What has meteorology taught me this semester?

This semester meteorology has taught me a lot.  Things such as finding out what symbols are displayed during a forecast at the 6 o' clock news or how or what creates a thunderstorm.  This class has been tremendously helpful as far as preparing for oncoming weather dangers.  Knowing how to prepare my family for the problems El Nino or La Nina can present allows for me to get my family as protected as possible.  When I lived in Louisiana, my parents always had an evacuation kit with unperishable items like spam, peanut butter and water. Louisiana is known for hurricanes and tornadoes and evacuation kits were standard ways of preparing.  After, moving away from Louisiana and residing here in Arizona, I have become accustomed to not having to worry about extreme weather besides well heat.  Taking your class has opened my mind to be prepared as my parents were and are. We may never know what tomorrow's weather can bring us. Knowing what I know now with weather systems, I know what conditions can create a tornado or why cities such as San Diego receives such much rain and why Yuma receives so little. It is amazing how everything makes sense now that I understand things such as what creates fog or what instruments we utilize to test and/or predict weather.  I know this may not be part of the blog criteria but you have may this class very enjoyable, interesting, and a worth taking. Thank you Professor Esslinger!!!