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The ‘Weather Watchers’ in Cumbria keep a weekly record of various aspects of the weather. They use a thermometer to measure the air temperature, an anemometer to measure the wind speed, a weather vane and compass to work out the direction of the wind, and a rain gauge to measure rainfall. They then record all their results on a computer.

Students could set up their own weather monitoring station, like the one they see in the clip. Students could make simple rain gauges and weather vanes from junk materials. Students could take daily readings and compare them with weather reports published on local and national news websites. They might also check a barometer to see if its predictions accurately match the weather conditions they go on to record. Students could present their results in a variety of charts and graphs, or enter their findings into a computer database. Students could use a week’s raw data to calculate different averages, such as median temperature, or mean rainfall. Can they use such data to make predictions of their own?