What's it like to ride in a plane during a hurricane? Why do scientists follow tornadoes? What do all those buoys out in the Pacific Ocean really tell us about climate? How do forecasters know when bad weather is coming?

Thousands of schoolchildren and other viewers of the educational show "Live From the Storm" will have those questions and more answered March 7 and April 11. The show will be broadcast on many Public Broadcasting Stations nationwide.

Ninth in the continuing "Passport to Knowledge" series, the show was produced with support from three offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; and the National Weather Service. The National Aeronautic and Space Administration also is participating. The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations assisted by arranging for flights into Hurricane Dennis.

Realizing that the United States may just have the wildest weather on earth, the "Live From the Storm" team focused on hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, thunder, El Niño/La Niña, and winter storms.

"We want to use these powerful climatic phenomena to transform students' natural curiosity into an understanding of the world around them," said Geoffrey Haines-Stiles, "Live From the Storm" project director. "In addition, students will meet, on camera and online, the enthusiastic men and women who work for America's leading weather and climate research agencies and discover why they love their work and how what they learned at school prepared them for their rewarding careers."

As he did in the 1999 "Live From the Sun" broadcast, which featured NOAA's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo., Haines-Stiles will serve as the on-camera guide as the show goes from satellite to ship to plane to laboratory.

During the March 7 segment, entitled "The Who, What, When, Where, and Why of Weather," viewers will fly with NOAA through a hurricane, sail across the Pacific to take the ocean's temperature, see how and why researchers chase tornadoes (safely!), and why weather appears when and where it does. The segment visits the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla., for a first-hand look at how tropical storms are identified and monitored and when and how warnings are issued.

The April 11, "Research to the Rescue" segment focuses on how cutting-edge research and new technologies, such as Doppler radar, satellites and computers, contribute to make life safer. Teachers and students will be able to ask questions of NOAA researchers at the National Severe Storms Laboratory and the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., via the Internet.

The show connects research with science concepts through a 64-page teachers guide which will is available online at no cost at: http://www.passporttoknowledge.com/ptk_storm.html