Weather and Climate

Sunny, rainy, windy… How do scientists measure the weather? And how do they know what weather to expect next season? Let’s measure the weather, read weather data, and tell the weather from the climate.

This lesson takes about 10 minutes. You can take a break after each part.

Before you start

Weather and Climate

Learning objectives

  • I can name the tools that measure temperature, rain and wind.
  • I can use tables and bar graphs of weather data to tell the usual weather of a season.
  • I can tell the weather from the climate, and describe climates of different regions of the world.

Measuring the weather

Tools that measure

Scientists measure the weather with tools. A thermometer measures the temperature: how hot or cold the air is, in degrees.

A rain gauge collects rain to measure how much has fallen. An anemometer measures how fast the wind blows, and a wind vane shows where it comes from.

Five weather tools on posts in a garden: a thermometer, a rain gauge with some water in it, a spinning cup wind tool, a wind vane shaped like an arrow, and an orange and white windsock.
Scientists use tools to watch the weather: one tells how warm it is, one catches the rain, and three show the wind.
A thermometer on a wooden board, with five numbered labels. 1: the round bulb at the bottom, full of red liquid. 2: the red liquid inside the thin tube. 3: the top of the red liquid. 4: the scale on the left. 5: the scale on the right.
1 bulb · 2 liquid · 3 read here · 4-5 °F and °C scales

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Weather through the seasons

Tables and bar graphs

Every day at noon, a class writes the temperature in a table. Later, they draw a bar graph.

The data show patterns: in many places, summer is warm and winter is cold. So we can tell the usual weather of each season.

Four pictures in a row, each next to a thermometer. A glass of ice cubes, with the red liquid very low. A boy in a warm coat, with the liquid a little higher. A girl in a summer dress in the sun, with the liquid higher. A boy on a sunny beach, with the liquid near the top.
The colder it is, the lower the liquid in the thermometer; the warmer it is, the higher it goes.

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Weather or climate?

Today, or many years

The weather is what it is like outside right now: it can change from one hour to the next. The climate is the usual weather of a place, measured over many years.

Near the equator, it is hot and rainy all year; in deserts, it is very dry; near the poles, it is cold all year.

Two numbered pictures. 1: a boy at a window looks at the clock and wonders if it will rain or be sunny today; an umbrella and sunglasses lie on the table. 2: a boy packs a suitcase with warm and summer clothes, under a calendar of many months and a bar graph of the seasons.
1 Weather: what it is like outside right now, today. 2 Climate: the usual weather of a place, measured over many years.
A colored world map with five numbered pictures around it. 1 (red, around the equator): a rainforest with a river. 2 (yellow): a sandy desert with a few palm trees. 3 (light green, around the Mediterranean Sea): a sunny seaside town. 4 (dark green, in North America): forests, a lake and mountains. 5 (purple, near the poles): ice and snow.
1 hot and rainy all year · 2 hot and very dry · 3 hot dry summers, mild winters · 4 four seasons, with cold winters · 5 cold all year.

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Review game

Final assessment

To master the lesson, you need at least 60% correct answers.

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Summary

  • Scientists measure the weather with tools: thermometer (temperature), rain gauge (rain), anemometer (wind speed), wind vane (wind direction).
  • Weather data written in tables and bar graphs show patterns: the usual weather of each season.
  • The weather is what it is like today; the climate is the usual weather of a place over many years.
  • Regions of the world have different climates: hot and rainy near the equator, very dry in deserts, cold near the poles.

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