(humming) - Let's see, check the weather... What - oh!

Looks like there's a 10% chance of rain!

Hmm, I like those chances but ah, (thundering) Anybody have an umbrella I can borrow?

I can't afford to get rusty again!

♪ Wimee creates ♪ All the day through ♪ And you can do it too!

- Hey friends!

I'm so glad you could join us for this very special episode about weather.

And we have a very special guest.

ABC news, chief meteorologist Ginger Zee, a Michigan native, is joining me and our other friends today to discuss her love and passion for weather!

Oh, it's a perfect climate for fun, creativity, and learning on today's Wimee's Words!

(groovy music) Hi Ginger!

- Hey Wimee!

It's great to be with you.

- Oh we are excited.

Oh man, we're going to find out more about you in a moment, but we always start our show with an opening song.

Oh ho ho!

So the first question we always ask our viewers to share words and ideas.

Would you tell us one of your favorite foods?

- Foods?

- Yeah.

What is something you enjoy eating?

- This is going to sound pretty wild to any of the kids watching, because right now I am all about kale.

- Oh, I love kale!

I totally love kale.

Oh man, and I saw on your Facebook page, you got like a big bountiful harvest of kale going.

- I am giving it away to everybody that comes in.

- I love kale.

Okay.

Okay so, we're going to find out more about how you started your career, what you love about science and weather.

But here we go.

Get going on this song.

Here we go.

♪ There was a man lived in the moon, ♪ ♪ lived in the moon.

♪ lived in the moon.

♪ There was a man lived in the moon ♪ ♪ His name was Aiken Drum.

♪ His hat was made of kale ♪ of kale, of kale.

♪ His hat was made of kale ♪ and his name was Aiken Drum.

This is a song from Scotland.

So we need more things to put together.

So, ooh, ooh!

Owen says PB and J.

So he's going to have a bathing suit made of PB and J, ready?

♪ His bathing suit is made of PB and J ♪ ♪ Of PB and J, of PB and J.

♪ His bathing suit is made a PB and J ♪ ♪ His name was Aiken Drum.

Ha ha!

That's so fun.

We've got our team backstage for the whole show.

They're going to help us out as well.

Oh, Keller!

Hi Keller!

All right.

We need to find out what else - oh, cheeseburgers.

Kylie says cheeseburger!

He's got a sweater.

So he's getting dressed for all seasons.

Ready?

♪ His sweater is made of cheeseburgers, ♪ ♪ Of cheeseburgers, of cheeseburgers.

♪ ♪ His sweater, it's made of cheeseburgers ♪ ♪ His name was Aiken Drum.

That'd be good for the fall, a sweater.

What about the winter?

A scarf!

Oh, his scarf is made spaghetti, ready?

♪ His scarf has made of spaghetti, ♪ ♪ Spaghetti, spaghetti.

♪ His scarf has made of spaghetti, ♪ ♪ His name was Aiken Drum.

How about some mittens?

Do we have some mittens for this?

Ooh, eggs.

Ha ha ha!

Imagine in your brain what this would look like.

This character.

Okay.

So we've got mittens made of eggs, ready?

♪ His mittens are made of eggs, ♪ ♪ Of eggs, of eggs.

♪ His mittens are made of eggs ♪ And his name was Aiken Drum.

Ooh!

Elli's favorite food is strawberries.

That would be fun.

Friends, please keep adding more ideas to this song.

Keep singing it.

Well, guess what, friends?

Moby's here for a message.

And then get ready to ask some questions and learn from Ginger Zee.

But let's let the video roll up.

Moby!

(groovy jazz music) - Ho ho ho!

Today, where I live, it's really cloudy.

Yeah.

And I was just thinking there's a lot of different types of weather.

Oh, man!

Sometimes it's cloudy, like today!

And sometimes it can be sunny or rainy or snowy!

Oh ho!

Man, brr!

It's cold sometimes.

(groovy jazz music) - Oh, it sure is summer here.

Hey, let's bring in Ginger and get to know her better!

Ha ha ha!

So Ginger, first, where are you right now?

- I am in New York in my house.

- Oh!

And what's the weather like for you today?

- Today is pretty perfect.

We are in the mid or upper 70's.

Sunshine, some passing clouds.

I cannot complain.

- Ah ha!

That sounds delightful.

- Yeah, well we had a cold front last night, and it actually made it much less humid too, which I know my husband loves.

