Tornado data and infographics

Where do tornadoes happen?

Exploring through data analysis

Teacher Notes

• These slides can be incorporated in classroom instruction in different ways:– Class discussion– Interactive group activities • Consider writing the questions on butcher paper.

Having students write their answers and compare.• Split students into groups and have them work together

answer questions

• See the notes section of each slide for additional questions

Credit: NOAA

Credit: NOAA

Which two states have the highest number of tornadoes per year per 10,000 sq miles?

Which two states have the highest number of tornadoes per year per 10,000 sq miles?

Answer: Texas and Oklahoma

What is the name of the area where most tornadoes occur?

Notice that the location with the highest number of thunderstorms does not match with the highest number of tornadoes. Why don’t the location of highest number of thunderstorms correlate to the location of the highest number of tornadoes?

eo.ucar.edu/webweather/maps.html

Tornado Alley: South central plains of the United States

Credit: NOAA, UCAR Center for Science Education

Credit: NOAA

Credit: NOAA

Credit: New York Times

Wrap-up

• What patterns did you notice in the datasets?• Did you notice any correlations between the

datasets?• Were there any areas that you expected to find

correlations, where in fact, there were not correlations?

• What surprised you about these datasets? • What additional information would be useful to

see represented as a visual dataset?