Weather Project Ideas for Recording the Weather Around Us

There are many weather project ideas in which to involve the student studying weather and climate. Here are three project ideas that involve the recording of weather data that will lead the student to be more observant of surrounding weather conditions. They are easy to accomplish and entail no costs except for pen or pencil and paper.

Weather Journal - An easy weather project idea is to open a notebook and begin writing down the weather that occurs each day. Temperature, humidity, precipitation type and amounts, wind direction and speed, cloud cover and cloud type - these data types are just a few of the examples of weather that can be recorded. Internet weather sites, TV or radio weather reports, newspapers, or simply one's own eyes are some of the resources available to provide weather data. Including a summary of each day's weather will give a personal touch to the journal entries.

Weather Maps - Another project idea to record the weather is to track weather on maps. Whether a regional or national map, plotting weather phenomenon on maps day-to-day will give a sense of weather movement. Fronts, high and low pressure systems, and the jet stream are key elements of weather, and plotting their locations on a daily basis helps one learn how weather progresses across a predetermined area, and also how large-scale systems interact and produce daily weather. Internet weather sites, TV, and newspapers are resources for obtaining locations of weather systems.

Climagraphs - Plotting climagraphs is a great project idea for recording and visualizing climate data. The data normally consists of the average monthly temperature and precipitation for a specific weather station. Use graph paper to draw the graph. The primary Y-axis (the left vertical line) will represent the temperature range; the secondary Y-axis (the right vertical line) will represent the precipitation range; the X-axis (bottom line) displays the months. Plot temperatures with a dot and connect the dots with a line. Precipitation is plotted with vertical lines or bars.

Temperature and precipitation ranges will be different for different locations. Fairbanks, Alaska would have a large temperature range to plot but a small precipitation range; Hilo, Hawaii would be just the opposite. A large standard range for both temperature and precipitation could be used to encompass all possible climagraphs.

Climate data can be found on numerous Internet weather sites. This project idea helps one visualize the climate for an area, and allows for easy comparison between climates for two or more locales.

All of the above project ideas could be combined to provide a total picture of the daily local, regional and national weather, and how the weather compares to the expected climate for a particular area. These projects will also provide valuable experience in weather observation and recording for the student.