SEVERE WEATHER RESEARCH PROJECT
Introduction
Natural disasters happen somewhere in the United States every single day. These disasters cause huge amounts of damage to
property, the economy, and people’s lives. You have just been hired by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) to
work on a new project. The government wants an information and preparedness manual that will help people facing natural
disasters. You and your group will be writing two sections of that book. You will need to decide what information is important
for people to know and create the preparedness plan. The goal is for your work to help people and save lives!!
Task
As part of your new job with FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), you and your group must gather and organize
information on two types of natural disasters. Your information must include causes of the disasters and effects they can have
on the land and people. Your information will become part of an Information and Preparedness Guide for Natural
Disasters. Then your group will work together to create disaster plans to be included in the Preparedness Guide that tell people
what to do to prepare for the disaster and/or what to do during the disaster.
Process
1. Your group will be assigned to one of the following sets of natural disasters:
 Tornadoes and floods and Thunderstorms and Blizzards
 Droughts and Hurricanes and Tsunamis and Storm Surges
Each member of your group will take on one of the following roles:
 Member of the NWS (the National Weather Service) or the USGS (United States Geological Survey) –
o 1st NWS: Your job is to determine what causes your type of disaster, signs of the phenomena occurring, and
where they can occur.
o 2nd NWS: Your job is to describe/explain your severe weather phenomenon. What are the characteristics of
your severe weather storm? If the storm is rated on a scale what is it?
 Member of the American Red Cross - Your job is to determine what kinds of damage your disasters can cause and
how they affect people and the economy.
 Member of the town council - Your job is to gather up safety tips in order to help your group create your
preparedness plans. These are tips that you would tell the townspeople to prepare for the severe storm that is going
to occur.
2. Read through each of the following resources that contain information on your disasters:
Extreme Weather Links
Hurricanes
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/hurricane/
http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/hurricane/
http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes
http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/index.shtm
http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/
http://readyclassroom.discoveryeducation.com/#/condition/4
Weatherwizkids.com - Hurricanes
Web Weather for Kids - Hurricanes
KidStorm - Hurricanes
Tornadoes
http://www.ready.gov/tornadoes
www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/physics/weather/**tornado**.htm
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/
http://whyfiles.org/013tornado/2.html
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson116.shtml
http://readyclassroom.discoveryeducation.com/#/condition/7
Weatherwizkids.com - Tornadoes
Web Weather for Kids - Tornadoes
KidStorm - Tornadoes
Floods and Rain
http://www.ready.gov/floods
http://www.floodsafety.noaa.gov/
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/?page_id=66
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/floods-profile/
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/floods-profile/
Thunderstorms
http://readyclassroom.discoveryeducation.com/#/condition/6
http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/physics/weather/lightning.htm
http://www.fema.gov/hazard/thunderstorm/index.shtm
Weatherwizkids.com - Thunderstorms
Weatherwizkids.com - Lightning
Web Weather for Kids - Thunderstorms
Web Weather for Kids - Lightning
KidStorm - Lightning
Drought
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/drought/index.shtml
Drought for Kids
Drought Info for Kids
http://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/0154df364fd2da3fdd2a1001a97fd0e9/FEMA_FS_drought_508.pdf
http://www.bbc.com/newsround/14325352
http://www.kidzworld.com/article/892-dealing-with-drought
Blizzards (Snowstorms)
http://readyclassroom.discoveryeducation.com/#/condition/11
http://www.citysource.com/Seasons/snow.html
http://www.ussartf.org/blizzards.htm
Weatherwizkids.com - Winter Storms
Web Weather for Kids - Blizzards and Winter Weather
Tsunamis and Storm Surges
http://www.tsunami.noaa.gov/
http://www.ready.gov/tsunamis
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tsunami-profile/
-- http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/
http://education.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/storm-surge/
http://thevane.gawker.com/understanding-storm-surge-the-deadliest-and-most-overl-1726167166
Weather Wiz Kids: Includes facts, folklore, games, jokes, experiments, and activities, written by a meteorologist.
The National Weather Service: It gives information and safety tips for floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunami, thunderstorms,
earthquakes, wildfires, and winter storms.
Ready.gov: Natural Disasters: This website contains links to other sites that give information on Earthquakes, Extreme Heat, Fires,
Floods, Hurricanes, Landslide and Debris Flow (Mudslide), Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, Wildfires, and Winter
Storms. After each question is answered, it gives information to explain the answer. It has sections that cover hurricanes,
volcanoes, floods, drought, tornadoes, and earthquakes.
