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We have all experienced weather and its massive effects on our lives. Poor weather can change the way we interact with our environment and it can affect our moods and actions on a daily basis. We look at the forecast to determine how we should dress for our day and what we should do on our day. Extreme conditions can hurt us or in some cases bring us prosperity. Cloud formations can be used to predict what is coming our way. Any form of weather that continues endlessly can change what we do and where we did it. We have many tools available to us to understand climate and its patterns.

Sometimes it is sunny, other times it rains, and at times it can get sticky hot out there. Weather is constantly changing minute to minute. For the most part, these changes are the result of changes in air pressure. Air pressure is a measure of all the molecules in the air that make up the atmosphere. When air pressure is lower cooling and cloud formation tends to happen. Which also increases the chances of rain. When air pressure is high it pushes air molecules to the ground, and this prevents clouds from forming. The worksheets found in this section work on the very basic direction in which weather moves after I is formed. You will find a wide variety of worksheets that show you how to understand forecast images and how they came to be.

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Types of Precipitation

Precipitation comes in many forms. These maps use various symbols to represent different types of precipitation.

Wind Speeds and Directions

This series of maps use various symbols to represent wind directions and speeds as shown in the legend below. Using the map below, provide the wind directions and speeds in the cities listed in the table below the map.

Symbols on Maps

Maps like the one below provide data that meteorologists use to prepare forecasts. To accurately read a climate map you must recognize the symbols and what they represent.

Complete the Map

Use the map shown to complete the chart below indicating weather conditions in several US cities

Understanding Precipitation

Precipitation is what we call water that condenses and falls to earth in one of several forms depending on the conditions in the atmosphere. Below on the left are the names of various types of precipitation and the symbols used for them.

Weather Systems and Prediction

Atmospheric conditions are constantly changing, you will make four copies of this page to see how. For three days use a new sheet each day to copy that day's weather pattern (precipitation, frontal systems, and pressure cells) from your newspaper.

Relative Humidity

The amount of water vapor that the atmosphere can hold at a specific temperature is called the relative humidity and is measured with a hygrometer.

Types of Fronts

When two air masses meet, they form a front. Changes in weather typically take place along fronts.

Cold Fronts

The diagram below shows a front forming between two air masses. At ground level, the colder air mass replaces the warmer air mass.

Warm Fronts

The diagram below shows a front forming between two air masses. At ground level, the warmer air mass replaces the cooler air mass.

Types of Clouds

The diagram below shows examples of many types of clouds. Provide labels for each of these using the terms from the following table.

Clouds and Their Relation to Weather

Specific kinds of conditions are associated with different types of clouds. The mostly blank chart below shows four different kinds of clouds.

Comparing Forecasts to Weather

Forecasts are not always accurate and you will see how accurate the ones for your area are. Fill in the chart below with the forecasts and actual data on each day for a week.

Measuring Weather

Meteorologists use several different types of instruments to gather atmospheric data. Provide the names of instruments that meteorologists use to gather data by using the terms.

Weather Devices

You will look at various meteorologists instruments and be asked to identify them.

Weather Crossword

Example clue: Sound made by rapidly heating and expanding air caused by lightning.

The Biggest Forces of Nature and the Damage They Cause Passage

Nature can be powerful and deadly causing mass destruction and loss of life. Some of the worst storms on record to date are hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis.

Biggest Forces of Nature Multiple Choice Questions

What were the estimated damages of Hurricane Katrina?

Biggest Forces of Nature Short Answer Questions

Describe how wide hurricane Katrina was and how many states she effected.

How Does Air Pressure Relate to Weather?

Air pressure is a term used to describe air molecules, which are tiny invisible particles of air. In between all the tiny invisible air particles are empty spaces.

How Does Air Pressure Relate to Weather? Multiple Choice Questions

. What is the special tool used to measure air pressure?

How Does Air Pressure Relate to Weather? Short Answer Questions

What precautions do coastal resident take during periods of low pressure?

What should I do in a Lightning Storm?

If you see a storm cloud brewing, hear distant thunder, or see far off lightning, you will know a storm is coming. Always remember, any time you hear thunder, you will know there is lightning in the storm because lightning produces thunder.

What should I do in a Lightning Storm? Short Answer Questions

Describe the effects of electricity on someone’s body when lightning is about to strike.

What should I do in a Lightning Storm?

What to do when a storm heads your way.

What is Morning Dew or Morning Frost?

When the air gets full and can hold no more moisture, 100% relative humidity is reached. At 100% relative humidity, the invisible water vapor will become visible. When the water vapor becomes visible, you will see steam, clouds, or fog.

