Contents

The Weather Forecast.

What is Weather?
How do we Measure Weather?
What Affects Britains Weather and Climate?
Global Temperatures.
Climate Graphs.

The Weather Forecast!

Most people watch the weather forecast
everyday but do we really know how
they gather all the information?!

What is weather?
Weather is:

What is climate?
Climate is:

Scotland!

How do we measure weather?

Temperature
Air temperature is
measured using maximum minumium thermometers.
Each temperature is read
from the bottom of the
marker.
Q: What would the
temperatures be on this
thermometer?
A: Minimum = 9C, Maximum = 22C

Temperature.
Thermometers are housed in a
Stevenson Screen. These are
always off the ground and
painted white!
Q: Why are thermometers kept
there? Why is it white?

A: It provides shelter from wind, rain, snow

and animals. The white colour reflects the
sunlight so heat doesnt build up inside the
box.

Precipitation.
Precipitation is any
moisture that comes from
the atmosphere (rain,
snow, hail).
The amount of
precipitation is measured
using a rain gauge.

Q: Where do you think would be best to place a rain

gauge? Beside a building or in an open space?

Sunshine hours.
Sunshine

Glass Ball

The total amount of

sunshine in a day
is measured using
a sunshine
recorder.
The suns rays
travel through the
glass ball and burn
marks onto the
Strip of
card behind it.
card

Air Pressure.
Air pressure is
measured using a
barometer and
recorded using a
barograph.
It is measured in
millibars (mb).
Average air pressure is
1000 mb

Barometer

Wind.
Wind is measured in two ways with two instruments:
1. Wind Direction Wind Vane
2. Wind Speed Anemometer

Wind Vane: the arrow

points in the direction that
the wind is coming from.

Anemometer: the stronger the

wind the faster the caps turn.
The number of turns in a given
time gives us the wind speed in
knots.

Cloud cover.
Cloud cover is
measured just by using
our eyes.
You look at the sky and
decide how cloudy it is
and estimate how
many eigths of the sky
are covered.
Cloud cover is
measured in oktas.
You also get different
types of clouds.

What affects Britains Weather &

Climate?
The British
Weather and
Climate has lots
of different factors
which affect it.

So why exactly
do we get so
much rain?

Where is Britain found?

Britain lies
between 50 and
60 degrees North.
These are cool,
temperate
latitudes.
The British climate
is referred to as a
Cool Temperate
Maritime Climate.

The Gulf stream

also plays an
important role in the
British climate.

The Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream
distributes heat
from the equator
north towards
Northern Europe
and importantly the
UK.
This helps to give
Britain its mild
climate.

Global temperatures

doinyou
all the
places
TheWhat
further
landnotice
you goabout
the hotter
it gets
in the
along
the dotted
Summer and
the colder
it getsline?
in the Winter!

Showing differences in
temperature.
Temperatures
are shown
using
isotherms.
These lines
join up places
with the same
temperature.

Once all the places of similar

temperatures are joined together and
shaded in a map like this is created!

What else affects the British

weather?
High, mountainous areas
interrupt the flow of warm,
moist air from the sea.
This air is forced upwards
and so cools and
condenses to form rain
clouds. This is known as
Relief Rainfall.
Q: Where do you think the most
rainfall will occur. The east coast
or the west coast? Why?

Relief rainfall
This in turn
causes rain!
High land
forces the air
upwards where
it cools and the
water vapour
condenses
Warm, moist air
forming clouds.
blows in from
the Atlantic

Relief rainfall
This in turn
causes rain!

High land
forces the air
upwards where
it cools and the
water vapour
condenses
forming clouds.
Warm, moist air
blows in from
the Atlantic

Convectional rainfall
1. The sun
heats the
ground.
3. Water vapor
rapidly rises, cools
2. The hot ground heats
the lowest air and the
water from the ground
is evaporated.

and condenses.

Frontal rainfall
Water vapor
condenses forming
clouds and
bringing rain.

Warm, moist air is

forced up over the
denser cool air.

Why are some areas hotter than

others?

Suns
energy

Polar areas are cold

because the suns rays
hit the earth at a slant
so the suns energy is
less concentrated.
Tropical areas are hot
because the suns rays
hit the earth at right
angles near the
equator so the suns
energy is
concentrated.

Why do we get seasons?

N

MARCH
The Sun is overhead at
the Equator.

S
JULY
The Sun is overhead at the
Tropic of Cancer, 23N

DECEMBER
The Sun is overhead at the
Tropic of Capricorn, 23S

SUN

SEPTEMBER
The Sun is overhead at
the Equator.

Climate Graphs.
Climate graphs
show two different
things average
monthly rainfall
& average
monthly
temperatures.
How do you draw
a climate graph?

A bar-chart is drawn to
show the average monthly
rainfall.

A line graph is then added to

show average monthly
temperatures.

Months

Rainfall (mm)

Temperature
(C)

Drawing a climate graph.

Draw a climate graph!

The person nearest the window is to draw the climate graph
for Inverness the person nearest the door is to draw the
climate graph for Stornoway!

TV symbol meanings

Synoptic chart symbols

Mist

Fog

Thunder Drizzle Rain Heavy

rain

Snow Heavy
snow

Hail

Shower

Air Masses
An air mass is a large parcel of air that
has certain characteristics, depending on
where they originally came from.

What air masses affect Britain?

Britain is affected by five air masses :

Polar Maritime (mP)

Tropical Maritime (mT)
Polar Continental (cP)
Arctic Maritime (mA)
Tropical Continental (cT)

Each of the air masses brings a different type of

weather, because each one originally formed over
the land or sea, in a warm or cold part of the
world.

Enquiry Skills
In the exam you could be asked how you
would either gather or process weather
data.
How would you gather information on :

Processing Techniques
The tables on the next slide show climate data
for Glasgow and Stornoway airports.
Choose a processing technique for each of the
weather elements and explain how you would
use these techniques to compare the data from
the two airports.
The technique I would use is
I chose this technique because

Weather Data