Data Literacy Project
ML2-PRAC_Hurricane wind speeds.docx 21NOV2013
Hurricanes – maximum wind speeds
Background
Scientists at the National Hurricane Data Center in North Carolina keep track of
statistics about each hurricane. They keep track of the date each hurricane starts, how
many days it lasts (its duration), its maximum wind speed, its minimum barometric
pressure, and how many deaths occurred from each hurricane.
Many people remember when hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005.
Levies failed, flooding much of the city and many people lost their homes and their lives.
What was the maximum wind speed for Hurricane Katrina? The table below is
downloaded from the National Hurricane Data Center.
Data source:
National Hurricane Data Center (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastall.shtml)
1. What was the maximum wind speed for hurricane Katrina?
2. How variable were the wind speeds of hurricanes in 2005?
3. Make a dot plot that shows how the wind speed data are distributed for the hurricanes in
2005.
Data file: DL_Hurricane data set (2002-2011)
ML2-PRAC_Hurricane wind speeds.docx 21NOV2013
4. Write a short caption for your graph that makes a claim about the wind speeds of hurricanes
in 2005. How does the graph support the claim?
5. As you examine your graph of the wind speeds of hurricanes in 2005, what new questions
about hurricanes come to your mind?
Data file: DL_Hurricane data set (2002-2011)
ML2-PRAC_Hurricane wind speeds.docx 21NOV2013
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Hurricanes – maximum wind speeds
(Teaching notes)
Key concept:
Anticipate variability when asking a question (Math 6.SP. 1-5)
Display numerical data in a dot plot (Math 7.SP 3&4)
Scope: One variable (Hurricane wind speed), one data point for each hurricane (wind speed)
Measurement: Maximum wind speed for each hurricane (measured in knots).
Useful vocabulary: Frequency plot, dot plot, variability
Content topic: Earth science, hurricanes. The most destructive hurricanes don’t necessarily
have the strongest winds – it depends upon where a hurricane strikes.
Materials: (none)
Making the dot plot:
(On the X-axis put a scale of wind speeds, lowest value (or the next lowest round number) on
the left and the highest value (or the next highest round number) on the right. Add and label
evenly-spaced tic marks between the high and the low values on the axis. The Y-axis can be
labled “count” or “frequency”. Mark a dot (or an X) for each hurricane that had a the
corresponding wind speed along the X-axis scale.)
Extensions:
Access the data set that has data about hurricanes for other years, 2001-2011, and compare
hurricanes from two or more years. (Make one frequency plot for each year, and view them
one above the other for easy comparison of the two distributions.)
Pedagogical considerations:
 Students will have better success if they label the axis before plotting the points.
 Do students try to start the X-axis at zero? (If so, it will stretch the scale out too much to plot
all points distinctly. Start near the minimum value)
 Do students evenly and accurately space the values on the X-axis?
 Do students make their x’s (or dots) about the same size (and vertically aligned)?
 Do students describe the variability in terms of the range of the data, the center (mean
works well here), and the general shape of the distribution (clumped, evenly spread out,
extreme values, all different, all mostly the same, the maximum hurricane was more than
twice as strong as the weakest hurricane, etc.)
Data file: DL_Hurricane data set (2002-2011)