Weather Map
Name ____________________ Due _________________
Create a weather map of an imaginary state on a large poster or paper or on a Power
Point slide. If you use Power Point, please save it as version 2003. Make sure your state
and cities have imaginary, but creative names! Your map should be neat and colorful and
show you put time and attention into it. Your map should have a legend that explains the
symbols on your map.
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A capital city denoted with a star.
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Four other cities denoted with a dot.
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A compass rose
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A key for the symbols you have used on your map.
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One city should have a thunderstorm.
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One city should be partly cloudy.
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One city should be sunny.
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One warm front coming up from south.
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One cold front coming from the northwest.
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The expected highs and lows in each of your four cities. These temps should
match where the fronts are located. (It should be warm behind the warm front and
colder behind the cold front.)
Practice presenting the weather as if you were reporting for a TV station. For
example…..“It is a lovely day here in the state of Chimichangaland. You can see it is
sunny in the capital city of Salsa where the expected high temperature is 82 with a low of
40. etc. We have a cold front moving down from Taco. Expect temperatures to drop as
this front moves through.”
Cold Front
transition zone from warm air to cold air
A cold front is defined as the transition zone where a cold air mass is replacing a warmer air mass. Cold
fronts generally move from northwest to southeast. The air behind a cold front is noticeably colder and
drier than the air ahead of it. When a cold front passes through, temperatures can drop more than 15
degrees within the first hour.
Symbolically, a cold front is represented by a solid line with triangles along the front pointing towards the
warmer air and in the direction of movement. On colored weather maps, a cold front is drawn with a solid
blue line.
There is typically a noticeable temperature change from one side of a cold front to the other. In the map of
surface temperatures below, the station east of the front reported a temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit
while a short distance behind the front, the temperature decreased to 38 degrees. An abrupt temperature
change over a short distance is a good indicator that a front is located somewhere in between.
Warm Front
transition zone from cold air to warm air
A warm front is defined as the transition zone where a warm air mass is replacing a cold air mass. Warm
fronts generally move from southwest to northeast and the air behind a warm front is warmer and more
moist than the air ahead of it. When a warm front passes through, the air becomes noticeably warmer and
more humid than it was before.
Symbolically, a warm front is represented by a solid line with semicircles pointing towards the colder air
and in the direction of movement. On colored weather maps, a warm front is drawn with a solid red line.
There is typically a noticeable temperature change from one side of the warm front to the other. In the map
of surface temperatures below, the station north of the front reported a temperature of 53 degrees
Fahrenheit while a short distance behind the front, the temperature increased to 71 degrees. An abrupt
temperature change over a short distance is a good indication that a front is located somewhere in between.
Stationary Front –
A boundary between two air masses that more or less doesn’t move, but some stationary
fronts can wobble back and forth for several hundred miles a day.
You should be able to match the weather with the instrument that is
used to measure it!
Temperature - thermometer
Barometric pressure (air pressure) - barometer
Wind speed - anemometer
Precipitation – rain gauges
Humidity – hygrometer
You should be able to explain the difference between weather and climate.
Weather: atmospheric conditions over short periods of time, usually
hours or days
Climate: the average of atmospheric conditions over a longer period
of time - months, years, or thousands of years (what the weather is
like over a long period of time)
Describe at least two wild weather events that Erin Jordan shared with
us in her visit.
You should be able to draw a picture of the water
cycle that includes: precipitation, evaporation,
condensation, transpiration, groundwater, and
surface water.
You should be able to identify the symbols used on a
weather map.
You should be able to name sources of water within
our environment. (ground water , surface water:
lakes, oceans, puddles, pools, atmospheric water,
glaciers)
WEATHER VOCABULARY AND DEFINITIONS
You don’t need to memorize these exactly –
just be familiar enough with them to explain them in your
own words.
Air Pressure - The weight of air pressing down on earth. Air pressure can change from place to place, and
this causes air to move, flowing from areas of high pressure toward areas of low pressure. It’s the same as
barometric pressure.
Anemometer - A weather instrument that measures the wind speed.
Barometer - An instrument that measures air pressure.
Barometric Pressure - It’s the same as air pressure. The pressure exerted by the atmosphere at a given point.
Blizzard - An intense winter storm with winds of 35 m.p.h. or higher with falling and/or blowing snow to
reduce visibility below 1/4 mile for at least three hours.
