Kay Robertson - Stem Guides to Weather

Content Area Vocabulary:

Read the list. What do these words mean?

altitude
amount
atmosphere
condenses
hurricane
meteorologist
precipitation
temperature
tornadoes
troposphere

Before reading a book, it is important to tap into what your child or students already know about the topic. This will help them develop their vocabulary, increase their reading comprehension, and make connections across the curriculum.

Weather

Kay Robertson

2014 Rourke Educational Media

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

www.rourkeeducationalmedia.com

PHOTO CREDITS: Chee Ming Wong, : Vera Kuttelvaserova Stuchelova; page

Edited by: Jill Sherman

Cover design by Nicola Stratford

Interior design by Renee Brady

Library of Congress PCN Data

STEM Guides to Weather / Kay Robertson.

Rourke Educational Media
Printed in the United States of America,
North Mankato, Minnesota

rourkeeducationalmedia.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

Have you ever watched the news on television? If so, you may have seen a give a weather report.

If you listened to your local meteorologists carefully, you probably heard them use numbers to describe amounts of rain or snow, the intensity of an approaching storm, and, of course, the temperature.

And where there are numbers, there is math!

Believe it or not, a meteorologist has to use math every day to determine what all those numbers mean. After youve read this book, youll understand what they mean, too!

Every day, meteorologists analyze and interpret a vast amount of data such as the rotating updraft in a supercell thunderstorm.

Technology gives meteorologists access to incredible amounts of weather data as they prepare for the news.

Learning About the Atmosphere

A meteorologist is a scientist who studies the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a layer of gases that surrounds a planet.

There are actually several layers to the Earths atmosphere, but the lowest layer, the one that contains all the gases we depend on to live, is called the .

Like everything to do with weather, the height of the troposphere is always changing.

What meteorologists refer to as weather, including the temperature, rainfall, and storms, is all a thanks to the atmosphere. But the troposphere is where all weather takes place.

STEM in Action ?

Generally speaking, the average height of the troposphere around the world is 6 miles. Do you know how many feet that is?

There are 5,280 feet in one mile. To find out how many feet there are in 6 miles, you need to multiply:

5,280 6 = 31,680

So you can also say that the troposphere reaches 31,680 feet into the air. Thats pretty high!

The highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, reaches up 29,028 feet (8.85 meters).

Cirrus clouds

Cumulus clouds

Stratus clouds

It is also within the troposphere that you can find clouds. Clouds are actually made of millions of little drops of water. Most of the time, the water in the air is in a , or changes from vapor to liquid.

There are three basic types of clouds: cirrus, cumulus, and stratus. The cloud type you are probably most familiar with are cumulus clouds. Cumulus clouds are big, puffy clouds. Stratus clouds are layered and flat, and cirrus clouds are thin and wispy.

Along with the three basic types of clouds, there are also clouds that are combinations of different types of clouds. Cirrostratus clouds are a combination of cirrus and stratus clouds.

You already know that clouds can be found in the air, but each type of cloud exists at a different altitude.

STEM in Action ?

Using this data, can you calculate how much higher up a cirrus cloud is compared with a stratus cloud?