What Is Weather Forecasting?

What Is Weather Forecasting? — page 1 — WHAT SHOULD I WEAR TODAY The weather on Earth is always changing Some patterns like our seasons are predictable They come and go at the same times each year Other patterns and events change often Meteorology is a ﬁeld of science that studies the changes in weather on a day-to-day basis in a speciﬁc place Scientists who study meteorology are called meteorologists Here a meteorologist uses a special symbol on a map to show the path a storm might take This helps warn people about the storm 4

What Is Weather Forecasting? — page 2 — Using past history patterns and various measurement tools meteorologists can tell whether it will rain or snow and whether it will be warm or cold These scientists are able to tell people what the weather will be like anywhere in the world This is called forecasting Climatology is the study of climate Climate is the average weather conditions of a particular place or region over a period of years Climatologists observe and study weather patterns on Earth over a long period of time Weather forecasters use maps to help people understand upcoming weather conditions for the days and weeks ahead In what ways are weather and climate different How are they the same COMPARE AND CONTRAST 5

What Is Weather Forecasting? — page 3 — WHAT IS WEATHER Weather is the daily state of the atmosphere in any given place The atmosphere is made up of the gases that surround Earth Weather takes place in the lowest level of the atmosphere To most of us the weather means things like it is hot and sunny outside or it is cold and rainy To a meteorologist the weather is a combination of certain Most of Earth’s weather including the wind and most clouds exists in the lowest level of the atmosphere 6

What Is Weather Forecasting? — page 4 — features A meteorologist can watch and measure those features to tell what will happen with the weather The main features that make up the weather are temperature air pressure wind speed and direction humidity and precipitation Temperature is a measurement of how hot or cold the air is Energy from the Sun heats the air on Earth But the energy from the Sun does not reach all parts of Earth equally or at the same time So some areas are warmer than others Colors are often used on weather maps to highlight areas of higher red or lower blue temperature ranges 7

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