Table of Contents

Introduction

Field trip to Belfast

Field trip to Baldonnell

Rathdown Weather Station

Irish Weather Network

The Sun

The Atmosphere

Seasons

The Water Cycle

Longitude and Latitude

Climate and Climate Change

Gulf Stream

Past Climates and How We Measure Them

Temperature

Wind

Tides

Clouds


Fog and Mist
Snow and Ice

Thunder and Lightening

Floods and Droughts

Different Storms

Hurricanes, Typhoons etc.

Irish Weather

Weather Fronts

Weather Forecasting

Presentation of Rathdown weather station data

Analysis and comparison of data with some other Irish stations

Curriculum strands


Acknowledgements
Newsletters

:
We are Rathdown junior school 6th class. Our BT young scientist project is all about weather. We named our project 'On Cloud 9' because in the cloud classification, cumulonimbus is cloud Type 9. If you are on top of cloud nine you can be as high up as
Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world.
The aim of our “Cloud 9” project was to set up a weather station at our school and observe the weather in Glengeary, County Dublin. Every day we check our weather station to see if everything is working at its best. Also it is connected to a computer and a weather monitor. This monitors and records the weather on the Rathdown grounds.
Carl Melhorn from the Irish Weather Network came to our school and examined our weather station to see that our readings were correct and our weather station was in the right location. The aim then was that we would join the Irish Weather Network online.
Then, people from all around the world, including all our past pupils, will be able to read and track the weather in the Rathdown grounds on the Irish Weather Network.
And hopefully our weather readings will be used to help forecast the weather by the Met
Eireann forecasters. www.irelandsweather.com.

In September our class took a trip to W5 in Belfast. We learnt about extreme weather and got see what it would be like to track a hurricane. We got to see an experiment about liquid nitrogen which is probably the coldest thing on earth, if I stuck my hand in it all the blood and water cells in my body would freeze and I would die! We got to see lots of interesting things about weather such as tornadoes being made and lots of different experiments that showed us how the weather works and creates natural disasters. We learnt about different types of weather and how they can all affect different things and
about different climates in different countries and places in the world.
On Friday the 18th November we went on a field trip to the Baldonnell Aerodrome to see a professional weather station in operation and we also went to the Botanic Gardens exhibition centre to visit the 75th Anniversary of Met Eireann. Sinead Duffy is an observer at Baldonnell and she showed us all the different instruments that measure and record weather, such as; a thermometer, a barometer, a ceilometer and an anemometer. A thermometer is placed in the ground and used to measure the soil temperature. A barometer is used for measuring atmospheric pressure. A ceilometer is a laser used to measure the height of clouds and an anemometer is used to measure the wind speed, another name for it is a wind vane. Wind is measured in knots.
Met Éireann has weather stations all over Ireland where weather is recorded and used in weather forecasts. Weather forecasts are important for aeroplanes so they know what clouds to avoid and what route to take. It is also important for ships at sea so they know if a storm is heading their way. It can be forecasted ten days in advance. Forecasters tell the weather by receiving pictures from satellites in space.
The highest recorded temperature on earth is +58 degrees in Libya and the lowest -89 degrees in Antarctica. The highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland is +33.3 degrees and the lowest is -19.1 degrees, and the wettest place in Ireland is The Macgillycuddy
Reeks in Kerry where it rains 4000 mm every year.
The driest place on earth is Chille where less than 1 mm of rain falls every year. A coffee cup would take around 100 years to fill! The wettest place on earth is the Himalayas, 1200 mm of rain falls per year.
After Balldonnell we visited the Botanic gardens Exhibition centre where met eireann were celebrating 75 years. There were many interesting displays and photographs. We

