Big Bear Valley Education Trust

PEBBLE PLAIN PHOTO CONTEST How to Enter? 1) Like this page 2) Post your photo as a Comment, 3) Share with your family and friends. Three photos with Most "likes" will win $50 also 12 photos will be included in the Education Trust Annual Calendar. Calendars will be available to purchase. See our website for full rules.

PEBBLE PLAIN PHOTO CONTEST How to Enter? 1) Like this page 2) Post your photo as a Comment, 3) Share with your family and friends. Three photos with Most "likes" will win $50 also 12 photos will be included in the Education Trust Annual Calendar. Calendars will be available to purchase. See our website for full rules.

DAY 5 - BEN BRISSEY'S METEROLOGY 5) Where do you do your weather job? Do you have other jobs? If so, what are they and are they related to your weather page? --Emy R. and Ms. Gardner I do most of the research for weather at home on my computer. I spend countless hours researching computer forecast models, looking at satellites and radar, even talking to other meteorologists around the state to compare ideas. I work closely with our National Weather Service office in San Diego... to make sure you all have the best forecast possible to plan your day. I mostly update my website from home, but I can do it from anywhere as long as I have my laptop. If you listen to me on KBHR, that is updated from the radio station at the airport. I record what you hear on the radio several times a day, so you always have the most current weather information. Aside from being a meteorologist, I’m also the I.T. Manager for Big Bear Mountain Resort. I’m in charge of all the technology at both Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, I probably work with some of your parents! I fix everything from computers to phones, printers, and WIFI. If you ski or snowboard at the resorts and have seen the scanners we use to check tickets, I set those up too. Even some of our chairlifts run on computers! Technology works hand in hand with forecasting weather since a lot of things run on computers. ---------- 6) We see that you have sponsors and a PayPal button at the bottom of your webpage but it seems like you do this as a service. Is that true? If so, why are you compelled to do it? --Ms. Gardner and Class I do have a few sponsors for my webpage and also accept donations. I created the website as a free service to provide everyone with the most accurate weather information for Big Bear, but it can be expensive. I don’t charge anyone, but people can sponsor the page which helps me with the cost to run the website. I have installed several live webcams throughout Big Bear with more coming soon. These cameras can cost thousands of dollars each, and the servers to run them on also costs money every month. With the help of my sponsors, I will continue to bring you the best weather forecast for Big Bear! See more

DAY FOUR, METEOROLOGIST BEN BRISSEY As we have mentioned our students are being home schooled, Phil Hamilton working with teachers, Michele Richmeier and Shelly Bassham, came up with an idea to help the 6th grade students be engaged in their Weather Unit. Similar to the Education Trust’s Real World Program, Phil invited a local leader, Meteorologist, Ben Brissey to answer the BBMS student questions about his job. I think you will find the questions and answers very inform...ative. We are never too old to learn new things. We will be bringing you Ben’s answers in the next few days, here on our FB page. 4) Do you use your own mathematical models/equations to predict Big Bear weather? --Ms. Gardner and Class Math goes into a lot of calculations for the weather, which is why school is so important! For example, and I’ll try not to get too technical. In the winter if the forecast calls for an inch of rain in the mountains, we can usually expect around 10 inches of snow! One inch of rain equals 10-inches of snow at 30-degrees, that’s called a 10 to 1 ratio. If the temperature is 25-degrees, then it’s a 15 to 1 ratio, which means the same amount of rain (1-inch) would drop 15-inches of snow. If it’s 18-degrees, then it’s 20:1, 1 inch of rain would bring us 20 inches of snow. The colder it is, the lighter the snow will be and the higher it can pile up, the warmer it is, the wetter and heavier the snow is. You can tell the difference in what kind of snow we had when you’re out shoveling, sometimes it’s easier than others. There’s another fun calculation you can try yourself with lightning and thunder. Some of you may already know this, but you can measure how far away lightning is simply by counting. When you see lightning flash start counting seconds, one-Mississippi two-Mississippi and stop when you hear the thunder. For every 5 seconds, it’s one mile away, so if you counted to 15, the lightning is 3 miles away, which by the way is too dangerous for you to be outside. If you can hear thunder, it’s close enough to strike and you should head inside. One more good example is trying to calculate when a storm will hit Big Bear, I’ll let you all try to guess the right answer. A rainstorm arrives at the coast at 8:00 AM, it’s moving west towards Big Bear at 25 miles per hour, we’re 150 miles inland, what time should the rain start in Big Bear?

Have you ever done weather in a different city? Have you always lived here? --Isla O. and Ms. Gardner 3) I have not always lived in Big Bear, I grew up in Huntington Beach, California. I did forecasts for my neighborhood when I was a kid and for my High School’s TV station, forecasting beach weather. I have also done weather for people that need a forecast for certain areas. An example is working with the Forest Service, I’ve provided them with weather outlooks for a specific location where a fire is burning, which helps them fight forest fires. I’ve also done weather forecasts for special events in cities like Mammoth and Palm Springs. But I have the most fun doing weather for Big Bear, there are not too many places around the world where you can go from warm and sunny to cold and snowy all in the same day.

