Children, parents learn about weather at Children's Museum

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Brownsville, Texas—Children and parents learned about weather and hurricane safety tips at WeatherQuest, the second annual weather science program at the Children’s Museum of Brownsville on Saturday.

“This program is exploring the nature and wonder of weather for our community and children,” said Bridgitte Rodriguez, the museum’s education director.

The program was run by Tim Smith, chief meteorologist for KRGV Channel 5, and Alex Garcia, from the Weather Academy in San Antonio. The two are the founders of the Urban Science Initiative, a nonprofit organization that brought the program to the museum.

“It’s turned out great. This way kids are exposed to meteorology,” said Smith. “Because it was at the museum a lot of it’s fun.”

But, the children were not the only ones who learned at the event .

While children built boxes with donated materials from Home Depot, parents heard about disaster tips from an array of sponsors such as AccueWeather, Sam’s Club, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and others.

“If you see a flooded road just turn around and leave. You can always be late or take another route,” Jesus Haro, Warning and Coordination Meterologist from the National Weather Service, told parents and children.

“Much of what we want for the kids to get from this event is that when they see a meteorologist on TV that’s not everything,” Rodriguez said. “There’s a lot of work from different people that goes into that one shot.”

Smith and Garcia are planning to hold the event again next year, along with two other programs, “Amazing Skies” and “Oceanaria.”

“Brownsville’s been so open and helpful,” Smith said. “We hope to continue having the programs here.”

The Brownsville Herald