Originally published in The Technology Teacher, May/June 2002, by the International Technology Education Association

Become a Weather Wizard!

is going to happen in the next 12 to 24 hours. If
its a hurricane about to come ashore on the east
coast of the U.S., 12 hours warning can save
hundreds of lives, giving people the opportunity to
evacuate inland or go to higher ground. Of course,
it is very important that such warnings be highly
accurate, or people wont pay any attention to
them. They will think that the weather forecasters
are just crying Wolf! one more time.
On TV weather reports, youve probably seen
weather forecasters point to maps and use terms
like cold front, high-pressure system, barometric pressure, and jet stream to describe the
major trends and weather systems influencing our
entire continent. In addition to showing satellite
images of clouds, TV forecasters and newspapers
sometimes uses lines and symbols on a map to
help convey this big picture. Of course, this map
of an area over 3,000 miles wide and just about as
long will not tell you whether it is snowing right
this second in downtown St. Paul or hailing in east
North Hampton. It will tell you what kind of
weather each of those local places is most likely
having.

In some placesmaybe where you live

weather is a very important part of planning,
especially leisure time planning. For example, in
looking forward to your weekend, wouldnt it be
nice to know it was going to be sunny and clear on
Saturday, but rain buckets on Sunday? That way,
youd have a good reason for putting pleasure
before business, planning something fun outdoors
for Saturday and your homework for Sunday.
Weather is just
about the most
complex and
unpredictable
natural occurrence
humans have to
deal with. However, predicting
weather is finally
getting to be less
of an art and more
of a science. Using
images and other
data from the
GOES* environmental satellites and other kinds of
sensing technologies, and computers to analyze the
data, scientists are beginning to make some sense
of it all. For example, thanks in part to real-time
(meaning right this second) information from the
GOES, meteorologists (scientists who study the
weather) have gotten very good at predicting what
* For Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites

Lets learn to read one of these mapsor

even draw one. First, we need to understand a
little about what the symbols mean. Here are the
most common weather concepts you will see
illustrated on a weather map. Theres a whole lot
more to know about all these ideas, but these
explanations may get you started.
High and L
ow P
e Ar
eas
Low
Prressur
essure
Areas
eas:
Did you realize that you have hundreds of
pounds of air pushing on your body all the time?
Of course, your body evolved under all this pressure, so you can handle it! (Thats why astronauts
need pressurized space suits to do their space
walks. Otherwise, theyd explode!well, not
really, but their blood would boil, which is just as
unpleasant.) All the air above you in the atmosphere is being held near Earths surface by grav1

Originally published in The Technology Teacher, May/June 2002, by the International Technology Education Association

ity, just like everything else that doesnt float off

into space. For every square centimeter of Earths
surface, the atmosphere above it, all the way up to
space, weighs about 1.03 kilograms, which exerts
a normal sea level pressure on you of 14.7 pounds
per square inch! Earths atmosphere extends up
more than 150 kilometers (more than 100 miles),
but half of it is in the lowest 5.5 kilometers (3.3
miles).

Barometric Pressure:
Barometric pressure means the same thing as
atmospheric pressure, but it is an actual measurement taken with an instrument called a barometer.
Barometers may measure pressure in atmospheres
(atm), inches of Mercury (Hg), millibars (mb), or
other units. Weather forecasters on TV usually use
Hg, while meteorologists usually use mb. Normal atmospheric pressure at sea level is defined as
1 atm, which corresponds to 29.92 Hg or 1013.25
mb. Barometric pressure readings are taken at
many locations by the National Weather Service
and combined to produce maps showing high and
low pressure areas, thus helping to predict what the
weather will do over large regions in the immediate future.

So, all these interesting statistics aside, the

point is, air exerts pressure because of its weight.

But it also exerts pressure because of its temperature. Molecules of air are in constant motion,
bumping against each other and bouncing off in all
directions. The warmer the air, the more active its
molecules and the more pressure it exerts (provided its container doesnt expand).