DAY TWO, METEOROLOGIST BEN BRISSEY As we mentioned yesterday, our students are being home schooled, Phil Hamilton working with teachers, Michele Richmeier and Shelly Bassham, came up with an idea to help the 6th grade students be more engaged in their Weather Unit. Similar to the Education Trust’s Real World Program, Phil invited a local leader, Meteorologist, Ben Brissey to answer the BBMS student questions about his job. We will be bringing you Ben’s answers in the next f...ew days here on our FB page. 2) What inspired you to become a meteorologist? What encourages you to keep doing your job? --Jesse R. My fascination with weather is what inspired me to be a meteorologist, everyone has hobbies, mine has always been watching the weather. When I was a kid, instead of watching cartoons, I watched the weather channel, pretty boring to most people, but I loved it. Everybody has a certain fascination with weather, it affects our everyday lives, I wanted to learn how it all worked. There are still things we don’t understand about the weather, but with technology improving, we’re learning new things every day!

STUDENTS ASK WEATHER QUESTIONS! While our students are being home schooled, Phil Hamilton working with teachers, came up with an idea to help the 6th grade students be engaged in their Weather Unit. Similar to the Education Trust’s Real World Program, Phil invited a local leader, Meteorologist, Ben Brissey to answer the BBMS student questions about his job. I think you will find the questions and answers very informative. We are never too old to learn new things. We wil...l be bringing you Ben’s answers in the next few days here on our FB page. Enjoy! 1) Do you use a weather probe or other instruments to gather data to predict the local weather? -- Austin C. and Isaac D. Great question and yes! Weather instruments play a big role in understanding and predicting our weather. There are about 50 weather stations people have set up at their homes in Big Bear and all across the mountains. Some of you might already have weather-stations at home I can watch on the internet. These weather stations upload information online every few minutes, I can take that data to better forecast our weather. For example, looking at winds and rainfall down the mountain, we can see what might be headed our way, giving us an idea of what to expect. In the summer-time, if humidity levels start to rise, it could be a sign monsoon thunderstorms are returning. Mother-nature always gives us a little hint when the weather is changing. Weather-stations translate that hint into information we can read and study. This gives us a better understanding of what weather does, which helps us make more accurate forecasts.

IERCD RECEIVES GOLDEN APPLE AWARD The BBV Education Trust Board members Liz Harris and Linda Bulman as well as Jim Miller, chairman of the Pebble Plain Committee attended the Board Meeting of the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District on February 13. They took this occasion to present the IERCD Board with their Golden Apple Trophy and a certificate from Jay Obernolte acknowledging their contributions to the Valley. Mandy Parkes, the IERCD District Manager also received a Golden Apple award for her support to BearTech and the Pebble Plain Committee for the past six years. Pictured are Liz Harris, the founder of BBV Education Trust, Paul Williams, President of IERCD Board of Directors and Mandy Parkes. The Golden Apple Award Ceremony was held in January but the IERCD recipients were unable to attend at that time.

The Golden Apple Awards was held on January 12, 2020 and it was a wonderful success! We thank the following restaurants For Donating Food for this Event Copper Q... Hacienda 572 Social Club Peppercorn We thank the Raffle Donators: Bear Mountain Resorts Pine Knot Marina Jay Obernolte Big Bear Outfitters Scott Eliason Bennett Rossell Randy Putz (Chirp) Art by Linda May Pleasure Point Marina And The Discovery Center for Crafts BBV Community Church BBHS Interact Club (Balloons) BBHS Politics of the United States (POTUS) Club A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors: Chirp, Copper Q, Stater Brothers Markets and IERCD. The BBV Education Trust Board of Directors Thanks you for attending and contributing to our Mission. Founder: Liz Harris, Chairman of the Board - Linda Bulman, Vice Chairman of the Board - Connie Friel, Treasurer - Kristine Yoshida, Treasurer Elect - Carrie Horner, Scott Eliason, Tom Hunter, Nancy Gonzalez, Linda Ricchiuti Tax ID 27-3677068 Non-profit 501 (c) (3)

Last Days to Register for Golden Apple Awards. Today and tomorrow til 5pm. Please go to Events and press the Ticket button. Tips for Success: Fill out every required field, scroll to bottom to see if you missed anything. 2. Your address here and your credit card address have to match or you will get an error. Thank You for your support! Ed Trust appreciates each one of you!

The Big Bear Valley Education Trust invites you to our GOLDEN APPLE AWARDS and to see the Award Winning Documentary, Most Likely to Succeed which is about making school more hands on and more about learning by doing. We will also be celebrating our Founder’s Birthday; Liz Harris will be 80 years old in January and we will sing, have cake and maybe a surprise or two. Won’t you join us? January 12, 2020... Community Church Chapel Big Bear Lake 2 5 pm Register here: https://www.bearvalleyedtrust.org/events/ Joe and Nancy Siska - Volunteer Recipients

Photos of Recent Science Expeditions