- Yeah!

Yeah, me too.

Less humidity is less sticky.

So Ginger, we know you have some connections to West Michigan, right?

- I do.

I grew up there.

I grew up in the grand rapids.

- Love it.

So tell us more about your - how you got started.

How did you go from West Michigan to now the ABC news, chief meteorologist?

- I started by loving weather in west Michigan.

I watched Lake Michigan, which I'm sure a lot of the kids watching here have seen or been to.

And I spent a whole summer on lake Michigan, and I was able to see thunderstorms.

And when they came through, I started to realize that some of the thunderstorms made it to us.

Some of them never made it to us.

Some of them went to the north of us, some went to the south.

Sometimes it rains, sometimes it didn't.

And I started a real curiosity of why did that happen?

By the end of that summer, I also saw a water spout.

That's a tornado on the water.

And it was a lock.

I was in love with weather from that point forward.

And I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist.

I just didn't think I wanted to be a TV meteorologist.

So I went to school for storm chasing and that's how it all began.

- Wow.

That's so awesome.

Well, we've got some questions from our friends watching and they may do some shout-outs, our friends at Muskegon area district library there.

Ooh, this is a fun question!

Ha ha!

Do you like turtles?

- I love turtles.

Who doesn't like turtles?

- Right!

And now like - they can go inside their shell to protect themselves from the elements.

- They can.

And that's the nice part.

Is we in west Michigan, another thing is I was born in Southern California and I always say, I'm glad that we moved to west Michigan.

Cause we get a lot of different weather in Michigan.

- We do!

We do!

Okay.

Here's the next question.

Is it true that you can use thunder to tell how far away a storm is?

- There is a rule of thumb that works most of the time to tell how far away a storm is.

But I always say the most important rule you can remember is when thunder roars, you gotta to get indoors because thunder is the sound of lightning.

And lightning to me, a person who has been up close and personal with so many tornadoes and even hurricanes, lightning scares me much more than that.

So you never want to mess with lightning.

It can be erratic.

It can jump from 15 miles outside of a thunderstorm.

I say, thunder roars go indoors.

Don't even worry how far it is away.

- Wow.

I love the sound of that.

When the thunder roars go indoors!

That's great advice.

And so true.

So the last question I had right now is: as a scientist yourself, what advice do you have for young budding scientists out there right now watching this show?

- Yeah, I think the most important thing I wish I would have known is as much as you love science or math or technology, whatever it is, that is your thing, knowing that you can be more than one thing.

Because there was a long time in my life where I said, "Well, I'm just good at math and science, and this is what I am."

And it's true.

That is what came easily.

It's what I love.

And it's what got me to my job here.

But I had told myself that I wasn't good at writing.

But I loved writing!

And so I had one teacher somewhere and I had one bad grade and that gave me a label I held on for too long.

And then a couple of years ago I had one person say, "You know what?

You should try to write."

And I did.

And I wrote five books and now one of them went on the New York times bestseller list.

- Yes!

- It's an amazing thing to realize that we can be more than one thing.

- I love that.

That is such great advice.

And here are some of your books.

Tell us a little bit about these books real fast.

- That's Chasing Helicity.

It's it's trilogy.

And it's loosely based on me.

That first book is all based in west Michigan.

Helicity, which is my favorite tornado variable.

So I wanted to name the main character after that.

She goes on all of these adventures through some of the biggest storms of life.

And they're based on storms that I've been in myself mostly.

- Oh wow.

That is so cool to hear about the behind the scenes there a little bit.

And you've also got books for adults and so much good stuff!

Okay.

So we got a lot of creative thinking to do in the show.

So we're excited that you're going to join us as we continue.

Now, what we do next is called Three Sentence Story and it involves getting words from our friends watching.

So I want you to think of any word at all.

It could be silly, goofy.

It could be science related.

It could be just anything related.

So what I do then in the first sentence of the story is I set the scene.

Then I'll ask more friends for more words, where in the second sentence, there is a problem!

And then you know comes in the third sentence?

The solution!

Ha ha!

So first word, any word at all, Ginger.

What word are you thinking randomly?

- Vorticity.

- Whoa, say that again?

- Vorticity.

- Vorticity!

I love it!

I love it!

Okay.

Thanks Ginger!

Let's see how the story begins.

And this is all called Three Sentence Story.

Beginning, middle, end.

Okay.

Here's how I start.

