I recently scheduled to have my sprinklers blown out. I suppose most folks with sprinkler systems have to take care of that one way or another, or risk having burst pipes sometime during the winter. That task got me thinking about the amazing properties of water. Water in all its forms is not only a tangible part of what we call “weather,” but also an integral part in steering the type of weather we experience. Water in its gaseous form, also called water vapor, is a good absorber of long wave radiation. It is one of the so-called “greenhouse” gases, which can trap heat that would otherwise be radiated and lost back to space. In its solid form, water can take on the graceful structure of a delicate snowflake floating to the ground, or become a destructive hailstone damaging crops and even automobiles. In its liquid form, fresh, clean water is the lifeblood of our existence – but too much of it at once results in the perils of flooding.
