Weather Extremes
Webquest
Introduction
Weather is all around us. It influences everything from what to wear
to our daily activities. Without weather we wouldn’t have crops or
green grass. For the most part weather is very helpful an important
factor in our daily lives. Sometimes weather can be very harmful and
destructive. Think about all of the damage associated with Hurricane
Katrina. We are going to take a look at hurricanes as well as other
weather extremes.
Task
Your job is to take on the role of a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, or
thunderstorm. You will create a PowerPoint outlining your life
history. Your history will include how you were created, where did
you travel, interesting statistics, pictures and your demise.
Your slide show has to have a minimum of 8 slides listed below; you
can branch out and include other information as well.
All presentations will begin with your birth and end with your
death. The other slides will contain the following:
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Important events that have taken place during this stage
Location (longitude and latitude)
Wind speed (in miles per hour)
Pictures at each stage of life, or sketches
Damage created
Human safety precautions
Information Sources
Tornado
Scholastic http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/tornadoe
s/index.htm
Weather Whiz Kids http://www.weatherwizkids.com/tornado.htm
Vortex http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/noaastory/book.html
Sky Diary http://skydiary.com/kids/tornadoes.html
National Weather
Service http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/severeweather/index.shtml
Powerful
Storms http://www.learner.org/exhibits/weather/storms.html
Thunderstorm
Weather Whiz Kids http://www.weatherwizkids.com/lightning1.htm
National Weather
Service http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/severeweather/index.shtml
Sky Diary http://skydiary.com/kids/lightning.html
Australian Severe
Weather http://www.australiasevereweather.com/index.html
In the Clouds http://www.inclouds.com/index.html
Powerful
Storms http://www.learner.org/exhibits/weather/storms.html
Blizzard
Weather Whiz
Kids http://www.weatherwizkids.com/winter_storms.htm
Scholastic (includes Blizzard
timeline) http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/winter_stor
ms/index.htm
Rocky Mountain Research Station http://wwwwwrc.uwyo.edu/wrds/rmfres/index.html
Ice and
Snow http://www.learner.org/exhibits/weather/iceandsnow.html
Hurricane
Scholastic http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/hurrican
es/index.htm
Weather Whiz Kids http://www.weatherwizkids.com/hurricane1.htm
Sky Diary http://skydiary.com/kids/hurricanes.html
Tropical
Twister http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/hurricane/damage.html
Horrific Hurricanes http://whyfiles.org/073hurricane/index.html
Miami Hurricane http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/
Process
Stage 1: Knowledge Acquisition
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Define your weather extreme.
What conditions are needed for your weather to occur?
How do they form?
Where do they form?
How are they measured?
Why do they lose power?
What precautions/safety measures should humans take?
Stage 2: Creating PowerPoint
All presentations will begin with your birth and end with your
death. The other slides will contain the following:




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
Important changes that have taken place during your life
Your location (areas of the country)
Your measurement
Pictures showing you in action
Damage created (pictures)
Human safety precautions
Evaluation
4 Exceeding Expectations
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More than 8 slides
8 or more graphics or sketches
8 or more interesting facts
3 Meeting Expectations
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8 Slides
5 - 7 graphics or sketches
5 - 7 more interesting facts
2 Progressing
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6 Slides
3 - 4 graphic or sketches
3 - 4 interesting facts
1 Needs Improvement
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4 Slides
2 or less graphic or sketches
2 or less interesting facts
Conclusion
In discovering your life and times have you learned the
conditions favorable for your existence? Do you know the damage you
can and have caused? Do you know how you are measured? Have
you learned what precautions humans must take to prevent loss of life
and/or property? If you can answer yes to these questions,
CONGRATULATIONS, you are now a bona fide “storm tracker”.