How to use wind to forecast the weather
TO CAMERA: Right, here鈥檚 how to amaze your friends.
First, stand with the wind at your back. Then you鈥檙e looking for clouds. If those clouds are moving overhead, directly away from me, or directly towards you, or they鈥檙e stationary, then the weather is going to stay broadly the same.
If they鈥檙e moving from left to right, it鈥檚 going to get worse. If they鈥檙e moving from right to left, it鈥檚 going to improve.
NARRATION: So鈥 Right to left, better. Left to right, worse. Straight down the middle, stays the same. As long as you have your back to the wind.
TO CAMERA: Unless you鈥檙e in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case you reverse that bit. Brilliant, isn鈥檛 it?
Richard Hammond demonstrates how we can forecast the weather simply by watching the way the wind effects the clouds.
He stands with his back to the wind, looking for clouds, and explains that by looking at the direction that clouds are moving, you can make a prediction about what the weather may hold.
Teacher Notes
Key Stage 3
A demonstration of simple forecasting techniques using senses and what you can see. This could form the introduction to a forecasting lesson where students then explore why this is the case.
Students could conduct onsite fieldwork in order to test and evaluate this technique, comparing it to information gathered from other sources of weather information. This technique could form part of a weather diary.
Key Stage 4
This short film could form the introduction to the air-masses topic 鈥 with students applying their knowledge of air-masses to explain why this technique works.
Curriculum Notes
This short film could be used to teach geography and physics at KS3 and KS4 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 5 in Scotland. At GCSE it appears in AQA, OCR A, EDEXCEL, EDUQAS, WJEC and CCEA, in SQA at National 5.
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