New York Science Grade 6

Unit 2: The Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and the Lithosphere

Predict Weather and Compare it to your Local Weather

Introduction:
Weather affects our lives in many ways-from the type of houses we build, to the way we dress, to the plans we make for activities each day. How would you describe the weather where you live?

Task:
Using the internet, track the weather patterns of a city in another country for one week. Choose a city in a different hemisphere to provide as great a variance as possible. At the same time, keep a log of local weather patterns for one week. You may want to incorporate the following:

• sketches of clouds
• precipitation descriptions
• create a table of temperature data
• calculate average temperature differences for each location

At the end of the week, write a short paragraph relating your observations to possible pressure systems, frontal boundaries, and weather prediction for each city.

Time:
4 class periods to research weather patterns, 1 class period to write paragraph

Possible Resources:
Visit these sites to learn about weather:
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/
http://www.weather.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_weather_analysis
http://www.geographic.org/climate/climate.html