learnt how weather was measure in the olden days before satellites and computers. We also did some physics experiments on weather. We had fun and sang weather songs on the bus back to school.
The Sun is a nuclear reactor. When two atoms of hydrogen combine to make 1 atom of
Helium energy is released, this is the energy that powers the sun. The light from the sun arrives on Earth after eight minutes and makes us warm, feeds the plants and allows life on Earth. Earth is in the perfect position for life to develop, it is called The Goldilocks
Zone. Venus is too hot (450 degC), Mars is too cold (-53 degC) and Earth is just right (+15 degC). We get all our energy from the sun. Without the Sun, Earth would be covered in ice. The Sun is 70% hydrogen gas, 28% helium gas and 2% metals. Light travels to Earth in different forms. The Sun changes positions throughout the day.
Danger of the Sun
The Sun can cause skin cancer. When you're out in the sun make sure to put on sunscreen lotion. Stay out of the direct sunlight during midday.
How we record sunshine?
A Campbell-Strokes Recorder records the sunshine. It looks a bit like crystal ball. There is a cardboard strip behind the crystal ball, so it burns a track where it has been. Using the burnt cardboard, we measure the number of hours of sunshine.
Months in Ireland .
The sunniest months in Ireland are May and June. December is the dullest month. In 1887 it was the sunniest summer in Ireland. In 1980 it was the dullest winter in Ireland.
The Sun is a star. It weighs two trillion, trillion tons. The diameter of the Sun is 109 Earths.
There is no solid surface on the Sun. It takes five and a half hours for the sunlight to reach
Pluto. All the coil, gas, oil and wood in the Earth would only keep the Sun burning for a few days. If the Sun stopped shining we would freeze to death and the seas would turn to ice. Five solar eclipses can occur in a year. The Sun is 4.57 billion years old. In 5.4 billion years the sun’s core will run out of hydrogen. The Sun is a big ball of gas. It has three layers. The Sun is actually a mixture of colours.

The Atmosphere ends about thirty-six thousand miles from the Earth.
The Troposphere: this layer of the atmosphere is where the weather takes place.
The Tropopause: this is the layer of which the Troposphere ends.
The Stratosphere: in this layer of the atmosphere the air flows mostly horizontally.
The Stratopause: this is the boundary of which the stratosphere ends.
The Ozone Layer: this is the layer of the atmosphere that protects us from the ultra violet rays that come from the sun.
The Mesosphere: this layer is just above the ozone layer. Most of the gases are too thin to take in much of sun’s heat.
The Thermosphere: in this layer the gases are thinner but they take in more heat than the ones in the mesosphere. Ionosphere: the gas particles in here get an electric charge from the ultra violet rays from the sun.
The Exosphere: this is the final layer of the atmosphere. In this layer the gases start to get thinner and drift away into space.

Earth’s seasons are caused by the Earth’s tilt on its axis. Instead of the Earth being straight it’s slightly tilted (by 23 and a half degrees). The sun always shines on the equator. The equator is an imaginary line that runs through the centre of the Earth, which means all the countries along the equator have nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness all year round. North of the equator is the Northern Hemisphere and south of the equator is the Southern Hemisphere. That’s why when it's winter in the Northern Hemisphere it's summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and that’s why in Australia they celebrate Christmas on the beach!
Winter
The days are short and often very cold. Sometimes the rain will turn to sleet and snow and quite often we wake up in the morning to frost and ice on the ground. Winter is usually cold and wet in Ireland but can be warm or dry in other parts of the world.
Spring
The sun rises earlier and sets later on in the afternoon. Weather in spring is very varied both in Ireland and worldwide. Some days it may be cold enough to snow and some days it is warm enough to play out in the garden. Spring months can also be very windy.
Summer
Summer is something we usually all look forward to. The days become both warmer and longer, the sun shines and the school holidays provide us plenty of time to go out and enjoy ourselves. Although sunny weather is very fun and we can spend more time outside, the sun's rays can harm our bodies. There are some things you need to do to protect yourselves. You shouldn't ever look straight at the sun because it will damage your eyes.
Additionally, you have to protect your skin from the sun’s rays so that you don't get sunburnt. Summer weather can vary but if we are lucky, June, July and August will bring some warm sunny days.

Autumn
Autumn is a season filled with change. Days become shorter and, although it is often warm and sunny during the daytime, it can be cold at night. In Autumn leaves fall off the trees and hedges. Additionally, autumn can bring strong winds and a lot of rain.

