How do we measure weather?*

Question 1

What is used to measure wind speed and what is is measured in?

Answer 1

-Anemometer
-Handheld anemometers/In weather stations on a 10m pole
-High to avoid buildings/creates wind tunnels
-Measures in knots,kph,mph

Question 2

What is used to measure wind direction and what is it measured in?

Answer 2

-Wind Vanes
-In weather stations (mounted on the same pole to anemometer)
-They use compass points to determine the direction of the wind
-The arrow points in the direction the wind has come from/what weather to expect
-compass points

Question 3

What is used to measure sunshine/sunlight?

Answer 3

-Sunshine Recorder
-Records the amount of sunshine in a day
-Units are hours
-Glass balls with a metal frame behind it, attached to the frame is a piece of waxed card with a scale
-It magnifies the sun’s rays so the heat burns a mark along the card
-Mounted on a pillar away from the ground/away from objects that may shade them

Question 4

What is used to measure precipitation?

Answer 4

-Rain Gauge
-A vessel with increments marked on it in millimetres
-Some have splash guards or mounted eye levels.
-Prevents precipitation bouncing up
-Its measured in ml so we know if it’ll just create puddles or flood banks and roads

Question 5

What is used to measure temperature?

Answer 5

-Maximum and Minimum Thermometers
-Units are degrees celsius(centigrade)
-Mercury in the thermometers moves in response to changing temperatures
A metal pin is pushed up to show it every day. It is read from the bottom of the pin

Question 6

What is used to measure humidity?

Answer 6

-Wet and Dry Bulb Thermometer
-In the stevenson screen
- 2 thermometers one is normal and the other with wet lint is attached to a bulb and a small wet reservoir to keep it damp
Will show different readings
-Difference between 2 readings is calculated and a special scale is used to calculate the percentage of moisture is present in the air
%

Question 6

What protects thermometers?

Answer 6

-The Stevenson Screen
-A white box with slatted sides
-White reflects heat preventing the thermometers getting too hot for inaccurate readings
-The slatted sides allow air to circulate around the thermometers
-Mounted 1 meter off the ground to reduce effects of gravity

Question 6

What is used to measure cloud cover?

Answer 6

-Satellites, Radar and Meteorologists Eyes
-Radar: where cloud is forming and direction it travels
-Satellites: show it too(weather forecast)
In lots of weather stations ME do observation.
-Amount of cloud cover is calculated as a fraction (2 eights or 2 oktas)

Question 7

What is used to measure air pressure and what is it?

Answer 7

• Air pressure is the weight of the air squeezing down onto the Earth’s surface
  -The more air that is pushing down, the higher the air pressure
  -Measured in millibars(mb) barometer
  -Lower pressure the higher the wind