Weather and climate - 4th grade, San Antonio Texas Focus

Contents

• The Weather Forecast.

• What is Weather?

• How do we Measure Weather?

• What Affects Texas’ Weather and Climate?

• Climate Graphs.

The Weather Forecast!

• Most people watch the weather forecast everyday – but do we really know how they gather all the information?!

What is weather?

• Weather is:

What is climate?

• Climate is:

Scotland!

How do we measure weather?

Temperature• Air temperature is measured

using maximum - minimum thermometers.

• Q: What would the temperatures be on this thermometer?

A: Minimum = 6°C, Maximum = 18°C

Temperature.

• Thermometers are housed in a Stevenson Screen. These are always off the ground and painted white!

Q: Why are thermometers kept there? Why is it white?

A: It provides shelter from wind, rain, snow and animals. The white colour reflects the sunlight so heat doesn’t build up inside the box.

Precipitation. • Precipitation is any

moisture that comes from the atmosphere (rain, snow, hail).

• The amount of precipitation is measured using a rain gauge.

Q: Where do you think would be best to place a rain gauge? Beside a building or in an open space?

Sunshine hours.

• The total amount of sunshine in a day is measured using a sunshine recorder.

• The sun’s rays travel through the glass ball and burn marks onto the card behind it.

Strip of card

Sunshine

Glass Ball

Air Pressure.

• Air pressure is measured using a barometer and recorded using a barograph.

• It is measured in millibars (mb).

Barometer

Barograph

Wind.Wind is measured in two ways with two instruments:

1. Wind Direction – Wind Vane2. Wind Speed – Anemometer

Wind Vane: the arrow points in the direction that the wind is coming from.

Anemometer: the stronger the wind the faster the caps turn. The number of turns in a given time gives us the wind speed in knots.

Cloud cover.

• Cloud cover is measured just by using our eyes.

• You look at the sky and decide how cloudy it is – and estimate how many eighths of the sky are covered.

• Cloud cover is measured in oktas.

The Different Types of Clouds

What affects Texas’ Weather & Climate?

• Air Masses• Distance from

Equator• Elevation

Air Masses

• The Continental Tropical and the Maritime Tropical air masses most impact Texas weather and climate

Distance from Equator

What do you notice about all the places along the dotted line?

The further in land you go the hotter it gets in the Summer and the colder it gets in the Winter!

Equator

Elevation

• The higher the land, the colder the air temperature.

Elevation• In the very western part of Texas, there are mountains

San Antonio

Climate Graphs.

• Climate graphs show two different things – average monthly rainfall & average monthly temperatures.

• How do you draw a climate graph?

Weather Data

Drawing a climate graph.

Months

Tem

per

atu

re

(°C

)

Rai

nfa

ll (m

m)

A bar-chart is drawn to show the average monthly

rainfall.

A line graph is then added to show average monthly

temperatures.

Draw a climate graph!What would climate charts for San Antonio look like?

San Antonio Average Monthly Temperature

  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Average Temperature 49.2 53.8 61.7 69.3 75.5 82.2 85 84.9 79.3 70.2 60.4 52.2

Climate Graph for San Antonio

Climate Graph for Grand Rapids, Michigan

J an Feb Mar Apr May J un J ul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Average Monthly Temperature

21.8 23.7 34.1 46 57.5 67 71.6 69.5 61 49.5 38 27.1

Review

•What is weather?

•In what ways is weather measured?

•What affects Texas’ weather and climate?

•What are climate graphs?