mean median meteorologist mode precipitation

Word sort Construct a word sort related to units of measurement associated with weather. Exchange your word sort and try to correctly solve someone else’s word sort.

Read the introduction and look for key ideas

How is daily weather data different from monthly weather data?

Complete the procedure and record your data

SCORING GUIDE: Organizing Data

How do the daily weather values you collected compare with the monthly averages? Are they the same or different? For example, is the mean precipitation for your five days similar to or the same as the monthly average? Which type of data do you think more accurately describes the weather?

Compare Compare the local weather with the weather in another part of the country. Would you find it more helpful to know the weather on a particular day or the monthly average? Share your thoughts with the class.

Analysis question 1 Recall what you did on each of the five days that you collected daily weather data, and compare it to your data in Table 1, “Daily Weather Data.” Which aspect of the weather most affected your daily life? How did it affect you?

Analysis question 2 Imagine that you are a meteorologist for a local radio station. Use your data from Tables 1 and 2 to create a radio weather report that summarizes the weather over the five-day period.

Analysis question 3 In your experience, is your area’s weather in a particular month, such as January, the same from year to year? Explain.

Analysis question 4 Which type of weather data—daily or monthly—do you think is more useful for describing weather? Explain your reasoning.

Scientific careers in weather Review the skills for the scientific career you chose to focus on, and mark those that you have mastered.

How is daily weather data different from monthly weather data?

Key vocabulary definitions Mean - A central value of a numerical data set calculated by adding up all the data points in the data set and dividing this sum by the total number of data points in the data set. Median - The middle value in a data set arranged in numerical order.

Key vocabulary definitions Meteorologist - A scientist who studies the weather. Mode - The most frequently occurring data point of a numerical data set.

Key vocabulary definitions Precipitation - The movement of water, in solid or liquid form, from the atmosphere back to the surface of the earth. Rain, snow, sleet, and hail are examples.