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Every winter the child inside us hopes for snow. It brings with it the potential for days off work and school, the chance to make snowmen, create snow angels, and have snowball fights with anyone that might happen to walk past. But as the snow falls have you ever wondered how it is formed? What goes on in the clouds high above our heads to make these snowflakes come to life?

The post How is snow formed? [infographic] appeared first on OUPblog.

Last week I was bundled up in scarves, mittens, long underwear, and fuzzy boots. Yesterday I wore flip-flops. To say that the weather lately has been crazy would be a total understatement.

What I want to know is when did the weather get so out of whack? I mean, I know there have always been storms and harsh winters and Indian summers and such. But isn't this just ... more?

I have come up with some theories on the source of our wild weather.

Climate Change
I dare not call it global warming because, hello, it was like negative two hundred degrees last week. But it does seem like something significant in our Climate is sure Changing. Whether humans are the main/sole/contributing cause is up for debate.

Planetary Cycles
Throughout history, Planet Earth has gone through different climate phases, without help from chlorofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases, and depleted ozone. Case in point: The Little Ice Age, a period of unusually cold and rainy weather that affected Europe and the eastern United States in the early 1800s.

Population Overload
If you've ever been at a party that started off freezing but, after a few hours of dancing and chatting and crowds of people, turned into a sweatfest you know that the human body is a high caliber furnace. Maybe all the extra billions of people swarming the planet are messing with the Earth's temperature regulation.

Mother Nature's Wrath
We humans haven't always treated her with utmost respect. Maybe she's getting a little revenge.

2012
The Mayan doomsday day is looming closer and humanity might have less than two years left until the end of the world (or the calendar restarts or whatever). Maybe this is a sign of bigger troubles to come.

Okay, those are my theories. What do you think? Have a theory of your own to share? And, more importantly, are there any solutions in sight?

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

As I write this (on Monday night) most of the central plains and the midwest are prepping for a snowpocalypse blizzard. We've bought up enough groceries to last two weeks, the cars are gassed up, the iPads, iPhones, and laptops are charged. We're lucky because we have a heat-pumping gas fireplace, gas stovetop, and gas hot water heater. When If the power goes out, we'll be bored but not frozen. I'm even charging up my Nook for bonus reading.

Blizzard by ellenmac11

For those of you who just tuned in for the week, the Buzz Girls are talking about their favorite soups to make as the weather turns colder and the skies get a little gray.

So you may be asking yourself, what does soup have to do with writing and reading YA fiction?

1) A girl's gotta eat.
2) Soup is easy to make and so much better homemade!
3) It's fun to let a pot of soup simmer while you're finishing a chapter or two, and then your dinner's ready when you are.

So, my family loves chowder. Out here in the Northwest, we make all sorts - from the traditional clam to salmon or halibut. Here's a really basic recipe inspired by my dad's famous clam chowder recipe. You can add shrimp, crab, halibut, lobster, mussels, or anything else to make it a fantastic Christmas Eve dinner, like my family does each year.

Dad’s Clam Chowder

2 slices bacon or turkey bacon diced (optional)
1 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
½ medium yellow or white onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T. flour
1 can clams + their juice
About 2 c. stock or water
3 large potatoes, diced (you can leave peels on if you like it more rustic.)
½ t. dried thyme
½ C. half & half or milk
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ C. parsley, chopped
1 T. butter (optional)

Optional - brown bacon (or turkey bacon + a little olive oil) over medium heat until all fat is rendered. Remove the bacon bits from the pan and set aside. Add olive oil and butter to pan, sauté the onions until translucent, then add the celery and garlic to cook until almost done. Add flour to pan and cook until flour is absorbed and a little golden.

Drain clam juice and add to pan, setting aside clams. Add potatoes and thyme to the pot, along with enough stock or water to nearly cover. Lower heat and cook until the potatoes are almost done. Add the half & half and the clams to the pot and cook until everything is heated through and potatoes are tender*. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped parsley and the pat of butter.

*Note that this makes a thinner style soup, so if you’d like to thicken, you can make a “slurry” by mixing in a cup 2 T. milk to 1 T. cornstarch or flour, add it to the soup, and cook the soup until thickened. You can also thicken it by adding a few tablespoons of mashed potato flakes, like my dad does sometimes.

**Also, you can easily forget the seafood and/or bacon altogether and make it a veggie-potato soup. You can even probably make it vegan - Tera knows about that kind of stuff...

Enjoy and stay warm ~

Heather
www.heatherdavisbooks.com
The Clearing - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Never Cry Werewolf - HarperTeen
Wherever You go - Harcourt Fall 2011