• Tessellations
• General Math
• Fractions/Decimals
• Geometry
• Algebra
• Calculus
• Statistics
• Fractals
• Patterns in Art
• Musical Patterns
• Literary Patterns
• Patterns in Nature
• Weather Patterns
• Animal Migration

Weather is something that everyone talks about. Its patterns affect our daily lives in small ways. Its patterns can also affect humans positively or negatively in large scale, catastrophic or economic ways.

Sample some of the following activities to learn more about weather patterns.

Places To Go

The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out about weather patterns.

National Climatic Data Center
Visit the National Climatic Data Center. It's the world's largest archive of weather data.

National Hurricane Center
Float over to the National Hurricane Center and see the latest satellite imagery and read the aircraft reconnaissance reports for up-to-date hurricane information.

Franklin Institute: Like the Moon
Visit a weather satellite in cyberspace and learn how satellites have changed weather observation and forecasting.

Lightning Strikes
Virtually visit the locations in the United States where lightning strikes have occurred in the past two hours.

Atacama Desert
Travel to one of the driest places on earth, the Atacama Desert in Chile. Because of weather patterns from the nearby Pacific Ocean, there are portions of this desert where rain has virtually never been recorded. A weather phenomenon called rainshadow also contributes to this desert's lack of moisture. Find out more about rainshadow.

Virtual Tour - South Pole
Spend time at a location with unique weather patterns. The highest ever recorded temperature at the south pole was 3 degrees Fahrenheit. The south pole is considered to be a desert because it only receives 8-10 inches of snow each year. Discover more unique conditions found at the south pole. Compare these conditions and the weather patterns that cause them to those at the north pole.

NASA : Goddard DAAC
Travel to Hawaii and learn how weather patterns pick up dust from China and carry it across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. Find out how this dust benefits the ocean and the land on which it falls. Then travel to the tropical rainforests of South America and also to Florida to learn about how they benefit from the dust that travels across the Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara Desert in northern Africa.

Dan's Wild Wild Weather Page
Spend some time with meteorologist, Dan Satterfield, and

Ask Jack
Send your questions about climate and weather to Ask Jack. You can also browse through the archives or previously asked questions and answers.

Punxsutawney Phil
Meet Punxsutawney Phil. He is an expert on weather patterns and predictions.

UEN: Weather Resources
In addition to accessing a wide variety of weather related Internet resources and online games, students can visit the Online Cloud Guide to access a collection of images which illustrate the different cloud types.

El Niño Theme Page
Figure out the difference between El Niño and La Niña. How can these two weather patterns affect worldwide economy?

USA Today : Understanding Lightning
Learn about the weather patterns that create lightning. Find out how lightning reaches the ground, how it creates thunder, what happens when lightning hits a person, how to use thunder to estimate lightning distance, what safety precautions to take in a lightning storm, and more. When lightning strikes, it can heat the air around it up to 60,000 degrees Fahrenheit which is more than ten times the temperature of the surface of the sun.

World Weather Watch
Register your class to particpate in this great weather project.

Farmers Almanac
Thumb through the old Farmer's Almanac. It has been around since 1793 and is still going strong! Use the "Today in Weather History" to try and spot global weather trends.

Deciphering Mysteries of Past Climate From Antarctic Ice Cores
Discover how scientists are studying ancient weather patterns by examining layers of sediment that accumulated over thousands of years in ice and rock.

Coriolis Effect
Find out about the Coriolis effect which causes tornadoes in the northern hemisphere to rotate in a counterclockwise direction and tornadoes in the southern hemisphere to rotate in a clockwise direction.

Rice
Human existence can said to be dependent on weather patterns. For instance, rice is a major, staple food item for 60% of the world's population. Over 90% of the world's production of rice is occurs in east Asia. Have students predict the worldwide consequences of rice crop failure due to unfavorable weather conditions in Asia. Identify other food crops whose failure could affect worldwide populations.

Online activities are a listing of internet sites with fun, interesting, and educational tasks attached to each one. (You can learn how to use this WWW Activities tool created by UEN for Utah educators).

• Weather Hotlist
• Hurricanes
• Tornadoes
• Groundhog's Day
• Groundhog's Day Hotlist
• Storms

Virtual Field Trips are teacher and student-created tours of curricular topics. (You can learn how to use this UEN Virtual Field Trip tool created by UEN for Utah educators).

• Clouds

 Lesson Plans/Webquests

• UEN - Temperature Graphing
• UEN - Gathering Weather Information
• UEN - What's the Weather?
• UEN - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Energy and Science Projects - Greenhouse Effect
• Weekly Weather Charts
• What’s Up with the Weather?
• Sun’s Impact on Earth’s Temperature
• Weathering the Odds: Learning About Weather Forecasting in the Science Classroom
• Weathering the Weather: Exploring the Effects of Global Warming on Your Community
• Weather Patterns
• Project Global Weather Webquest

• Bramwell, Martyn. Weather. New York : Franklin Watts, c1994.
• Bundey, Nikki. Ice and the Earth. Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, 2000.
• Casey, Denise. Weather Everywhere. New York : Macmillan Books for Young Readers, c1995.
• Cosgrove, Brian. Weather. New York : Dorling Kindersley, 2000.
• Cosgrove, Brian. The World of Weather. Shrewsbury, England : Swan Hill Press ; Stillwater, MN : Distributed in the U.S. by Voyageur Press, c1997.
• Craig, M. Jean. Questions and Answers About Weather. New York : Scholastic, 1996.
• Eden, Philip. Weather Facts. London ; New York : Dorling Kindersley, 1995.
• Goldstein, Mel. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weather. New York : Alpha Books, c1999.
• Humphrey, Paul. Weather. London ; New York : Children's Press, 1997.
• Kahl, Jonathan D. Weather Watch : Forecasting the Weather. Minneapolis : Lerner Publications, c1996.
• Kerrod, Robin. Weather. New York : Lorenz Books, 1997.
• Morgan, Sally. Changing Climate. New York : Franklin Watts, 1999.
• Owen, Andy. Watching the Weather. Des Plaines, Ill. : Heinemann Library, 1999.
• Reynolds, Ross. Cambridge Guide to Weather. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, c2000.
• Silverstein, Alvin. Weather and Climate. Brookfield, Conn. : Twenty-First Century Books, c1998.
• Stevens, William K. The Change in the Weather : People, Weather, and the Science of Climate. New York : Delacorte Press, c1999.
• Taylor, Barbara. Weather and Climate. New York : Kingfisher Books, 1993.
• Watts, Alan. The Weather Handbook. Dobbs Ferry, NY : Sheridan House, 1999.