All of the water on the Earth is over 4,000,000,000 years old. No more is created and none destroyed. It all gets recycled from seas to clouds and back down through the Earth. This is known as the water cycle. This cycle is made up of a few main parts:
• Evaporation
• Condensation
• Precipitation
• Run Off
Stage
Evaporation
Condensation
Precipitation
Run Off
Explanation
When the sun shines on water (lakes, sea, rivers etc.)
It turns to water vapour and floats up into the air.
The water vapour cools as it rises through the air and turns back into water droplets and forms clouds.
As the cloud fills up with more and more droplets they fall to the ground in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow.
The water is stored on the land and in rivers, lakes and seas.
The water cycle then starts all over again.
If we did not have the water cycle we would all have to live on the sea shore because there would be no lakes or rivers and inland areas would be a desert.
Earth is different from every other planet in our solar system because it has surface water.
Around 70% of Earth's surface is covered with salty sea water; only 3% with fresh water;
2% with ice and snow, the rest is land. Life can only exist on this land because of the fresh water brought in from the salty seas by the water cycle!
Latitude and longitude are used as co-ordinates. The equator’s latitude is measured as 0°

north, the North Pole’s latitude is measured as 90° north (written 90° N or +90°), and the
South Pole’s latitude is measured as 90° south (written 90° S or −90°).Together, latitude and longitude can be used as a global co-ordinate system.
Latitude is usually measured in degrees, minutes and seconds. For example, the Eiffel
Tower has a latitude of 48° 51′ 29″ N-- that is, 48 degrees plus 51 minutes plus 29 seconds.
Alternatively latitude may be measured entirely in degrees, e.g. 48.85806° N.
Some more important co-ordinates: latitude longitude coordinates
• Arctic Circle: 66° 33′ 39″ N
• Tropic of Cancer: 23° 26′ 21″ N
• Tropic of Capricorn: 23° 26′ 21″ S
• Antarctic Circle: 66° 33′ 39" S
(A degree is divided into 60 minutes.)
A region’s climate varies depending on its latitude.
The sun's rays hit the equator at an angle between 23 ° N and 23 ° S. Therefore the equator has a warmer climate. In low latitude climates (10° S to 25 ° N), there’s a lot of rain. It is usually about 27°C in low latitude countries. Humidity is between 77% and 88%.
In higher latitude climates (50° - 70° N and S), there are long, freezing cold winters, and short, cool summers. This climate is found in the polar region and the temperature range is larger than any other climate. Precipitation increases during summer months, but annual precipitation is still small.
Rathdown Weather Station:
 Longitude – 53.18
 Latitude -6.6
 Altitude – 37m

"Climate" refers to the typical weather conditions over a long period of time for a given region. For example Ireland has a temperate climate which means our weather is generally quite mild. Climate is tracked over a thirty year period. Climate change means that there is a long term change in the weather trends for a particular region.
Over the last 100 years, the average surface air temperature in Europe increased by almost 1°C. In fact, the 20th century was the warmest century and the 1990s the warmest decade in the past 1,000 years. But we may be facing far more extreme rates of temperature increases over the next 100 years.
The possible results of global warming for our natural environment include:
• More powerful and dangerous storms and hurricanes
• More flooding and natural disasters
• More extreme heat waves
• Higher sea levels.

The Gulf Stream is one of the strongest ocean currents in the world. It brings warm water to the North Atlantic, so without the Gulf Stream our winters would be colder by a few degrees. The Gulf Stream is one of the most studied sea currents. The Gulf stream moves at about two to five miles an hour.
The Gulf Stream begins north of Cuba and travels up to between Scotland and Iceland.
Benjamin Franklin was the first person to study it and in 1770 he made a map of the Gulf
Stream. He measured wind speeds and current depth.
(Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706, and was the 15th child of 17 children in his family. He was a very famous scientist and discovered electricity by studying lightning)
Early map of the Gulf Stream.
If the Gulf Stream stopped it would mean harsher winters for northern Europe. Winters could be as harsh as those of 'Little ice age' during the 17th and 19th century.Our fishing areas would be greatly affected by any changes in the Gulf Stream.
The Gulf Stream is weakening, says Scientists. Some scientists are saying that this is not true but there is a forecast of the Gulf Stream cooling by 1C over the next three decades.
When you look at a map of the Gulf Stream purple and blue is the cold water and orange and red is the warm water.

On the map above you can see that the warm water warms up the cold areas and the cold current cools the warm areas.
Scientists use tree rings, ice cores, mud and pollen to find out what our climate was like in the past.
Chop open the trunk of a tree and you will see many rings; a tree grows a ring each year.
These growth rings reflect how good or bad the weather was that year. If a ring is quite thick it means that year was a year with good weather and great nutrition but if a ring is very thin it means that the tree has had poor nutrition and bad weather that year.
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of studying how old a tree is, based on how many rings it has. (Dendro is the Latin word for a tree and chronology means time.)

