UP:SC15.ESS.15

Vocabulary

  • weather
  • air temperature
  • humidity
  • fronts
  • air pressure
  • storms
  • precipitation
  • wind direction
  • wind speed
  • air masses
  • barometer
  • thermometer
  • anemometer
  • wind vane
  • rain gauge
  • psychrometer
  • front
  • warm front
  • cold front
  • air mass
  • highs
  • lows
  • isobar
  • tornado
  • lightning
  • thunder
  • hurricane
  • climate zone
  • temperate
  • tropical
  • polar

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a given place and time.
  • Weather and climate are shaped by complex interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things.
  • Energy is redistributed globally through ocean currents and also through atmospheric circulation.
  • Sunlight heats Earth's surface, which in turn heats the atmosphere.
  • Temperature patterns, together with the Earth's rotation and the configuration of continents and oceans, control the large-scale patterns of atmospheric circulation.
  • Winds gain energy and water vapor content as they cross hot ocean regions, which can lead to tropical storms.
  • Prediction Center maps provide weather forecasts and climate patterns based on analyses of observational data.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Analyze data in patterns to predict the outcome of an event.
  • Analyze data models to predict outcome of an event.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns.
  • Weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings protect life and property.
  • Weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings protect life and property.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Analyzing and Interpreting Data; Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns; Systems and System Models; Energy and Matter
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