A conversation about the weather is normal for most adults, but it isn't necessarily a prime conversational topic of an 8-year-old.
But the second-graders at Fremont Elementary School were fully engaged in a conversation about the weather with Channel 5 KOAA Meteorologist Stephen Bowers when he visited the school Tuesday morning.
Three classrooms of second-graders, about 75 kids, discussed everything from temperature, air pressure and how to measure the weather to jet streams, precipitation and condensation, different types of clouds and the weather cycle.
"Meteor means inside the sky," Bowers told the students, "-ology means the study of."
A little more than half raised their hand when Bowers asked how many of the children enjoyed math, then told them that "there's a lot of math" involved in meteorology.
The students seemed to especially enjoy hearing about the extreme weather conditions. They asked Bowers lots of questions about blizzards, hurricanes, tornados and lightening.
Bowers said he always includes a little bit on weather safety in his lectures when visiting schools. He said in Colorado, there are not a lot of extremely dangerous weather conditions, but being from Pensacola, Fla., he said it is important for children to be familiar with the topic.
Fremont Elementary is the fourth school Bowers has visited in the last two weeks, he said.
"This is the time of the year that classes are studying weather," Bowers said.
He said he is the busiest visiting schools between Christmas and Spring Break.
Bowers said he will do a little bit of lesson-planning when preparing his lectures for the various schools but said he usually just begins talking and "see what sticks out to the kids."
"Then I make sure to elaborate on that," he said.
Bowers has been a meteorologist for seven years in other states and has been with KOAA for a little more than a year. He said he really enjoys Colorado, especially the scenery.
"Those mountains play a huge role in the weather we have," he said to the students.
Bowers said he likes visiting the second- and third-grade classrooms because they are old enough to be able to understand the lecture, which makes them curious.
"Here, they were very interactive," he said. "That makes it fun for them and for me."