Activity 7:  Weather Station (GLEs:  2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 18, 57, 59)

CC: Part A:

During the school day, the rainfall will be measured, wind direction will be determined; and wind speed will be estimated using the Beaufort scale (found at http://www.zetnet.co.uk/sigs/weather/Met_Codes/beaufort.htm) or from designing a simple anemometer. Temperature will be gathered using a thermometer. (Directions on making weather tools can be found in various books and other resources.) The students will define and use weather terms such as precipitation, wind direction terms such as easterly and westerly winds, and descriptive terms such as a gentle breeze and gale force winds.

Students will collect, record and graph the data in both metric and U.S. units. Students will make predictions based on the data. The students will produce daily and weekly weather data poster-sized charts for the classroom. If computers are available, students may refine their predictions based on the use of NOAA satellite images and weather data from states nearby.
 

Teacher Note: Some sections of the following may be considered optional.

Part B: Prior to this activity, instruct students to use a newspaper listing or to conduct an Internet search to locate temperatures of cities around the country and the world. The students should observe that the temperatures vary and give reasons as to why the temperatures are different. (Some may state that areas are farther from the equator.) Tell them that they will learn a little more about this later in the activity.

Ask the students if they know what causes wind. Ask if they know anything about the movement of cold and warm air (Some may say that hot air rises as they have seen hot air balloons lift off, smoke rise, or identify the waves of heat coming off road pavement or the surface of a car in the summer.) Students should view a video on the development of winds.
 

Suggested weather websites: Some of the sites have videos as well.

Unitedstreaming videos

http://unitedstreaming.com

Weather Smart: Heat, Wind, and Pressure (15:00)

Weather.com
http://www.weather.com/

Yahoo Weather
http://weather.yahoo.com/

National Weather Service
www.nws.noaa.gov/

FAA - Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS)

NOAA Home Page - Weather Theme Page

http://www.noaa.gov/wx.html

Open Directory - News: Weather

Non-SEC Sources of Space Weather Data

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/sources.html