It was a lovely day and I was walking on the sidewalk when I realized things were starting to fill up with vorticity.

Ah ha ha ha!

Uh oh, there's a problem.

Oh, school.

Oh no!

There's a problem in school.

Okay, here we go.

From the top.

So I was walking down the sidewalk to a boat in the air filled with vorticity.

I realized, oh no!

Oh no I knocked over the globe.

I got so excited.

But oh no!

It's a school day, I got to get to school!

Oh no!

How do I solve the problem?

I forgot it's a school day.

I just start walking along - Cat!

Okay, thanks Keller.

Cat is the solution.

Okay, here we go.

It was a lovely day and I was walking down the sidewalk to the lake when I realized the air was filling up with vorticity.

I realized oh no!

It's a school day and I got to get to school!

My cat was walking next to me, so I hopped on his back and he jumped on a boat and took me all the way to school.

Ah ha ha!

That solves our problem, right?

The cat took me and got me to school and then I can learn more about vorticity.

All right.

After the story, we'll find out more about that word.

But right now friends, it's time to go to Nia in the New York city Wimage lab to see what she's got going for today's Wimage.

Hey Nia!

- Hi.

How are you?

- I'm Good.

I'm excited to learn about the word vorticity.

- Of course!

This is exciting!

- Do you know anything about it?

I have to look it up.

- I don't know much about it, but I'm pretty sure if we ask Ginger, she'll let us know.

- Yeah, it's a foreboding story right now, the air filling up with vorticity.

So what have you got for the Wimage unfolding?

- Let me show you guys.

So right now we have Wimee on a boat.

Wimee, do you see that statue in the back?

What do you think that is?

- That's the statue of Liberty, I think.

- Yes.

- And where's the Statue of Liberty located?

- Ah, Staten island, right?

By New York city?

- It's in New York city.

Hi, how are you?

Yes, this is in New York city.

So for our setting, we have Wimee on the boat and maybe he's passing by the Statue of Liberty on his way the way to school.

- Yes, I love it!

I see a sea monster in the water, don't I?

- Yes!

- Ah, nice... - So Wimee, what do you think we should add, in the viewers?

What do you guys think we should add?

- Oh yeah.

Ooh!

Bats!

Ha ha!

They're flying up over the water.

They eat mosquitoes.

I like bats because they get the mosquitoes, especially on those summary sticky days.

- Of course.

And when Wimee what color should the bats be?

Let's get creative.

- Oh, Green.

- Green!

Perfect.

Oh, I see fish!

- Fish there in the water.

- We must have fish.

- So many possibilities!

- Yes.

And this is why we love the Wimage app, because we can be as creative as we want to be.

- Ooh, there we go.

- Oh, I love it!

It's coming together with bats with fish.

Ooh, and maybe a duck!

- Definitely.

Yes, and we can add a duck!

- Nia, I love it!

Thanks for updating us on the design, great work!

And so for today's language, explorers!

We've got Grace here to say the translations in Spanish.

Hi, Grace!

- Holá!

Holá amigos, Holá Wimee!

Como Estás?

- Bién!

Bién!

I'm so excited to share some of these words today in Spanish!

- [Wimee] Nice!

First word.

- First word: "Vorticidad!"

Vorticidad.

Do you want to say it with me, Wimee?

- Yeah.

Ready?

Vorti-ci-dad!

Ha ha!

Do you know what it means?

I'm still trying to figure that out.

You know, this word reminds me of a vortex.

A vortex that is spinning and spinning.

Spinning so much energy, so much commotion.

That's the feeling I get when I pick up vorticity.

A lot of pressure.

A lot of energy.

Yeah.

- Cool, right.

And then the second word was: cat!

Ha ha, wait, what was the second word?

Oh, school!

School, that's right!

And then cat, and then cat helped solve the problem.

That's right.

- Do you have any guesses with me?

What school is in Spanish?

- Oh, escuela - Ah!

Escuela.

- Love it!

- Were you in the escuela for a long time Wimee?

Or are you still in escuela?

- I'm still learning.

I'm always learning.

- Me too.

- School, workshops, friends.

- You're right.

it's always a good time to keep learning.

And our last word, sorry, my light there.

Our last word "cat" is "gato."

Or if you want to be sweet and be kind to your cat, you can say "gatito."

- Oh ho ho!

Gatito, I love that.

- Yeah.

You add an I T O.

