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Salem Clock Shop - 1085 Broadway Street NE, Salem, OR 97301 - (503) 581-3803 Fax: (503) 581-3331 |
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Learn how to keep records which can help in making future short range, local weather forecasts. |
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Charting The Weather |
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Now that you've got your weather station set up, you're ready to begin charting the weather. We have provided a printer-friendly Weather Data Sheet for you to print out. You can keep an entire month of data on just this one sheet. You might want to do this now so that you will have one in hand while reading this page.
Decide whether you will take readings once a day or twice a day. If you decide to take two readings daily, you will be able to record minimum and maximum temperatures and otherwise double the amount of data you are collecting. Data collection is at the heart of science (even very rough science)! If you will be making one set of observations per day, early morning is best. Twice a day; early morning and 4 or 5 in the afternoon (minimum and maximum temperatures).
Begin by filling in all the entries on the weather chart you can: date and time, current temperature, wind direction, and wind speed (still, breeze, light wind, and so on).
The first time you take readings at your station, be sure you leave the entry for the day's maximum/minimum temperatures blank. From then on, you will be filling in the blank from the previous day.
Record the barometric pressure and note whether it has been falling or rising. A simple arrow pointing up or down is easiest.
Check your hygrometer for the humidity and record it.
Check your wind vane and anemometer for wind speed and direction.
Check the rain gauge (or snow gauge) and empty it once a day. Reset it after you finish. Add the amount in the gauge (if any) to the previous day’s cumulative amount and record it as the new cumulative amount.
The last steps involve making observations. Rate the visibility from low to excellent, depending on how clearly you can see things at a distance. Rate the cloud cover from clear to partly cloudy to full cover. Finally, identify the kinds of clouds you see, if any, and their direction of travel.
Using the information you have gathered, you are ready to make your own forecasts, matching your talents against those of professionals.
Sit down with your forecast worksheet and begin putting the data that you have gathered together with all of the things that you have learned about high and low pressure areas, weather fronts, winds, clouds and so forth. With a little practice and experience you will be surprised at how well you can do. |