PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (EYT) – The Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center recently expanded its interactive fun again with a new exhibit.
The new Frozen Raindrop exhibit gives participants a chance to get a close up look at what precipitation would look like if you could suspend it in time. Participants utilize keys that can speed up, slow down, or reverse the direction of a stream of water, and a strobe light then allows them to see what the individual drops would look like frozen in place.
“What we’re focusing on is that raindrops aren’t really the shape we all draw with the pointy top and round bottom,” Director Marlene Lellock noted. “The smaller ones are actually perfect spheres, and the larger ones look more like the shape of a burger bun.”
“It basically allows you to see the raindrops frozen in space.”
The new exhibit also includes information on different types of frozen precipitation, illustrating the differences between sleet, freezing rain, and snow.
The exhibit was constructed by the Carnegie Science Center and added to the Weather Discovery Center thanks to funds from the Glenn and Ruth Mengle Foundation and the Jefferson County Hotel Tax, administered through the Great Outdoors Visitors Bureau.
According to Lellock, along with the Precipitation Puzzler exhibit that was added in February, this new exhibit covers a gap in the exhibits at the center.
“We had a gap in terms of precipitation because we didn’t really cover that extensively, but I think now we really do,” she said.
The Precipitation Puzzler also came to Punxsutawney via the Carnegie Science Center. It is another interactive exhibit which challenges participants to put together four precipitation-related shapes in less than 60 seconds. Once that minute is up, air begins to blow through the surface of the exhibit, blowing the pieces away.
According to Amanda Hornack, Director of Education and Programming at the center, she and Lellock were a little concerned the new exhibit might be a bit too easy until they attempted it themselves, after the installation.
“Neither of us could do it on the first, or even the second try,” she admitted.
Other exhibits at the center include the Thunderdrums, the Twist & Shout, the Daily Forecast, Phil’s Burrow, and the Weather Wizard, which show everything from how tornados work and how to stock a storm shelter to how animals can predict the weather.
Regular hours in April through May are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in June through August, they are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and in September through December they are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Hours from January through March, are Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Regular admission is $7.00 for adults or children – and kids ages two and under are admitted for free. They also offer a dollar off to all active duty military personnel and their accompanying family members upon presentation of military ID card.
For more information, check out the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center website or visit their Facebook page.
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