WMTW meteorologist Mallory Brooke gave her Bus Stop forecast on May 13 with a little help from her friends. Brooke was joined by seven Boothbay Region Elementary School Junior Forecasters during the WMTW Morning News weather report.

During the 6:30 a.m. broadcast, Brooke asked Junior Forecasters Matt Savage, Jordan Chamness, Avery Barter, Maya Pangburn, Cari Blake, Suzie Edwards and Makayla Pinkham what weather topics they were most interested in.

The Junior Forecasters replied tornadoes (Savage), hurricanes (Chamness), landslides (Barter), why there are different colors of lightning? (Pangburn and Edwards), Pinkham (thunder) and tsunamis (Blake).

Brooke later met with third graders in Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Sceviour classes. Brooke explained how she became a meteorologist. This was one of 48 planned school visits as part of WMTW’s “Weather At Your School” program. She also visited Georgetown Central School later that morning. She had two more school visits planned for May 14.

As the first school visit of the week, the BRES third grade class will be featured in a week-long promotional commercial. The students looked into the WMTW camera and said: “We love Maine’s total weather.” Brooke’s visit to BRES was also seen on the May 13 newscast at 5 p.m.

Brooke has worked for WMTW since 2011. She graduated from Penn State University in 2008 with a degree in meteorology. She became interested in the weather as nine-year-old growing up in East Brunswick, New Jersey. She told the third graders that the Blizzard of ‘96 fascinated her. She did book reports and papers throughout her schools years researching what caused such a massive snow fall.

“It kept us out of school for a week and a half,” she said. “I really wanted to know why it happened. So all through school, I read about it and wrote papers on it.”

Brooke also showed the students the tools she uses to forecast the weather. The National Weather Services’ website is one of the tools used on a daily basis. Meteorologists also use radar and satellite photos to determine weather patterns.

The students also asked 11 questions about weather-related topics. These questions included how does a raindrop form, why is the sky blue, and what causes winter thunder?

Brooke’s visit is the start of a new science unit. Jones and Sceviour began a month long Natural Hazards Study Project for their classes. Students select a particular weather topic to research.

“She is going to kick off the unit by piquing the students interest,” said Mrs. Sceviour. “This is going to start them asking more questions about meteorology and get them excited about their projects.”

It seems the third graders were already excited about weather forecasting. When Brooke asked if any students were interested in becoming a meteorologist, nearly every students’ hand shot up.