Weather & Climate
worksheets
Atmosphere
• Troposphere - Most of the
weather occurs.
• Stratosphere - 19% of the
atmosphere’s
gases are here; ozone layer is here
• Mesosphere - Most meteorites
burn up here.
• Thermosphere - High energy rays
from the sun are absorbed;
hottest layer.
• Exosphere - Molecules from
atmosphere escape into space;
satellites orbit here.
layers
skydive
redbull
Weather & Climate Definitions
• Weather- “the state of the atmosphere with
respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness,
calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness”.
• Climate – “the average course or condition of
the weather at a place usually over a period of
years as exhibited by temperature, wind
velocity, and precipitation”
weather map
Weather
Climate
High Pressure
• Higher pressure than what
is normal for that altitude.
• Brings clear skies and fair
weather.
Picture taken from:
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Atmosp
here/high_pressure.html
Low Pressure
• A low pressure region
(depression or cyclone) is
caused by rising air.
• Clouds, rain, and very strong
winds occur.
pressure systems
Picture taken from:
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Atmosphere/low_p
ressure.html
Cloud Types
Picture taken from:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_types.jpg
cloud demo
Thunderstorms
• What type of cloud causes these?
cumulonimbus
• Consists of gusty winds, heavy rain and hail.
• Can result in a tornado
Picture taken from:
http://www.fairfield.k12.ct.us/Rogerludlowe/
crogerludlowe03/webquests/Weather/
thunderstorm.jpg
Lightning
• How is lightning made?
lightning
lightning
strikes
Charges build in the atmosphere/on the surface
• What common occurrence is lightning on a
very small scale? Static electric shock
• Interesting Fact: More people are killed by
lightning per year than
in tornadoes!!!
Picture taken from:
http://hibp.ecse.rpi.edu/~connor/education/Surge/
images/lightning.jpg
Tornado
• A tornado is a violently
rotating column of air
• In contact with both
the surface of the
earth and a
cumulonimbus cloud
birth of a tornado
Inside
tornado footage 1
tornado footage 2
car
I survived
Hurricane
• Rapidly rotating
storm system
• low-pressure center
• strong winds
• Spiral arrangement of
thunderstorms
• Form over large
bodies of water
Katrina
before, after, and now
sandy
sandy jersey shore
Hurricane Sandy Stats
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25,000,000,000 - Estimated dollar value of
the lost business activity as a result of Sandy,
according to financial analysis firm IHS Global
Insight.
8,100,000 - Number of homes that lost
power. The outages affected people in 17
states, as far west as Michigan.
10 - How many Sandy-related photos per
second were uploaded to Instagram on
October 29th.
124 - Number of years since the New York
Stock Exchange was closed for two
consecutive days because of weather; the last
time was during the Blizzard of 1888.
820 - Sandy’s size in miles, as measured by
diameter.
20,000,000 - Approximate number of tweets
sent about Sandy between Oct. 27 and Nov.1.