Climate – the atmospheric conditions over a long period of time, usually years or hundreds of years.
Cold Front - A boundary between two air masses, one cold and the other warm, moving so that the colder
air replaces the warmer air.
Dust Devil - Small whirlwinds of dust that form in dry areas like deserts. They may look like tornadoes, but
dust devils are not formed by thunderstorms and do not drop from the sky. Dust devils are caused by
swirling winds that rise with the warm air found over the ground.
Erosion - The wearing away of the Earth’s surface by the action of the sea, running water, moving ice,
precipitation or wind.
Evaporation - The process of changing a liquid (like water) to a vapor. It’s the opposite of condensation.
Flash Flood - Sudden flooding that occurs when floodwaters rise swiftly with no warning within several
hours of an intense rain. They often occur after intense rainfall from slow moving thunderstorms. In narrow
canyons and valleys, floodwaters flow faster than on flatter ground and can be quite destructive.
Fujita Scale - The scale that measures the strength of tornadoes based upon wind speed. F0-F5- little
damage to maximum damage.
Funnel Cloud - A tornado that doesn’t reach the ground. It has a rotating cone-shaped column of air
extending downward from the base of a cumulonimbus or thunderstorm cloud, but whose circulation does
not make contact with the ground.
Glacier - A large piece of ice that survives for many years, slowly carving out the face of earth.
Haboob – Arabic term for dust storm.
Hail - A mixture of liquid and frozen precipitation. Hailstones are composed of layers of ice and can
become quite large when strong gusts of upward-moving air keep them inside the cloud. As they move
around inside the cloud they collide with raindrops, adding layers and growing before they fall to earth.
Humidity - The amount of water vapor in the air.
Hygrometer - An instrument that measures the water vapor content of air or the humidity.
Meteorologist - A scientist who studies and predicts the weather. Meteorologists use sophisticated
equipment, like Doppler radar and supercomputers, but they also rely on old-fashioned sky watching.
Meteorology - The study of the atmosphere and all its phenomena, including weather and how to forecast
it.
Precipitation - General name for water in any form falling from clouds. This includes rain, drizzle, hail,
snow and sleet. Although, dew, frost and fog are not considered to be precipitation.
Rain Gauge - An instrument used to measure the amount of rain that has fallen. Measurement is done in
hundredths of inches (0.01").
Relative Humidity - The ratio of water vapor contained in the air compared to the maximum amount of
moisture that the air can hold at that specific temperature and pressure.
Storm - Any disturbed state of the atmosphere that creates unpleasant weather like rain, lightning, thunder,
hail, snow, sleet, and freezing rain.
Temperature - The measurement of how hot or cold something is.
Thermometer - The instrument that measures temperature.
Tornado - It begins as a funnel cloud with spinning columns of air that drop down from a severe
thunderstorm. When they reach the ground they become tornadoes. Tornadoes are between 300 and 2,000
feet wide and travel at speeds of 20 to 45 miles per hour. They usually only last a few minutes, but their
spinning winds, up to 300 miles per hour, can lift houses into the air and rip trees from the ground.
Transpiration - The process by which water in plants is transferred as water vapor to the atmosphere.
Tsunami - A Japanese term for an unusually large ocean wave caused by undersea earthquake, landslide, or
volcanic eruption. Only a few inches high in the open ocean, tsunamis steepen and rise in shallow water
and can reach heights of 200 feet.
Warm Front - The boundary between two air masses, one cool and the other warm, moving so that the
warmer air replaces the cooler air.
Water Vapor - It’s a gas in the atmosphere. There is very little of it in the air. Water vapor is only 1 to 4%
of the atmosphere, but without it we would have no clouds, rain, or snow. Water vapor is one of the
greenhouse gases, which help to trap the earth's heat.
Weather – the atmospheric conditions over a short period of time, usually hours or days. Weather also tells
how the air moves (wind) and describes anything it might be carrying such as rain, snow or clouds.
Thunder, lightning, rainbows, haze and other special events are all part of weather.
Wind - The movement of air relative to the surface of the earth. It’s considered to be severe if 58 m.p.h. or
greater. Hurricane winds are 74 m.p.h or greater and the highest tornado winds are about 318 m.p.h.