arcata and as far inland as Blue Lake."

This has been really wonderful for my students," said Diana Skiles, who teaches science to 7th and 8th graders at the school. "It shows them the practical application of what their equipment can do."

The weather station was given to the school by the Global Forest Foundation, of Vancouver, British Columbia, a nonprofit foundation that supports scientific research on forestry issues. While most of its grants go to graduate schools and other high-level research institutions, the foundation recently decided to invest in some longer-term development of scientific skills.

It purchased and donated sophisticated weather stations to selected elementary and middle schools in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Israel and Australia. Meteorology makes a good introduction to science; children can look out the window and see what their instruments are recording.

Each of the schools that received a weather station posts the information it collects on the Global Forest web site, allowing students to compare their data with that of their contemporaries on four continents.

Jacoby School did not seek the foundation's largesse. Skiles was approached by Humboldt State University botany professors with whom she had worked as a graduate student in biology, and whose expertise she sometimes taps to make her classes more interesting. They knew the foundation was looking for deeply involved science teachers, and thought she would be a good candidate.

The equipment arrived in March and was installed on the roof of the school. It includes instruments for measuring wind speed and direction, a gauge that measures rate as well as amount of rainfall, a barometer, thermometer and instruments for measuring both solar and ultra-violet radiation.

The equipment is connected to computers, whose software allows the students to print out graphics showing weather patterns recorded over periods of time.

"Unfortunately they can't work directly with the instruments," Skiles said. "They aren't allowed to go up on the roof, because of liability considerations. But they enjoy using the computers."

She said her students first became aware of the burn when they heard Department of Forestry and Fire Protection helicopters passing overhead to attack the smoldering blaze. It took over 36 hours to extinguish and Skiles, passing parked fire trucks on her way to school the next day, on impulse stopped and asked if a department representative could come talk to her class about what had happened, and why.

"My father was with the CDF, and I have a lot of respect for them and the work they do," she said.

Learning that the controlled burn had to be extinguished because the wind shifted from northeast to the southwest, the Jacoby Creek students checked out the data collected by their instruments. They found that not only had it done so on Oct. 17, but had done the same thing almost every afternoon for many days.

In a report to the Arcata City Council on Oct. 18, CDF officials said they knew about the daily wind shift, but that a predicted storm front was expected to delay it on Oct. 17, providing a "window" during which the burn could be conducted.

In a letter to Hugh Scanlon, who coordinates controlled burns for the Northcoast CDF unit, the 7th-grade students offered the state agency their data, and invited him to visit their class.

"We have lots of questions about controlled burns, because we think there must be more you have to consider than just the wind, even if that is very important," the students wrote.

"Are there reasons controlled burns cannot be done at certain times of day, like in the morning when the wind is right?" they continued. "What factors control how much smoke a fire makes, and how long it lasts? Does putting out a fire make more smoke than letting it burn out, or does it make a different kind of smoke?

"The students also queried Scanlon about the weather information the CDF uses, and what is needed to make a forecast. "We don't try to forecast yet," they added. "But our weather station information can still be useful in looking at patterns over time ... We have records dating back to last March. If you could use any of this information, we would like to contribute to our community by sharing it."

The children will get the answers they're seeking, Skiles said. Scanlon is coming to Jacoby School on Wednesday to talk to her class.

"You can imagine how excited they are," she said. "They'll have plenty of good, well-informed questions for him."