Meteorologist Predicts: Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs at Redwood Children’s Library

Michelle Muscatello

In a thoroughly winning and informatiive program, television meteorologist Michelle Muscatello of Channel 12, 11 and 5, spoke to a group of wiggleworms (aka local youngsters) at the Children’s annex of the Redwood Library, asking them what they knew about weather terms (a surprising lot, as it turned out), and entrancing them with a tour of the mobile weather van, full of scientific measuring devices. They were even allowed to create tornadoes for themselves in a pair of adjoined beakers.

Ms. Muscatello answers science questions

Introduced by Redwood Children’s librarian Alice Campbell, Ms. Muscatello described getting up at 2 a.m. every day to prepare her forecast, and told the group of children, 35 strong, that the weather map they see on the screen is not really there! She then went on to read from the book, “Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs”, a classic by Judi and Ron Barrett, in which a town named Chewandswallow has food raining, snowing or blowing in – until it all goes wrong.

Describing the weather van's capabilities

Declan Kerr Gintz was there with grandfather Perry Lewis, and young Jackson Pelletier sat atop father Jonathan’s shoulders, as grandmother Sharon Pelletier looked on. One young fellow, around 5, worried aloud that he couldn’t get up before 7 a.m. to see Ms. Muscatello on TV.

Events committee co-chair Mary Riggs served cookies and pretzels near the weather van, committee member Mary Ambrogi took photos, and Redwood Library Director Cheryl Helms stopped by to say hello.