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Hi I'm Dave Thurlow and this is the Weather Notebook. You're lucky to be tuning in today because it is time for a new Weather Notebook Brainstorm. A Brainstorm is a weather related question which we send out your way and if you want to send an answer back, you'll find out how in about one minute and 19 seconds. What do you get for answering the Brainstorm other than the satisfaction of exercising your intellectual prowess? Well not much, except a Weather Notebook poster and, if we use your answer on the show, a Weather Notebook magic weather mug.

So, today's brainstorm has to do with ozone. Ozone, or the lack of it, has been in the news lately and the issue doesn't seem to be going away. Satellite data from above Antarctica shows an unusually early and severe drop in the level of ozone there this fall. Levels are thirty percent below average according to the World Meteorological Organization. This ozone hole, as it's come to be known, is a seasonal drop in stratospheric ozone above Antarctica and the Antarctic ocean that reaches it's lowest levels in October and November. The news isn't good at the other end of the world either. In March and April, ozone thins out over the arctic and the northern hemisphere, and throughout the nineties it's been getting thinner and thinner.

The ozone layer protects us from UV radiation, which brings us to the Brainstorm. What is the difference between GOOD ozone and BAD ozone? If you have an answer call us at 1-888-rain-001, that's 1-888-RAIN-001. Or send us a letter at PO box 2310 in North Conway, NH 03860. The website works too. And that's weathernotebook.org. Again, what is good ozone and what is bad ozone? The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory with major support provided by the National Science Foundation and by Subaru.