Chapter 9

9 A blast of purple light filled the room. When it faded, two huge see-through boxes came into view. They were twice as tall as Dr. Crisp and extra wide! One was partly filled with water. The other had a layer of dirt covering the bottom. Both had what looked like dark storm clouds floating near the top! "Okay, Makers! Listen up!" Dr. Crisp walked in between the two giant boxes. "In this box," she said, tapping the one with water, "a hurricane will form!"

Pablo's eyes grew wide. "It's going to stay in the box, though, right? I've been in a hurricane back in Puerto Rico. It was… scary." Dr. Crisp smiled and signed. "Maker's honor!" Then she continued. "And in this box, a tornado will touch down! It will be your job to figure out three ways tornadoes and hurricanes are the same," Dr. Crisp explained, holding up three fingers. "AND… three ways they are different." She held up three fingers on her other hand. "Use your watches to record your answers." Dr. Crisp pointed to one of the buttons on the side of her watch. Violet asked the twins, "Did you ever see a tornado at your grandpa's farm in Oklahoma?" They shook their heads. "But he told me all about them," replied Devin. He straightened up and stood tall. With hands on his hips and a smile on his face, he said, "We've got this. Ready when you are, Dr. Crisp!" Dr. Crisp shouted into her watch, "Maker Maze, activate spinning storms!"

BOOM SNAP WHIZ ZAP The storm boxes began to shake. CRACK! CRASH! BAM! Thunderclaps echoed throughout the room. The dark storm clouds floating at the top of the boxes began to move. Dr. Crisp cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed, "READY! SET! BRAINSTORM!" The Makers slowly approached the boxes. Wind was picking up in both. The storm clouds began to move in a circular motion. Waves started to crash into the sides of the hurricane box. In the tornado box, a funnel cloud dropped until it finally touched down. Dust flew in the air! "Okay, let's think about this," Violet said. "There are some things that are definitely different

between tornadoes and hurricanes." "And some that are definitely the same," added Skylar. "Both hurricanes and tornadoes have really strong winds! It probably has something to do with air temperature." "You're getting warmer!" cheered Dr. Crisp. "Tornadoes form when cold air from the north runs into the warm air from the south," Devin explained. "That's why you get so many in the middle of the country!"

"I bet it's the same for hurricanes!" said Violet. "Isn't that what your abuela said, Pablo?" "You're right! She said Puerto Rico gets hurricanes because of the warm water!" replied Pablo, rubbing his hands together. "Warm water evaporates from the ocean. It becomes warm air and rises to the sky," Skylar said. "We learned that in level one! And in level two—" "We learned that cold air replaces warm air to create wind!" Devin finished. "I bet when it happens over and over, it can cause a storm! Like a hurricane or a tornado!" "That's it!" said Violet. She hollered into her watch, "Both tornadoes and hurricanes form because warm and cold air mix to create strong spinning winds!" RING DING DONG

"Way to warm up!" cheered Dr. Crisp. Pablo continued to examine the storm boxes. Then he said, "I know a difference!" He lifted his watch to his mouth and said, "Hurricanes form over water, but tornadoes form over land!" RING DING DONG "I got one, too!" said Devin. "Tornadoes touch the ground because the wind makes a funnel!" He pointed to the long funnel cloud in the tornado box. "Hurricanes don't do this. They stay in the air." RING DING DONG