**You also may use your textbook. **
3. From these sources, find and take notes on the important information that you need for your project. To
help you focus on the important information, make sure that it answers the following questions:
What are the causes of this disaster?
Where in the world can this type of disaster occur?
Explain/describe your weather phenomenon?
What characteristics does your weather have?
Is there any warnings that your severe weather phenomenon will occur?
What kinds of damage does this type of disaster cause?
How does this disaster effect people and/or the economy?
What are some important safety tips that your sources recommend?
4. After your group has taken notes from all of the appropriate sources, you will use the information you
have discovered and put it together in the “Disaster Plan Draft Chart.” This will be done in partners and you
will be assigned a disaster. There should be two different handwritings on the sheet and each person signs off
on the box they complete. Lastly, I must sign off on the bottom of the sheet before you can move to the final
stage.
5. Lastly, using your information pages and your notes on safety tips, work together to create a disaster plan
for each of your types of disasters.
Your disaster plans should include what people should do to prepare for an oncoming disaster, what should go in an emergency
kit (if one is needed), and what people should do during the disaster if they are in a building, outside, or in a car. Word process
your plan using the following template. If your disaster requires an emergency kit, write the contents as a list rather that using
paragraph form.
 You may present your Preparedness Plan as a video, as a poster, as a brochure, or as a written news
announcement.
Preparedness Plan for (type of disaster)









What is your disaster and what are some characteristics/descriptions/causes of the severe weather storm?
What are some signs the disaster is going to it?
What to do Before the Disaster:
Emergency Kit (only if needed) What Materials may you need? :
What to do During the Disaster:
If you are in a building:
If you are outside:
If you are in a car:
What to do After the Disaster:
Evaluation
Natural Disasters Project Rubric
The following is the rubric that will be used to grade your performance on this project. The first four sections will grade your
group’s product, the information sheets and disaster plans, so everyone in the group will be graded the same in those
sections. The last two sections will be used to grade each person’s individual work performance.
Total points _______
Percentage _______
Grade _______
Conclusions
You and your group members have become the experts on your two natural disasters. You now know what causes them, where
they occur in this country, how they affect people and the economy, and what to do before and during a
disaster. Congratulations on a job well done! Your final task will be to share what you have done with the rest of the class. After
each group has shared their work, it will be compiled into The Information and Preparedness Guide for Natural Disasters and
everyone in the class will get a copy of it.
Works Cited: Edited and Taken from PBWORKS and Creator is Jeff Munro.
Munro, Jeff. "WebQuest (redirected from Webquest)." Wsutech / WebQuest. PBWORKS, 8 July 2008. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
Novice
Basic
Proficient
Advanced
1
2
3
4
Information is
confusing,
incorrect or
flawed.
Some information
may be confusing,
incorrect or flawed.
Information is
generally clear,
valid, and
accurate.
All
information
is clear,
valid, and
accurate.
Information is
confusing,
incorrect or
flawed.
Some information
may be confusing,
incorrect or flawed.
Information is
generally clear,
valid, and
accurate.
All
information
is clear,
valid, and
accurate.
Disaster plan/Safety Tips, How to
prepare Information
Information is
confusing,
incorrect or
flawed.
Some information
may be confusing,
incorrect or flawed.
Information is
generally clear,
valid, and
accurate.
All
information
is clear,
valid, and
accurate.
Use of correct spelling, grammar,
punctuation, and capitalization
Many major
errors; confusing;
problems with
sentence
construction.
Some major errors;
many minor errors;
sentence construction
below mastery.
A few minor
errors, but no
more that one
major error.
No major
errors; few
or no minor
errors.
Did not do the job
of the assigned
role; did not assist
in the group tasks
and presentation.
Did very little of the
assigned job; assisted
in some of the group
tasks and
presentation.
Did some of the
assigned job;
assisted in most
of the group
tasks and
presentation.
Did the
assigned job
and assisted
in all group
tasks and
presentation.
Refuses to work
with others;
usually argues;
usually wants to
have things their
own way.
Will work with others
after much coaxing;
sometimes argues;
doesn't consider all
views when making
decisions.
Usually works
well with
others; rarely
argues; usually
considers all
views.
Always
works well
with others;
never
argues;
always helps
the group
reach a fair
decision.
Information on causes and effects of
natural disasters
Information on where certain natural
disasters occur. Characteristics and
descriptions of disaster.
Job performance/Presentation
Cooperation
Score