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Title
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What's in a Map?
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Type
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Primary: Laboratory
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Operation
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Monster Storms
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Mission:
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Mission 3: The Chase
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Print Page
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62,63
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Subjects
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Science | Earth and space science | Weather | Fronts | Pressure | Storms | Wind | Science as inquiry | Science process skills | Analyzing data | Collecting data | Interpreting data
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Grades
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5 | 6 | 7 | 8
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Keywords
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weather maps, weather forecasting, weather predictions, predicting tornadoes, thunderstorms, severe weather, weather news, map skills, map reading, isobars, fronts, weather symbols, low pressure, high pressure, wind barbs, weather stations, weather reports, weather events, weather conditions, wind speeds, dew points, wind directions
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Audience
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Teachers | Elementary Grades | Junior High
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Created On
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5/19/2007
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From: Monster Storms Mission 3: The Chase (pp: 62,63) |
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What's in a Map? In this lab activity, students practice reading a weather map and collect information to predict the weather for their area. |
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 Tim Samaras uses radar and satellite images and shared weather databases, as well as instant communication with other storm chasers and scientists, to track severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. As Tim assimilates this data, he is able to predict where tornadoes may form. The use of a simple weather map provides Tim with vital clues to the movement of a storm system across a region.
Understanding weather maps and making predictions are vitally important. People depend on weather news to grow their crops, conduct business, and plan leisure activities. In this lab, you will interpret a weather map and develop your own prediction.
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| Lab Prep |
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Practice interpreting a weather map. Refer to the key to the right and the “Common Weather Symbols and their Meanings” chart on the inside back cover of the book. Use these questions to guide you.
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Look at the map. Does it make sense that New Mexico and Colorado are experiencing tornadoes? Why?
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There is a low pressure center in Iowa and a high pressure center in South Carolina. In this area of the map, wind speed and direction are not indicated. Draw wind barbs that indicate your best estimate of wind speed and direction and cloud cover between the two centers along the warm front. Note the isobars around the pressure centers, indicating areas of equal pressure measurements around each pressure center.
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Write a brief, current weather report for regions of the United States (Northeast, South, Midwest, Central Plains, Rockies, West, and Northwest) based on your interpretation of the symbols on this weather map.
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Based on your interpretation of the weather map, write a brief weather forecast for the next 24 hours for the same regions of the United States (Northeast, South, Midwest, Central Plains, Rockies, West and Northwest).
- Do you see a link between weather events and weather fronts? Look at other weather maps and discuss your observations with your teacher.
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| Make Observations |
- Go to http://www.noaa.gov and type your zip code into the “Local Forecast” search box. The page you now see has your “Current Conditions” in the right-hand column. Record the weather data in your area.
- From your browser, click the Back button, and the national “Warnings and Forecasts” map will appear. Click on the map as close to your city as you can, and a regional map will appear. Click on at least four other cities from this regional map, and find and record their local current weather conditions.
- Using either a map from the NOAA website or your own drawing, plot the current conditions of each town using the appropriate weather symbols. Is the weather the same at each location? Why do you think this is so?
- Using the current conditions, predict how the weather will change in your town and in the other towns you researched over the next 8 hours. Be specific about wind speed, direction, and dew point. Record your predictions.
- Before you go to bed tonight, go back to the NOAA website and look at the current conditions for each town. Were your predictions correct? Why or why not?
- Using this data as evidence, how do you think the weather in your town will change in the next 24 hours?
- Why do you think it is important to use more than one town’s data for predictions?
- By using the data you collected, could you predict weather conditions in the other towns you looked at?
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| Extension |
Determine four locations at least 200 miles away from you in various directions. Select locations that would be good predictors of the weather you are likely to experience in the near future. Then go back to the NOAA website to gather weather data at these four locations. Click on the “2 Day History” link below “Current Conditions” for each of these locations and note the recent weather there. Describe your weather in the next 24 hours, and explain why you chose these particular locations as predictors.
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Journal Question
How do you think people were affected by much less accurate weather predictions before the tools we use today were invented? |
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