Temperature is a measurement of how hot or cold something is.
A thermometer measures temperature. The most common thermometer is a mercury thermometer.
The glass middle of the thermometer is full of mercury. Mercury expands when heated and contracts when cooled.
When the temperature rises, the mercury expands and fills up the glass tube.
You can see what temperature is from the numbers on the side of the thermometer.
Ireland's average temperature is 9°C. Ireland doesn't have extreme temperatures like some other countries on similar latitude.
What does the phase "room temperature" mean?
Room temperature is an indoor temperature from 15°C to 25°C. It is the perfect temperature to live in, as it is neither too hot nor too cold.
Temperature is measured in either Celsius of Fahrenheit.
Celsius is the most commonly used in Britain and Ireland. It is divided into 100 parts.
On the Celsius scale, water freezes at 0°C, and boils at 100°C.
Fahrenheit is most commonly used in America.
On the Fahrenheit scale, water freezes at 32°F and boils at 212°F.

1. BTYS 2012 WIND
FORCE 1 = 3km/h = LIGHT AIR = Chimney smoke drifts a bit.
FORCE 2 = 9km/h = LIGHT BREEZE = Leaves rustle on trees.
FORCE 3 = 16km/h = GENTLE BREEZE = Leaves move on trees
FORCE 4 = 25km/h = MODERATE BREEZE = Branches move on trees
FORCE 5 = 35km/h = FRESH BREEZE = Small trees sway in the wind
FORCE 6 = 45km/h = STRONG BREEZE = Large branches sway in the wind
FORCE 7 = 55km/h = HIGH WIND = Bushes and trees sway in the wind
FORCE 8 = 68km/h = GALE = Small branches and twigs a blow off the trees
FORCE 9 = 80km/h = STRONG GALE = Slates are blown off roofs
FORCE 10 = 96km/h = WHOLE GALE = Trees are uprooted from the ground
FORCE 11 = 112km/h = STORM = Damage to buildings and lives may be lost
FORCE 12 = 125km/h = HURRICANE = Homes are destroyed and lots of flooding
Wind is made when the heat from the sun makes pressure changes in the atmosphere, which makes air move as wind. In other words WIND IS THE MOVEMENT OF AIR.
We cannot see the wind but we can see the things that the wind does. For example:
Hurricane damage and leaves blown off trees. We can also hear the wind when it is banging off objects and blowing in your face. The cool effect of the wind on your skin is called wind chill. The windiest place on Earth is George V Coast in Antarctica. The winds here can reach 320km/h. The highest wind recorded in Ireland was at Malin Head in Co
Donegal in 1961 with a gust of 98kts. On the 3rd of January a big Atlantic storm gave a gust of 91kts at Malin Head and winds of Hurricane Force 12.
Trade Winds: Trade winds are steady winds that are flowing towards the equator.
Jet Streams: Jet Streams are very strong winds. They blow at 10km above the Earth. They can be up to 4,000 km long!!!!!!!
Sea Breeze: On a hot day, the warm air over the land rises and cool sea air replaces it.
Wind in Ireland: Ireland is one of the windiest parts of Europe. We are very hopeful of making lots of electricity from wind energy and also wave energy. The waves coming in from the Atlantic are some of the biggest in the World because of the many Atlantic storms.
What is used to measure wind?: An Anemometer measures wind speed by the cups on the
Anemometer spinning around. A Weather Vane measures wind direction. It is often on top of houses and churches.

