(Photos above courtesy of the High Desert Museum)
Central Oregon’s dynamic weather featured in new exhibit at the High Desert Museum
Bend, OR – September 3, 2015 ~ Weather plays a large role in how we live our everyday lives. It affects how we dress, the crops we grow and the work we do. It gets us outdoors on a sunny day or keeps us inside when the weather turns foul. It drives many conversations and has the power to be life-sustaining or life-threatening. The forecast looks good for the Rain, Snow or Shine exhibit opening at the High Desert Museum on Saturday, September 12. This exhibition explores the reasons behind the seasons, local weather patterns, weather forecasting and the impacts weather has on our environment.
“You often hear the old adage here in Central Oregon, ‘If you don’t like the weather now, just wait 10 minutes,’” said Curator of Education Carolyn Nesbitt. “Weather in the high desert can be incredibly dramatic and dynamic, from golf ball-sized hail to spectacular lightning storms that spark massive wildfires to beautiful sunny skies.”
Featured in the exhibition is a weather forecasting station on loan from KTVZ News Channel 21, complete with teleprompter and camera. This portion of the exhibit offers young meteorologists a chance to practice their “on-air” forecasting skills. In addition, there will be a hands-on lightning tube, weather forecasting artifacts, color photographs, videos and fulgurites or “lightning stones” – hollow tubes formed when lightning strikes sand or rock and fuses the particles together. A display case with fans and blowing sand will mimic a wind-eroded landscape and demonstrate the creation of sand dunes.
Rain, Snow or Shine is made possible by KTVZ News Channel 21 and KFXO, with support from Callan Accounting Services, the Oregon Department of Forestry, and the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation. For information on this and other museum exhibits, visit www.highdesertmuseum.org or call 541-382-4754 ext. 241
