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WFO Albuquerque, NM
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10th Annual San Juan Basin Water Fair
NWS Albuquerque participated in the 10th Annual San Juan Basin Water Fair on April 26-27, 2005. Nearly 2000 5th graders from throughout San Juan County attended the two-day event that  was held at the Farmington Civic Center.  The fair featured 20 exhibitors from various local, state and federal agencies as well as the Farmington Fire Department and several private companies whose businesses are focused on water and water conservation.  Prior to the event, each classroom teacher chose 8 sessions to attend. 

Nearly 400 5th graders (18 classes with 20-24 students each) participated in NWS Albuquerque's activity "Weather or Not", which provided students a unique hands-on weather experience by demonstrating convection with hand-held glass bubblers, creating "clouds-in-a-jar", and simulating runoff from a thunderstorm using a terrain model. 
San Juan Basin Water Festival
April 26-27, 2005
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Deirdre Kann, Science Operations Officer, above left, discusses how to make a cloud using a specially designed apparatus that allows students to simulate high and low pressure within a sealed glass bulb.
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A student from Esperanza Elementary School observers as another student creates runoff using the terrain model. Students learned about the dangers of flash floods and reviewed safety rules.
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A class favorite was creating a cloud in a jar that required three ingredients: hot water, ice and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).  In this experiment, smoke particles were used as atmospheric CCN. The students conducted the experiment twice; once without CCN and a second time with the particulates.
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Kerry Jones, Senior Forecaster, above left, shows the class a weather balloon and discusses how meteorologists measure temperature, pressure, water vapor and wind above the earth's surface.  In the picture above and to the right, students created a mock thunderstorm and compared a short duration, high intensity rain event to a light rainfall event using a spray bottle.  This experiment was tied into the terrain model above.