 Tides are very important. It all happens in 12 hours. It takes it 6 hours for it to get from low tide to high tide. And 6 hours for it to get from high tide to low tide.
It all happens in speed and in fractions. This is how it works.
Let's say the speed will be 35 km per hr at its highest point.
We are imagining that the tide on this chart is going from low tide to high tide.
 1st hour = It goes in 1/12 , so it is going in at 5 km per hr.
 2nd hour = It goes in 2/12 , so it is going in at15 km per hr.
 3rd hour = It goes in 3/12 , so it is going in at 35 km per hr. ( this is the fastest point in the tide.)
 4th hour = It goes in 3/12 , so it is going in at 35 km per hr.( this hour stays the same to the 3rd hour.)
 5th hour = It goes in 2/12 , so it is going in at 15 km per hr.
 6th hour = It goes in 1/12 , so it is going in at 5 km per hr.
The exact thing happens from high to low.
This happens twice a day.
 Tides are made by the moon and the earth pulling at each other. They kind of act like magnets. The moon is trying to pull everything of off the earth but the earth is able to hold on to everything but the sea and the oceans.that is how the tides work.
 The two tips of tide are called 'spring tides ' and 'neap tides'. Spring tides (this has
 nothing to do with the season.) are caused by the moon and the earth and the sun being in line with each other. Which causes the tides to be very high or very low .
When the tides are in progress they are very strong. Spring tides only happen when there is a full moon or a new moon.
But neap tides are were the tides each day are mostly even. This happens when the moon and the earth and the sun are not in line with each other. The neap tides are quite weak. these only occur during quarter moons.
400,000,000 years ago all life lived under the sea. Gradually the sea creatures crawled out of the shallow tropical seas during low tides. They adapted to breathing air on land during

the low tides. So it is thanks to tides that we exit at all. On Valentia Island in Co. Kerry there are footprints of the first land animals called Tetrapods.

Clouds are a large collection of very small droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air.


A cloud is formed when water evaporates into the sky and cools.
 Moist water vapour condenses into small water droplets and forms a cloud.
Different clouds are formed, depending on how the moist air rises.
Cirrus: High ice clouds that look like wispy curls of hair.
Cirrocumulus: Thin sheets of ice that form into small blobs or ripples. These clouds often signal unsettled weather.
Cirrostratus: Thin sheet of ice. Sometimes these clouds make a halo effect around the sun.
When you see this effect it means that rain is approaching.
Altocumulus: Thin sheet of white or grey cloud, broken into blobs, rolls, waves or bands.
Altostratus: Layer of thin, grey cloud, through which sunlight is often visible. If the cloud thickens then rain is likely.
Nimbostratus: Thick grey sheets of clouds. They make rain or snow. “Nimbus” is the Latin word for rain.
Stratocumulus: Layer of low cloud broken into rolls or patches. These types of clouds often form a regular pattern.
Stratus: Low, grey blankets of clouds which sometimes produce light rain and drizzle.
Cumulus: Fluffy clouds with a flat base. The tops look like cotton wool. These are often seen on sunny days.
Cumulonimbus: Towering cumulus clouds that often indicate a thunderstorm is on the way!

Fog is caused by the air getting to cool so it can no longer hold any of its water vapour. Fog is basically a cloud near enough to the ground that you can walk through it. Fog will most likely occur when it reaches 100% humidity at the ground. There is just as much types of fog formations as there is clouds. When it's foggy outside you can't see anything because it's like when you’re on an airplane going through a cloud. You can't see anything outside your window except fog. Fog can be very dangerous if you're driving. Seattle in the USA is known for having loads of foggy days every year. Fog can easily be mistaken for mist but there is a difference, fog reduces the visibility to 1km or less but mist reduces it to no less than 1km so mist isn't as thick. Ground banks near Newfoundland island are the foggiest places in the world because it is where the very cold air from the Labrador current at the north and the warm air of the Gulf Stream at the south meet. For fog to form the difference between the temperature and the dew point has to be smaller than 2.5 degrees
Celsius.
Fog is a cloud bank that is in contact with the ground. Fog is usually the only cloud that touches the ground and it only differs slightly from other clouds in that it touches the surface of the Earth. The same cloud that is not fog on lower ground may be fog where it contacts higher ground such as hilltops or mountain ridges.
Mist is a phenomenon of small droplets suspended in the air. It can occur as part of natural weather or volcanic activity, and is common in cold air above warmer water, in exhaled air in the cold, and in a steam room of a sauna. It can also be created artificially with aerosol canisters if the humidity conditions are right.
The only difference between mist and fog is density and its effect on visibility. A cloud that reduces visibility to less than 1 km (about 1,094 yards or 0.62 miles) is called fog, whereas it's called mist if visibility range is between 1 and 2 km.

