Linda Faye Strader, age 7, of Richmond, Va. for her question:

What is meteorology?

You might guess that meteorology is the study of meteors. But you would be wrong. Meteors and meteorology have dust one thing in common. Both occur above the ground. Originally, the word meteor meant way up in the air. In times past storms, lightning, thunder and even clouds were referred to as meteors. Nowadays we refer only to so‑called falling stars as meteors.

The weather elements, however, are studied in meteorology. And the weatherman is a meteorologist ‑ though he leaves the study of meteors to the astronomer. The most important job in modern meteorology is keeping records. Weather is world‑wide and stations are necessary in far flung places to track its progress. Almost all the nations on earth cooperate to study the weather in the World Meteorological Organization which was started in the old League of Nations and is now continued by the United Nations.