Transcript Weather and Water

Weather and Water
Investigation 1
What is weather?
What is Weather?
• Well?
• Write in your journal what weather is.
• What factors would you need to consider if
you were going to describe or forecast
weather?
• Have one person from your table login to the
computer.
Part 1
Into the
Weather
Today’s Weather
• Is today’s weather normal for this time of
year? If not, what weather would you expect?
• Is this the kind of weather you would expect
to happen everywhere on Earth today?
– Australia
– Brazil
– Russia
Things that fall from the sky
• What are some things that might normally fall
from the sky?
• What do we call that stuff?
• Video Clip
1. What surprised you about the weather shown in the
video?
2. Weather that is dangerous or causes damage is
called severe weather. Describe any severe weather
you have experienced.
3. What other types of severe weather have you heard
or read about?
Hurricanes
• Video Clip
1. What is a hurricane?
2. What conditions are necessary for a hurricane to
form?
3. What kinds of damage occur during hurricanes?
4. What are some things people have done to try to
lessen hurricane damage?
5. Where have some of the most devastating hurricanes
occurred and when?
6. How do meteorologists know when a hurricane is
coming or where it might strike land?
What is a hurricane?
• An area of low pressure into which air rushes,
creating powerful winds that spiral around a
central eye.
• The wind blows at least 75 mph or 120 km/h.
What conditions are necessary for a
hurricane to form?
• An ocean with water temperature at 81
degrees (27 degrees Celsius) or higher
• An area of low pressure
What kinds of damage occur during
hurricanes?
•
•
•
•
Wind damage
Water damage
Property damage
Flooding
What are some things people have
done to try to lessen hurricane
damage?
• Moved entire cities inland in Belize
• Improved hurricane forecasts
• Help people prepare for securing property or
evacuating
• Built seawalls in Galveston
• Built houses on stilts
• Tried to fix levies in New Orleans
•
•
•
•
Where have been some of the most
devastating hurricanes occurred and
when?
Galveston 1900
Belize – Hurricane Hattie – 1961
Galveston – Hurricane Alecia – 1983
Caribbean Islands and Yucatan Peninsula –
Hurricane Gilbert – 1988
• Bangladesh 1991
• Florida – Hurricane Andrew – 1992
• Gulf Coast – Hurricane Katrina - 2005
How do meteorologists know when a
hurricane is coming and where it
might strike land?
• Ground observations
• Aircraft observations
• Satellite images
Video Reflection
• The two video segments gave us some things to
think about and may have raised some questions.
You might have some other questions about
weather that we experience where we live.
• In your journal title a page – Weather Questions.
Write down three to four questions.
• Share with your table – write down any more
questions you come up with.
Question Categories
• Write your questions on a stick ‘em
• One question per stick ‘em
• Put your question under one of the following
categories.
– Weather conditions
– Local weather
– Severe weather
– Definitions
– Other?
Meteorology
• What do you think of when you see that
word?
• Meteorology is the scientific study of Earth’s
weather.
• A person who studies the causes and effects
of weather is a meteorologist.
• The word literally means study of meteors.
Huh?
• What do meteors have to do with weather?
• In ancient Greece, anything that fell from the sky was
considered a meteor, whether it was what we know as
a meteor today, rain, snow or hail.
• Today meteorology includes only the study of weather.
• Planetary scientists study meteors now.
• Some meteorologists study weather to make forecasts
to let people know what kind of weather to expect in
the next day or week.
• Name some of our local meteorologists on the Seattle
TV stations.
Using Weather Forecasts
• In your journal, write down why people listen or
look at forecasts. What kind of decisions are
made based on weather forecasts?
–
–
–
–
How to dress
Travel plans – especially air
Health considerations – allergies, colds, flus
Business considerations such as seasonal goods like
umbrellas, snow gear, swimsuits
– Vacation or recreation plans like camping, sailing or
picnics
– Agriculture or gardening plans, spring planting,
harvesting
Naming Hurricanes
• Read pg. 3-4 in the book
• In your journal write down the old rules for
naming hurricanes,
• And today’s rules for naming hurricanes.
• What happened to naming hurricanes in 1978?
• What happens to the names of the most severe
storms?
• When do storms get their name?
Part Two
Local Weather
Your Weather Report
• In your journal write down your version of
today’s weather report for the weather right
now. Today’s weather is…
• Share your weather report with your table.
• Use your highlighter to highlight any common
words in your weather reports.
• Write your table’s common weather words on
your whiteboard.
Weather Reports
• Pull out the weather report you obtained for
your homework.
• Answer the following questions in your
journal:
– What types of information are included in your
weather report?
– What was the source for your weather report?
– How does this weather report compare to the
report you wrote.
Today’s Weather Report
• Weather Underground rocks
• Write down the following in your journal, then
record the data from Weather Underground
– Temperature – how hot or cold the air is
– Humidity – the amount of water vapor in the air
– Wind direction – the compass direction from which
the wind is coming
– Pressure – the force of the air pushing in all directions
– Visibility – the distance one can see through the air
Weather Underground
• Here’s the report from Weather Underground
for us today.
• As you look at this page, write down what
other information it includes other than what
we already wrote down
Weather Tools
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thermometer – temperature
Barometer – air pressure
Hygrometer – humidity
Anemometer – wind speed
Wind vane – wind direction
Open your books to page 5 and follow along
as we go through these tools
Class Weather Chart
•
•
•
•
What do you think visibility means?
What weather factors might limit visibility?
How can we determine what the visibility is?
What additional information might be
included in the column headed “Other
Observations”?
Daily Measurements
• Tables will take turns collecting weather data
and recording it on the class weather chart.
• How to do this:
– Go outside to the tables
– Carefully take out the tools
– The anemometer and compass should be used
together to determine wind speed and direction.
Scientific Measurements
•
•
•
•
•
Temperature in Celsius
Pressure in millibars (mb)
Humidity in percent
Wind speed in km/h
Wind direction is the compass direction form
which the wind is coming
The Weather Machine Video
• Take notes in your journal of what drives
weather in our world.
Storm Chasers
• Storm chasers are people who intentionally try to
get in the path of severe weather. As you watch
this segment, try to figure out why they do such
apparently foolish things.
1. What kind of weather do storm chasers study?
2. Why do storm chasers engage in such dangerous
activities?
3. What weather factors do storm chasers measure?
4. Write down three things you already knew about
weather.
5. Write down three things you didn’t know about
weather.
World Weather
• You are going to collect weather data for any
city in the world you want to.
• You are going to make your own data sheets.
• You can do your data sheets by hand or on the
computer.
• Write down what city you want to track.
• What kind of data should you collect?
• How long should we collect data?
Weather Lore
• Sky Watch: Signs of the Weather
• Weather Sayings and Folklores
• Weather Folktales