Isobars:

Thus, because of gravity, the atmosphere near

the surface is heaviest, especially when it is
cold, and would seem to exert the most pressure.
But because of heat energy, the molecules of
warmer air push out in all directions, serving to
increase pressure. The important thing is, air does
not exert the exact same amount of pressure
everywhere. And from this fact, comes a lot of
weather!

If many barometric pressure readings are

taken and recorded on a map, and then the readings that match are connected by a line, you have
an isobar. Maps showing isobars are very useful in
locating areas of high and low pressure, which, in
turn, help predict which way the air masses are and
will be moving. This moving air is also what we
call wind, and wind drives the major weather
surface features, such as highs, lows, and fronts,
which, in turn affect weather.

Remember this: Air tends to move from high

pressure areas to low pressure areas.
The pressure difference between two points
is called a pressure gradient. The force that moves
the air from high to low pressure areas is called the
pressure gradient force.
It is common for high pressure areas to have
fair weather.
2

Originally published in The Technology Teacher, May/June 2002, by the International Technology Education Association

Warm Front:

Jet Stream:

A warm front is the transition area where a

mass of warm air is moving in to replace a mass of
cold air. But, the pressure gradient force isnt the
only force acting to move air. Other forces come
in and really complicate things. The biggest stirrer
of the atmospheric soup is Earths rotation. It
causes the air north of the equator to tend to curve
toward the right and the air south of the equator to
curve to the left. This movement, of both air and
oceans, is called the Coriolis effect.

Jet streams are fairly narrow bands of very

high speed winds in the upper atmosphere. They
generally blow from west to east. Strong temperature differences cause great pressure differences
(gradients) at high altitudes. These winds can
reach 150 miles per hour or more. You can see
why airline pilots flying across country from west
to east like to take just the right route and fly at
just the right altitude to get a kick in the tail (and
save lots of fuel) from the jet streamand why
flying east to west, they try to avoid it!
Rain, snow, ice, and thunderstorms:
These terms need little explanation. These
conditions are the end products of which we are all
too aware! These forms of precipitation (water
falling from the sky) result from the pressure
gradients, cold fronts, and warm fronts, as well as
ocean temperatures and currents, and a few dozen
other factors.

Find Out More

So with air moving in curves, interference

(friction) from such obstacles as mountains, trees,
and buildings, plus the heating and cooling of the
atmosphere from day to night, you can begin to see
why predicting the weather isnt easy!

The United States has the wildest, most

extreme weather of any country on Earth. Learn
more about how weather works by reading this
book . . .
The Weather Book: An Easy-to-understand Guide
to the USAs Weather, by Jack Williams, published by USA Today.

Warm fronts usually move from southwest to

northeast, bringing higher humidity. Warm fronts
are usually drawn on a weather map using a solid
red line, with half-circles on the side that points
toward the cold air being replaced.

. . . and by visiting these websites:

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) website, http://www.noaa.gov/

Cold Front:

The University of Illinois Online Guides: Meteorology, http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/

guides/mtr/home.rxml

A cold front is the transition area where a

mass of cold, dense (high pressure) air is moving
in to replace warmer air. Cold fronts typically
move from northwest to southeast. When a cold
front passes through, the temperature can drop 15
F in an hour. A cold front is represented on a
weather map by a solid line (usually blue), with
triangles pointing toward the warm air it is replacing.