Snow is made from ice crystals that fall from clouds. On cold days they remain frozen until they touch the ground. For it to snow the tops of clouds must be below 0oC. Snow crystals form when water droplets in clouds become very cold. The snow crystals fall from the cloud forming snow-flakes. The air below must be freezing or the snowflake will melt and turn to rain. Snow is normally a crisp white colour.
Ice is frozen water. The freezing point of water is 0oC. Ice can appear in a transparent colour or in a blushed white colour. Ice appears in nature forms of snowflakes, icicles, hail and glaciers.
Sleet is a mixture of of snow and rain. It is not light and fluffy like a snowflake. Sleet is less prevalent rain. In some counties where snow is not common, sleet is a BIG shock to some people in such places like Southern America.
Hail is hard frozen rain. It is usually the sizeof a pea, but sometimes grows the size of a golf ball!!! Hail can fall from the sky at any time of year, not just during winter. Hail is a form of hard precipitation that forms from thunderstorms. Hail stones can grow to the size of a soft minature ball. Big hail stones fall at speeds faster then 10
0 mph (160 kph).

Lightning is a big charge of electricity. Electricity is made up of a negative charge and a positive charge, just like on a battery.
The electricity moves from the negative towards the positive.
A cloud has a negative charge and the ground has a positive charge. If the charge difference between the two is big enough, a spark will jump from the negative to the positive. This is a lightning bolt; a giant spark.
Thunder is the sound made by lightning. It is either a sharp, loud crack or a low rumble. It is caused by the rapid expansion of air around the bolt of lightning. As sound is just air moving then thunder happens after lightening.
?
A thunderstorm always starts from a cumulus cloud which can be recognised by it's cotton-like puffy shape.
If the conditions are right, the cloud begins to grow upwards. When it starts to rain or hail we call it a cumulonimbus cloud. If it rains heavily, blasts of air come out from the bottom of the cloud called downdrafts. Sometimes the weather can turn wild and fierce and even tornadoes can happen which leave behind a trail of destruction. Eventually this thunder cloud rains itself out.

A flood is an overflow of water from a river or a day of really heavy rain .This causes shops, houses and restaurants to flood.
A flash flood is when water rises rapidly without any warning within a couple of hours of the heavy rain starting .They normally happen when intense rain has fallen or when a slow moving storm is passing .
Floods normally move faster on flat ground rather than on a hill.
On the 24th of October 2011, between 7:30 and 8:00pm
16 millimetres of rain fell in to our school because of the drains partly being blocked. Our school had to close the next day and some of our classrooms had to be moved.

Storms
A storm is a disturbance in the atmosphere with strong winds, rain, hail or
snow often accompanied by thunder and lightning.
Different types of Storms:
1.The hail storm: heavy winds accompanied by hail and ice.
2.Snow storm: a heavy snowfall and strong winds.
3.Rainstorm:heavy rainfall, strong winds and lightening.
4.Cyclone: a cyclone is a type of storm where winds rotate either clockwise or
anticlockwise.
5.Hurricane: a severe type of cyclone formed near the equator and travels
north.
Rainstorms can cause floods! Hailstorms can also cause a huge amount of
damage.
Six types of STORMS
The main types of storms are:
Hailstorm:
 Lumps of ice
 Fall at higher speeds
 Grows in size as they fall
 Mostly between the tropics and the polar regions (mid-latitudes)
 Forms in strong thunderstorm clouds
Ice Storm:



Winter storm made by freezing rain
Also known as glaze event and silver thaw
Forms when warm air is between two layers cold air


Covers everything with heavy ice
Roads become slippery and hazardous for people and cars
Rainstorm:



A storm with very heavy rain
Causes flooding and other devastations
 Forms at high participation
 Can flood lakes, streams and ponds
 Floods the lake running down the side of my garden
Snowstorm:



Happens when large amounts of snow fall
Occurs at very low temperatures
Less dangerous than ice storms but still very hazardous


Mostly occur in Winter, late Autumn and early Spring
Mountain snowstorms can cause avalanches
Thunderstorm:
 Fast movement of warm, moist air
 The four types of thunderstorms are single-cell
Multicell cluster, multicell lines, and supercells


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Supercells are the strongest type of thunder
Thunderstorms mostly occur at the mid-latitudes
Can cause devastating things and loss of life
Windstorm:
 High winds and violent gusts
 Little or no rain
 Up to 241km a hour
 Blows cars and even houses over
 Windstorms effect Ireland a lot

