I was in my science class when my teacher asked for the homework assignment. It was funny to see how the whole class forgot to do the assignment when all it was, was to watch the news and take notes on what we thought shaped our lives.

Suddenly, Mr. Mirror went into one of his boring lectures about how we need to get more involved with what’s going on in our community or what could possibly go on. He said he would give us an extra day to do the assignment and turn it in. So, I went home and decided that I would do that assignment first to get it done.

“Weather marshals have discovered that this will be the year of El Niño’s return” said the channel 4 anchorman. It was the year 1998 when my family and I were sitting watching the news when we discovered that this would be the year we would have to change our life style.

During dinner I said to my mother, “Do you think that El Niño could really bring any changes to us here in Nebraska?” My mother said she didn’t know so I ate my dinner and rushed upstairs to my computer to do some further research. As I looked for places El Niño had effected before I kept some things in mind. “If El Niño could affect us what would happen? Would we suddenly get monsoons, glaciations, heavy precipitation or desertification? How could El Niño affect our microclimate?”

If El Niño did affect my area what changes would take place? How would these changes affect my families’ life and the life of our animals? Well, if you must know, if there was a monsoon our family would have to have plenty of supplies in case of a power-outage and the animals would have to spend more time inside. If it got colder we would have to dress warmer and possibly eat lots of hot foods.

What if it got hotter? Well, then we could probably end up dehydrated and our water and electric bill would rise because we would use water and the cooler to keep us and our animals cool. If El Niño affected my living area then mine and my families’ lives would have to take a little turn.

After finishing my findings of El Niño I became very interested in my climate. I wondered how come my state never got any acid rain, volcanic dust, or any random smoke. What I found was that because of the altitude and latitude of and in Nebraska we are limited to the things that occur in our area.

The one thing I worried about most was the greenhouse effect, plate tectonics, and global warming. I wanted to know what effects it had on my area in specific. To find out these I came upon a pattern that struck me. Everywhere I looked talked about polar, tropical, and mid-latitude climates. I went on I long journey to find what climate region I lived in. At the end of my studies I came to find that I lived in more of a polar climate.

So, because of El Niño I have looked at my life in a whole new perspective and will watch and see what little things can control my life without me knowing or doing anything about it. So, thanks to Mr. Mirror’s extra day I got full credit on the assignment and I learned some interesting things. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to do any of my other assignments.