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Weather Lab 6-8 / Week 04 / Station Day
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Week 04 · Where Wind Comes From

Station Day

Station Day: Wind watch
// Air on the move, from high pressure to low
⏱ about 20 min

Station Day: Wind Watch

Saturday dawns still and cool at Station Rooftop. The flag hangs straight down.

"Calm," Rocket says, almost disappointed. "Force zero."

Raven settles onto the step with the log. "Let's see if it stays calm. The Sun has only just come up."

By late morning the flag lifts and swings toward the southeast. By afternoon, small branches are moving.

"What do you notice?" Raven asks. Rocket flips back through the day's entries. "It got windier as the day got warmer."

Nova hovers over the log. "Think about what the Sun did to the ground today," she says, "and what you learned on Tuesday."

  1. Wind is air in motion, named for the direction it comes from. A flag points away from the wind.
  2. Air flows from high pressure to low pressure. A bigger pressure difference makes a faster wind.
  3. The Sun heats the ground, the ground heats the air, warm air rises and cooler air flows in: convection.
  4. Land heats faster than water, so a daytime sea breeze blows from the water onto the land.
  5. The Earth's rotation turns moving air, to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, and splits the circulation into three cells per hemisphere.
◇ FAMILY WIND WATCH
Pick four times today: early morning, midday, mid afternoon and evening.
At each time, read your wind flag together: direction from the compass plate and Beaufort force from the table.
One person reads, one person records, then swap at the next reading.
At the end of the day, talk it over. When was the wind strongest? Was it calmer at sunrise or at sunset?
For a grown-up
The station stays on the ground, a railing or a windowsill. Nobody goes on a roof or a ladder for a reading.
If a thunderstorm or very strong wind arrives, skip that reading and stay indoors.
The Beaufort scale and the wind facts this week come from the National Weather Service, at weather.gov.
Safety first
Never take a reading during a thunderstorm, a flood or very high wind.
A grown-up handles anything sharp if the flag needs repair.
Never look at the Sun.
THINK IT THROUGH
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
The wind picked up as the afternoon warmed. Which idea best explains it?
Your flag points toward the northeast. Where is the wind from?
Your flag hangs limp and smoke rises straight up. What Beaufort force is that? Type a number.
WHY THIS EXERCISECalm is a real reading too. Recording it shows how the wind changes through the day.
Station Day checkTrue or false?
A calm flag means Beaufort force 0.?
Small branches moving is about force 4.?
You should take a reading outdoors during a thunderstorm.?
WHY THIS EXERCISESafe, repeatable readings make your station data worth comparing with the real report.
Draw a simple graph of your day: time along the bottom, Beaufort force up the side. Mark your four readings.
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