PPhysicsGeographyS2 to S5Meteorology

Meteorology lab: a school weather station

Farmers, pilots and schools all need weather forecasts. Read the instruments of a school weather station and make your own forecast.

▶ Start the lab 🧠 Questions 📄 My report

LevelS2 to S5 (and IGCSE)

TimeAbout 35 min

You useMeans, ranges, humidity, pressure

PriceFree: no account

🎯 Aim

To use data from a school weather station to calculate humidity, dew point and cloud height, and to relate pressure changes to rainfall.

You will learn to

Calculate means, totals and ranges of weather data.
Find relative humidity from wet and dry bulb readings.
Estimate the cloud base from the dew point.
Relate falling pressure to rain.

🧭 What to do

Choose Mon and read the two thermometers and the humidity.
Move the Wet-bulb thermometer: what happens to the humidity?
Go through the days and watch the pressure and the forecast.
Compare the pressure line and the rain bars on the graph.
Answer the questions with the class data.
Write your conclusion and download your lab report.

🔬 Lab bench

📋 The data

One week of readings at a school weather station (example data).

🧠 Investigate: answer from the data

Type your answer and tap Check. Use 💡 Hint first; open the method only when you are stuck.

📄 My lab report

Your report collects the aim, your data table, the graphs, your answers and your conclusion. It is made on your phone or computer: nothing is sent to anyone.

My conclusion

Check your conclusion

Water evaporating from the wet bulb cools it, so a big difference between the thermometers means dry air and low humidity. The dew point is the temperature at which the air becomes saturated; clouds form where rising air cools to its dew point, about 125 m higher for each degree between temperature and dew point. Falling pressure came before the rainy days and rising pressure before dry days.

➕ Get more from this experiment

📝 Free

Print the worksheet (button above), download the data, and save your report. Teachers can project this page in class.

📦 Premium Lab Pack

1 000 RWF

Practical worksheet: build a rain gauge and a wet-and-dry thermometer
Weather data analysis
Teacher guide and answer key
Exam-style questions with marking scheme

See the pack

👩‍🏫 For teachers

Use it as a practical when apparatus is missing, as homework, or as a project. Free lesson plans help you plan, teach and assess.

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