Weather Tracking Chart

Meteorologists — scientists who study weather — do not just look out the window and guess. They collect data carefully, every day, at the same time. By recording temperature, cloud cover, wind, and precipitation over many days, they can find patterns and make predictions. This week you will do exactly the same thing.

What to record each day

• Temperature — read an outdoor thermometer and record in Fahrenheit or Celsius.
• Sky condition — sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy, or stormy.
• Precipitation — rain, snow, hail, or none.
• Wind — calm, light breeze, or strong wind (observe leaves or flags).
• Your prediction for the next day.

Why weather changes — the science recap

• Weather is caused by the sun heating the Earth unevenly. Warm air rises, cool air moves in to replace it — creating wind.
• The water cycle brings rain: water evaporates, rises and cools, condenses into clouds, falls as precipitation, collects in rivers and oceans, and evaporates again.
• Seasons occur because the Earth is tilted on its axis. When your hemisphere tilts toward the sun, you get summer; when it tilts away, you get winter.

Extreme weather to know

• Tornado — a violent rotating column of air touching the ground; safest action is to move to a basement or interior room.
• Hurricane — a large tropical storm with very strong winds and heavy rain; forms over warm ocean water.
• Blizzard — a severe snowstorm with strong winds and very low visibility.