Weather Instruments

Adam, Hap, and Dailey

Thermometer

A thermometer measures the air temperature in degrees. You can measure the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit. They are usually glass and are filled with either alcohol or mercury. When the air heats up, the liquid expands and rises up the tube.

Barometer

A barometer measures air pressure. It tells if the air pressure is rising or falling. If it’s rising, it is sunny and clear. If it’s falling, it is stormy and wet. On the barometer it says the humidity in percent, the temperature and if it’s fair or rainy.

Radar

Radar was not invented to detect weather. During WWII England tried to track German planes and they tracked the clouds and rain too.

Radar sends out radio waves and the rain droplets reflect them. Depending on when it reaches the radar they know how far away it is.

Doppler radar is being used by scientists to help us learn more about weather.

Doppler radar can see the movement of the raindrops and can tell which way they are moving.

Satellites

Satellites have made tracking weather much more accurate over the years.

They show us where the clouds are and can measure the temperature of the ground, clouds, air and water.

The satellite picture you would usually see on TV is GOES(Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite)8 and GOES 9.

The GOES Satellite is 35,000 km over the Earth and the shuttle goes about 500 km over the earth.

Satellites made tracking storms very far away easier.

Windsocks

A windsock is a weather instrument used for measuring wind speed and direction. It is used by pointing it in the opposite direction of the wind. The angle of the sock depends on how fast the wind is blowing. It will be fully extended when the wind reaches 17 mph.

Anemometer

An anemometer is an instrument that tells you how fast the wind is blowing. Anemometers will be able to accurately measure how fast the wind is blowing. It can't give you an exact wind speed.

Hygrometer

A hygrometer measures humidity. One of the simplest hygrometers is a sling psychomotor. It is made with one ordinary thermometer and the other is a wet bulb thermometer. When a reading is being taken, the cloth is dipped in water and then the it’s whirled around. While it is being spun, the water evaporates from the wick, cooling the wet-bulb thermometer. Then the temperatures of both thermometers are read. If the surrounding air is dry, more moisture evaporates from the wick, cooling the wet-bulb thermometer so there is a greater difference between the temperatures of the two thermometers. If the surrounding air is holding as much moisture as possible then the relative humidity is 100% then there is no difference between the two temperatures.

Rain Gauge

Rain gauge measures the amount of rain that has fallen over a certain place by letting the rain fall into a tube where a floating bobber rises with the amount of rain that comes in from the top.

Weather Maps

Weather maps indicate atmospheric conditions above a large portion of the Earth’s surface. Meteorologists use weather maps to forecast the weather. It tells you the temperature, where the clouds are and if it will be sunny or rainy.

Weather Balloons

Weather balloons tell you which way the wind is blowing and how fast it’s blowing. It tells you how fast by its angle and trajectory. It tells which way the wind is blowing by blowing in the opposite direction from where the wind is coming.

Conclusion

Weather instruments like thermometers, barometers, radar, satellites, windsocks, anemometers, hygrometers, rain gauge, weather maps, and weather balloons are important to meteorologists by telling them climate, temperature and much more!

Bibliography

http://www.wildwildweather.com/radar.html http://www.wildwildweather.com/satellit.htmhttp://www.mapsofworld.com/referrals/weather/

meteorology/windsock.html

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-instruments.html

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/anemometer.html