What's Up Weather: How does topography impact weather?

What’s up weather? Topography is like the hills and valleys that help shape the sky, just like how your favorite slide makes you go faster or slower.

Imagine you're playing with a toy car on a ramp. If the ramp is flat, the car rolls slowly. But if it’s steep, the car zooms down fast! Mountains act like big ramps for the wind. When wind hits a mountain, it pushes up, kind of like when you blow on a paper to make it fly.

• Mountains can block or push air around. If the wind is blocked, it might bring rain or snow to one side but leave the other side dry.
• Valleys are like tunnels for the wind. Wind can get stuck in them, making it colder or warmer, just like how your bedroom feels different when you open a window.

Sometimes, the air goes up and cools down on top of a mountain, making clouds and rain. On the other side, the air drops down warm and dry, kind of like climbing to the top of a slide and then zooming back down!