Elementary meteorology and atmosphere lesson plans.

Good weather and atmosphere lesson plans begin with basic elements of meteorology. What kinds of things? Elements such as temperature and pressure.

What is so important about air pressure?

A warm front in red and a cold front in blue. The arrowheads show typical wind directions in a situation like this.

Isobaric analysis help forecasters identify major features such as surface highs, lows, ridges and troughs. What are they all about? Lows are places where cloud patterns and fronts lie consistently.

How does this work? They draw isobars, connecting points with equal pressure and do so for several levels until they get a pattern like the one in the drawing above.

Design the first of your atmosphere lesson plans by showing your students how to do this. The pattern could look like the thin dark curves above with a central low or high value.

Meteorologists rely on pressure maps and use them throughout their work.

Here is your chance to see how to build your own website like this!

Remember the key differences between highs and lows? We often see clear skies and light winds with highs and ridges, stretched-out highs, while lows and troughs are commonly associated with clouds and precipitation – typical low air pressure weather.

It's more complicated than that and the people who do this study a great deal of physics to understand the processes. Air rises higher from the ground in areas of lower pressure and then cools, causing clouds to form. The opposite happens in higher-pressure areas, suppressing cloud formation.

Have a look at this list of teaching ideas.

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