Morning Dew or Morning Frost Multiple Choice Questions

Which of the following is not an example of visible water vapor?

Morning Dew or Morning Frost Short Answer Questions

Describe what happens when water vapors become visible.

Why is there Thunder and Lightning?

A cumulonimbus cloud produces a thunderstorm and then the thunderstorm produces thunder and lighting.

Why is there Thunder and Lightning? Multiple Choice Questions

Which of the following is not needed by a thunderstorm?

Why is there Thunder and Lightning? Short Answer Questions

Explain what happens when liquid and ice particles bump together.

Why is Thunder Loud?

Thunderstorms produce lightning, which is a very hot flash of electricity and then lightning produces thunder. As lightning shoots through a thunderstorm cloud, it can reach temperatures between 30,000 to 50,000 degrees, which is hotter than the sun.

Why is Thunder Loud? Multiple Choice Questions

A negative charge moving down in a zigzag pattern is what?

Why is Thunder Loud? Short Answer Questions

Describe the sound of thunder when lightning moves from a cloud to the ground.

What is a Hurricane?

A hurricane is a very large storm that forms over tropical regions of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Rotating in a counter clockwise motion around a center, called an eye, hurricanes can reach speeds up to 200 miles per hour and measure 600 miles wide.

What is a Hurricane? Multiple Choice Questions

. This scale is used to determine how severe and what kind of damages may be caused by a hurricane.

What is a Hurricane? Short Answer Questions

Where do hurricanes occur and what time of year?

What is a Tornado?

A tornado is a funnel shaped column of air capable of causing mass destruction. Some people call tornadoes twisters or funnel clouds because of their shape and swirling motion however, a funnel cloud does not become a tornado until it touches the ground.

What is a Tornado? Multiple Choice Questions

This scale is used to determine how severe and what kind of damages may be caused by a tornado.

What is a Tornado? Short Answer Questions

When is tornado season and when are they most likely to form?

What is a Tsunami?

As a tsunami gets closer to shore and enters shallower water, it will slow down in speed but will gain height and energy because the top of the wave is moving faster than the bottom at this point.

What is a Tsunami? Multiple Choice Questions

How many nations make up the Pacific Tsunami Warning System?

What is a Tsunami? Short Answer Questions

What is an important warning sign of an incoming tsunami?

Why Does the Wind Blow?

The sun warms the Earth's surface, which also causes the atmosphere to warm. There are parts of the Earth that receive direct sunlight all year and this causes those parts of the Earth to be warm all the time.

Why Does the Wind Blow? Multiple Choice Questions

How many categories are there for rating wind intensity?

Why Does the Wind Blow? Short Answer Questions

Explain why parts of the Earth are warm all the time and why some are cold.

Destructive Weather

A thunderstorm is a heavy rainstorm that includes lightning, thunder, wind, and occasionally hail. A thunderstorm forms when warm, moist air near the ground moves up into the sky quickly.

Destructive Weather Questions

A tornado is a column of wind that spins very fast. The winds from a tornado can reach as much as three hundred miles per hour.

Precipitation

Precipitation is another word for water that falls from the sky. Water can fall in the form of rain, snow, or ice.

QUESTIONS: Precipitation

Clouds can form in several different ways. What do all the ways have in common?

Meteorology

The study of the Earth's atmosphere, which includes the science of forecasting the weather, is called meteorology.

QUESTIONS: Meteorology

Meteorology is important because it allows for people to minimize loss of life and damage to property by preparing for extreme weather conditions like hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, etc.

What Are Clouds?

Clouds can be described according to the elevation at which they form. Clouds that form above 20,000 feet are called high-level clouds.

QUESTIONS: What Are Clouds?

What level of clouds have the word cumulus in their name?

Seasons

We have seasons because the Earth's relationship with the sun is always changing.

QUESTIONS: Seasons

At every position relative to the sun, the amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth is slightly different.

Climate vs. Weather

Climates change gradually over very long periods of time.

QUESTIONS: Climate vs. Weather

Complete the sentence: The climate in an area determines:

The Atmosphere

Most of the exosphere is located in what we consider to be outer space, which is generally considered to begin between 50 and 80 miles from the Earth's surface.

QUESTIONS: The Atmosphere

The Earth's atmosphere consists of five main layers.

Wind

There are always areas of low pressure at the North and South Poles, because the air there is always cold.

QUESTIONS: Wind

The movement of air around the Earth is dependent on what?

Droughts

Drought can be triggered in different ways. A large amount of reflected sunlight combined with more than the average number of high-pressure systems, winds containing continental as opposed to oceanic air systems, and ridges of high-pressure systems high in the air can all reduce the formation of thunderstorms or rain over a particular area.