Clayton Dickson, age 10, of Calgary, Alta., Canada, for his question:

WHY DON'T WE HAVE HURRICANES?

Hurricanes are special storms that must begin above wide tropical seas. Those that strike the south and east shores of North America are hatched near the West Indies. Then the winds and the spinning earth force them to move out along certain set paths. There are several hurricane hatcheries around the world. But none of their paths sweeps across western Canada ¬which is why hurricanes never strike Calgary, Alta.

But please don't feel neglected. Now and then Calgary gets a wintry blizzard, and in early spring there is likely to be a lovely chinook wind. Blizzards rarely if ever strike the West Indies, and the mild chinook blows only down your western mountains. Every place tends to have its own special weather events