You know, when your kept being so sweet and you're just hanging out on the couch.

You're like, "Oh, gatito!"

- Well, Grace, thank you so much for sharing with us today's words in Spanish.

We'll see you later.

Yes, birdy!

We wrote a story.

We wrote a story, we made the Wimage, we translated.

Let's go back to Ginger Zee and find out more about the word.

So Ginger, I'm wondering, can you all - Hi friend!

- This is Adrien!

- Hi Adrien!

Your mom - is that one of your kids?

- Yes, it's one of my kids.

- Ah ha ha!

Your mom told us the word - - "Vorticity" - Vorticity!

That's such a tricky word.

I've excited to learn more.

Can you teach us more about it?

It means "to spin."

So I kind of used it right in the sentence, right?

I was noticing a change in the air.

- In the air, which works well.

- All right.

Well thanks friends!

We're going to come back to you shortly as we continue this show.

Its time for Jim Time!

(rock music jingle) Ah ha, well, what'chu got?

- Well today, I was going to sing some weather songs here, but I need help from our friends at home.

We need a type of weather.

So tell us the type of weather.

And then we're going to turn that weather into food.

So we're going to start out with some rain drops.

♪ The fall rain drops ♪ Were lemon drops and gum drops ♪ ♪ So, what a rain it would be!

♪ I'd stand aside with my mouth wide, ♪ and then you're gonna go: ♪ Ah, ah ah ♪ Ah, ah ah ♪ Ah, ah ah ah!

♪ The fall of the rain drops ♪ Were lemon drops and gum drops, ♪ ♪ Oh what a rain it would be!

All right.

So we need some more weather we can turn into food.

Ooh!

Sunny, all right we'll go with sunny.

♪ The fall of sunbeams ♪ Were cookies and ice cream, ♪ Oh what a sun it would be!

♪ I'd stand aside with my mouth open wide ♪ ♪ Ah, ah ah ♪ Ah, ah ah, ♪ Ah, ah ah ah!

♪ The fall of the sunbeams ♪ were cookies and ice cream, ♪ Oh what a sun it would be!

I like it!

Hi Ginger, do you have a favorite kind of weather?

Another kind of weather day we can make it into food?

- Say hail - Hail... - Hail, all right.

Oh!

And you'll like this one!

Cause I think we're going to make the hail spinach and kale!

That would be great, right?

♪ If all of the hail ♪ Were spinach and kale ♪ Oh, what a hail it would be!

♪ I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide, ♪ ♪ Ah, ah ah ♪ Ah, ah ah ♪ Ah, ah ah ah!

♪ If all of the hail were spinach and kale ♪ ♪ Oh what a hail it would be!

Awesome!

So friends, thank you for your help.

Friends, you can do that at home.

Come up with different of weather and then see if you can come up with a rhyme and turn that weather into food.

- Oh, I'm getting hungry.

I love it Jim!

Friends we love being silly.

We love jokes.

It's time for today's Laughing With Lucas!

- (children cheering and horns honking) - Hey Wimee, hey Ginger, what's the difference between weather and climate?

- Hmm?

- You can't weather a tree, but you can climate, ha ha ha!

(children cheering) - Climate... Oh man, friends!

We love kids, we love getting to know kids and celebrating them.

And one of our friends, Cailynn, who's been on the show before, she's back for today's edition of kid chat.

(cheerful synth music) Hi Cailynn!

- Hi, Wimee!

- Oh, it's good to see you again!

- And it's great to see you too.

- Thanks, we know that you love to write and create and explore.

You are an aspiring journalist.

- Thank you!

So something about being an aspiring journalist is that I always like to investigate and write and I always have like a little notepad or a pencil and then I can just write it down.

And then I can learn more and then jot it down.

And then I keep all my ideas in the note and then it helps me learn more and grow.

- What you think Cailynn, would you be interested in doing an interview of Ginger Zee?

- Of course!

- Oh let's do it.

Let's bring ginger back in.

Hey Ginger, are you ready for some tough questions from Cailynn?

- I feel it.

I feel like Cailynn's really got 'em.

- Ah ha, take it away, Cailynn!

- Okay, so the first question that I have is: So, how much would you get paid as being a meteorologist?

- You can make anywhere from about $20,000 as a meteorologist, all the way up to probably a half a million dollars as a meteorologist.

So there are a lot of different jobs and I think it's really interesting for people to know that most meteorologists are not on TV.