NOAAs GOES Satellites home page,

http://www.oso.noaa.gov/goes/ .
USA Today Weather, http://www.usatoday.com/
weather/wfront.htm .
GOES Project Science page, http://
rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/goes/text/hotstuff.html .
3

Originally published in The Technology Teacher, May/June 2002, by the International Technology Education Association

Activity

Weather Day 4:
High pressure will promote mostly sunny skies, dry
conditions and locally gusty winds across the Southwestern states today. A few showers, however, will
dampen the Pacific Northwest, with areas of rain and
snow occurring above the central Rocky Mountains.
Low pressure, coupled with an associated frontal
system, will trigger scattered showers from the eastern
Great Lakes to the central Appalachians. Another low
south of this storm will set off scattered showers and
thunderstorms over the central and southern plains.
Partly cloudy skies will continue to cover the Eastern
Seaboard.
L.A. Times, October 12, 2001

Make photocopies of the map of North

America on the next page. You will be drawing
weather symbols on a copy of the map. Pick one
of the weather situations described in the paragraphs below (quoted or adapted from reports in
the Los Angeles Times) and using the symbols
shown on the maps legend, draw a U.S. weather
map for that day. After youve done a few of
these, those TV and newspaper weather maps
should look much more interesting!

Weather Day 5:

Weather Day 1:
High pressure strengthening over the eastern Pacific
will maintain mostly sunny skies along much of the West
Coast today. An area of low pressure will curve
northward into Canada, creating cloudy skies above the
Pacific Northwest. An upper-level disturbance cruising
through the Southwest will trigger scattered rain and
mountain snow showers, while low pressure developing
east of the Rockies produces rain and snow through
much of the Plains. Partly cloudy skies will cover the
Great Lakes region and most of the Northeast. Thunderstorms will rattle parts of the Southeast.
L.A. Times, March 11, 2001

Mostly cloudy skies, light rain showers and higherelevation snowfall will prevail along the West Coast
from Central California northward today as a . . . [low
pressure system] pushes in from the eastern Pacific.
Skies will become cloudy over the northern Rockies,
remaining partly cloudy to the south. High pressure will
keep the Plains and the Midwest mostly sunny and
warmer as winds become southerly. A few showers may
develop in Texas. Mostly sunny skies, windy and cool
conditions will continue through the Northeast, while
sunny skies and mild weather grace much of the
Southeast.
L.A. Times, November 11, 2001

Weather Day 2:

Weather Day 6:

Warm and humid air spilling northward from the Gulf

of Mexico will combine with a warm front to trigger
widely scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms
across the Southeast today. Clouds will linger over
western Washington; otherwise, mostly sunny skies and
locally breezy conditions will prevail through the West.
The Rockies will remain dry, except for a chance of
afternoon storms in the southern sections. Sunny, dry
weather will continue in the Midwest. A low-pressure
system will produce showers and storms from the midAtlantic states to the lower Mississippi Valley.
L.A. Times, July 29, 2001

Low pressure above northeast Canada will swing a

cold front over the entire East Coast today, causing rain
and cooler conditions along the region, and afternoon
snow in western New England. High pressure ridging
over the Pacific Northwest will maintain sunny to partly
cloudy and seasonable conditions through much of the
West. Snow showers may still fall in the north Rockies,
while sunny, cool weather prevails in the Plains in the
wake of the system that moved into the East. Thunderstorms may erupt in Florida. Jet stream curving south
from over western Canada and into Montana. Also, jet
stream curving northeast from New Mexico up over New
England.
L.A. Times, March 3, 2002

Weather Day 3:
A low-pressure system . . . will slide down into the
Southeast today, drenching much of the region with
locally heavy showers and thunderstorms. The West
Coast will continue to bask under sunny skies and
seasonable conditions. Late-summer monsoonal
moisture will produce partly cloudy skies and isolated
afternoon storms over the Rockies and the Southwest. A
cold front will advance into the Upper Midwest,
triggering scattered showers and storms across the
Plains and western Great Lakes. High pressure will
promote sunny skies through the Northeast.
L.A. Times, September 2, 2001

This article was written by Diane Fisher, writer and

designer of The Space Place website. Alex Novati did the
illustrations. Thanks to Thomas Wrublewski and Ron Gird of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for
technical help. The article was provided through the courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, California, under a contract with the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Originally published in The Technology Teacher, May/June 2002, by the International Technology Education Association