Huracan is the spanish word for hurricane, which is where hurricane facts the word comes from.
tropical_cyclone_map_lrg.gif
earthobservatory.nasa.gov
Hurricanes start life off the west coast of Africa as clusters of thunderstorms. They move westwards in the trade winds and some develop into full blown hurricanes when they reach the very warm waters (27.5C) of the Caribbean. Occasionally they make landfall and every few years one will move back across the Atlantic to affect
Ireland and western and northern Europe. For example Hurricane
Debbie wiped out the entire glasshouse industry in Donegal in 1961.
In 1986 Hurricane Charley had lost its intense winds by the time it reached Ireland but gave very heavy rain.
It set new 24 hour rainfall records, 200 mm which was the greatest daily rainfall total in the country. This rainfall caused widespread flooding, causing two rivers to exceed their banks. In the Dublin area, 451 buildings were flooded, some up to a depth of 8 ft
(2.4 m).

Weather Fronts
Ireland's weather is dominated by the Atlantic Ocean which feeds in lots of rain and gales at any time of the year. Sometimes we can get frost and snow in the winter. This happens when the wind comes down from the North Pole. When cold Polar air meets milder Atlantic air, a band of cloud and rain is made. This is called a weather front.
A warn front is the edge of a warm air mass. Ahead of a warm front there is usually a wide belt of rain.Behind a warm weather front the temperature can go higher abd makes less rain.
A cold front is the edge of a cold air mass. It can move twice as fast as a warm front. Ahead of a clod front there is a narrow rain belt. Behind a cold front the weather is brighter but the temperature is cooler. And it can also make it go lower and make lots more rain.
An occlusion brings weather similar to a warm front. It usually forms when a warm front catches up with a cold front. And if they cathces up with each other then they can make a middle from the cold and the warn weather.
This is an example of a weather chart showing weather fronts

Davis Pro 2 Weather Station.
With support of our parents association, a Davis Pro 2 weather station with a data logger and display console was purchases.
Since the 9th of September the data from our weather station has been reordered and
We met with Karl Melhorne during the summer holidays to decide on a site for our weather station.
The station records the rainfall in mm by way rain collector with a self-empting tipping bucket of 0.2 mm per cup (see picture 1).
The wind is recorder by the anemometer which records the wind speed in km/h and the wind direction.
The temperature and humidity is recorded from sensors that are located inside a radiation shield.
The weather station in located in an exposed area at the top of our sports field. Communication with our wireless recorded on
30 minutes. console via a wireless transmitter.All date is a data logger which recorders the reading every

Analysis of Temperature Data.
It was a cool Summer with winds coming in from the Atlantic. Temperatures were below normal for
June, July and August everywhere .Late September brought a fine spell known as an Indian summer which lasted into the first week in October.
The highest temperature of the year in the greater Dublin area was actually recorded on September
28th. The reason for the late warm weather is that the air over Ireland was coming up from Africa.
November was the warmest month of the year compared to normal it was also the warmest
November on record for most parts of Ireland with mean temperatures (max plus min divided by 2) three degrees above normal.
Max Temperature on Sept 28th 2011
November 2011 mean Temperature
Phoenix Park 25.7 degree Celsius 10.1 degree Celsius
Casement 24.4 degree Celsius 9.9 degree Celsius
Dublin Airport 24.1 degree Celsius
9.7 degree Celsius
Rathdown 21.5 degree Celsius 10.1 degree Celsius
Analysis of wind data.
After last winter's Arctic weather our weather patterns settled into an Atlantic regime for much of the year. This resulted in a cool and mostly cloudy summer but a very mild winter. These Atlantic winds brought lots of rain in over Ireland. In fact 2011 was wetter than average for most of the country and was the wettest year in 25 years in places.
October was very wet in the east. For example the October rainfall in Casement was 241% of normal and on the 24th it recorded its highest daily rainfall since the station opened in 1964 (47 years ).
Many parts of Leinster had very heavy rain on the 24th resulting in widespread flooding and tragically two fatalities. The greater Dublin area was hit the hardest and our school experienced some flooding.
In fact our classroom got flooded and we had to have our classes in the hall for three days. On the positive side we got a new carpet !
24th October Daily rainfall
Casement 82.2mm
Phoenix park 71.3mm
Dublin Airport 69.1mm
Rathdown 62.8mm
Analysis of rainfall data
September and October were very blustery months with frequent gusts between 20 and 40km/h with changeable weather moving in from the Atlantic.
November was quieter and calm at times as a blocking high over Europe kept out /blocked out the
Atlantic storms. A southerly airflow brought mild and gentle winds up from Africa.
It became very windy in December and early January with frequent gusts of 40 to 50km/h and some severe gusts of 70 to 80km/h as Atlantic storms tracked over or near Ireland.
It is interesting to compare the Rathdown Weather Station with that of Malin Head, the windiest station in Ireland, and Dublin Airport.
Case One: September is the peak of the Hurricane season and Ireland sometimes gets the tail-end of these storms as they move back across the Atlantic from the Caribbean.
Ex-Hurricane Katia produced very strong winds in the northwest of Ireland on the 12th September and a gust of 157 km/h in Scotland.
12th September 2011
Malin Head
Gust
122 km/h