- Okay.

So for my second question, so whenever you're doing your work, do you get to choose what you study or is it what you have to study or can you just study things for fun?

- Well, I would be studying meteorology even if I wasn't a meteorologist cause I've always been interested in it, but yes, I like to specialize in certain things, but either way, the excitement of the atmosphere and the puzzle that is the atmosphere keeps me looking at new things each and every day.

- Okay, so for my third question, so whenever you're on ABC news, do you like tell them about a little bit about weather or is it just like to be on there and they kind of interview you a little bit and they talk to you more?

- I am always doing - so two things that people don't know.

I don't use a script.

So I'm always just talking about the science that I know and love.

So I really am a scientist on TV.

I am usually bringing some sort of headline visual and then teaching them something about science.

When we talked about the dry lightning today and how that forms in virga, I talked about that on the news today.

And it was funny because one of my aunt co-anchors said: "Hey, I learned something."

And that's always what I hope people take away from my broadcast is they feel the passion that I have for the atmosphere, but they also come away learning something.

- I keep learning lots of things each time that you're talking to me.

- Oh, I'm so glad!

And I have too, thank you, Cailynn!

- Cailynn!

That was awesome!

Those questions were all written and investigated by her.

And I just learned a bunch of stuff.

Cailynn, thanks for that reporting.

And Ginger, thanks for the information.

Friends, guess what?

We've got our friends Brock and Brody for today's That's So Cool!

(funky rock music) - Hi, I'm Brock.

- And I'm Brody.

- Have you ever wanted to touch a cloud?

- Well we're going to show you how.

- With a simple experiment.

So while the cloud is forming, so how it's warming is the warm water is turning into water vapor.

And when it hits the cold air from the ice, it turns into water droplets and it condenses and sticks to the hairspray and it becomes a cloud.

And then you lift the top and you can touch the cloud.

- That's how the experiment works.

- Bye - Bye!

(funky rock music) - That's so cool.

Well, friends, we have been learning, thinking, wondering!

Let's check in with Michael for a quick little thing.

It's time for Minute With Michael!

(short rock jingle) Hi!

- Hey, what a great show!

- Great!

- Hello friends, everybody watching.

Thank you so much.

I personally want to think Ginger Zee.

I want to thank all of her partners at ABC news for making this possible.

And because she currently lives in New York and I'm from New York, and when I first got out the military as a transition in peace, I drove a yellow cab in New York city.

And so in Wimee's dreams, we wanted to a scene where you are riding or driving a yellow monster truck from New York city to happy valley.

And I'm wondering what type of weather you're experiencing in this animation.

So I'd love to show this animation and then let's bring Ginger back on and let's dance!

(bright guitar music) - [Narrator] Wimee sat down, looked around the room, and began to wonder.

He dreamed of driving a monster truck taxi from New York city to Happy Valley.

♪ Anything at all, - Sing it, Moby!

♪ Anything is possible ♪ Anything at all!

♪ Anything is possible, ♪ We just can't do it all!

This is such a good day for a road trip.

(bright guitar music) - I think the sun was setting, it was just a little bit overcast.

- That's such an awesome song.

Anything is possible with community, with family, with friends, anything is truly possible.

And let's bring Ginger back on.

I'd love to say a couple of words to her.

- Yes, anything's possible when you're in a monster truck taxi, I think.

- Awesome.

Ginger, thank you so much for being a part of this.

We're grateful.

We're proud of you.

You rep West Michigan well, and now you rep my city New York city absolutely well, so keep up the great work and we want to continue to inspire kids all around the country to follow their dreams and yours happens to be science and we need more wonderful scientists.

- I agree.

Please keep looking at it, loving it and finding the parts of it and enjoying the fact that there's still mystery and we need all of you to help figure out this puzzle.

- Yeah - But I love being a part of it, but also knowing that we have a whole future here.

- Absolutely.

And the other thing I love is dancing.

You know, I grew up in the Bronx where, you know, music, hip hop was started in the Bronx, and let's dance Wimee!

- Ha ha, let's do it!

Friends, join us on screen!

At home, start dancing!

Ha ha!

It's been such a fun episode!

Ho ho!

Yeah, oh yeah!

Science!

Weather!

Imagination!

Word Play!

- Wimee's Words is brought to you by PNC: Grow Up Great, Funterra, by Smart.

Meijer and with additional support from these great partners.

(bright guitar music)