Dublin Airport 56 km/h
Rathdown Weather Station 40.2 km/h
Case Two: On the third of January a powerful Atlantic storm tracked just north of Donegal. It then gave blizzards over Scotland and caused disruption and damage through Denmark and over to
Finland.
It set a new 10-minute mean speed record for Malin Head.
03 January 2012 10-minute mean Gust
Malin Head
126 km/h
Hurricane Force 12
169 km/h
Dublin Airport 79 km/h 107 km/h
Rathdown 29.7 km/h 72.4 km/h
The highest ever gust, 181.5 km/h, ever recorded in Ireland was in 1961 in Malin Head from
Hurricane Debbie.

Oral
Reading
Writing
An Aimsir
An Scoil
An Teilifís
Spelling Caitheamh Aimsire
Shape and Space
Measures
Data
Chance
Local Studies Maps, globes and graphical skills Analysing
Story Geographical investigation skills Observing
Weather in the past Observing Predicting
Transport Predicting
Communications Analysing
Investigating and experimenting
Estimating and Measuring
Recording
Estimating and Measuring
Light
Heat
Weather, climate and atmosphere Forces
Environmental awareness Environmental awareness
The local natural environment Caring for the environment
Science and the environment
Magnetism and electricity
Sorting and classifying

Ms Kerruish (Sixth class teacher)
Mr McCarthy (IT teacher)
Mrs Lamplugh (Principal)
Mrs Middelton (Secretary)
Evelyn Cusack (Deputy head of forecasting at Met Éireann)
Sinead Duffy (metorlogical officer)
Carl Melhorn (Irish weather network)
Met Éireann
P6 Parents (for support)

R a t h d o w n B T Y o u n g S c i e n t i s t p r o j e c t
C l o u d 9
November Newsletter,
We, P6, have been working very hard this year on our weather-themed BT
Young Scientist project. We will be going to the RDS with our completed project on January 12 th 2012.
So far we have had Evelyn Cusack (deputy head of forecasting at Met
Éireann) in to talk to us and we have been to a weather workshop in the W5 centre in Belfast. In the workshop we learnt how to track a hurricane and how a hurricane is formed.
We have a weather station set up outside of the school and have some interesting readings from it! It measures wind speed, wind direction and rainfall. After the BT Young Scientist, Rathdown Weather station will become part of the Irish Weather Network.
Stephenson’s Screen Rathdown Weather
Station

We have also set up a wiki, Rathdown Weather, that contains some interesting information about weather topics including seasons, how to forecast the weather, climate and extreme weather.
We went on a trip to Baldonnell weather station on Friday the 18 th of
November and saw the weather recording equipment, including a
Stephenson’s Screen to measure air temperature, thermometers that go underground to measure soil temperature and rain gauges.
We also saw the
Peregrine Falcons and the
Harris Hawk that they use to make sure that pigeons and other birds don’t get in the way of the planes.
After Baldonnell we went to a weather exhibition in the Botanic
Gardens in Glasnevin which was extremely interesting and we saw a slideshow about weather.
We have learnt in class about global warming, tides and weather, storms and climate change. We are learning a lot and looking forward to going to the RDS!