Tracking a Winter Storm Across the USA

Learner Outcomes

By completing this activity, the learner will:

• observe weather systems on radar maps and satellite images.
• describe weather system characteristics.
• organize, graph and analyze weather data and patterns.
• use image analysis techniques to predict changes in local weather.
• prepare presentations describing previous, current, and forecasted weather conditions.

Exploration Begin tracking a winter storm as it approaches the United States. What meteorological conditions support the development of winter storms? Is your storm An Alberta Clipper? Northeaster? Do you think it could be as bad as the Blizzard of January '96?

Experiment

1. Collect data on the storm for 3 - 5 days.
• Twice daily satellite or radar images.  Choose from any of the following sites:
United States: (one) (two) (three) (four) (five) (six) (seven)
Canada: (one) (two) (three) (four)
• Reports from weather stations & cities along the the storm track.
• Email reports submitted by teachers and students along the storm track.
2. Organize your data.
• Create a folder called winter_storm
• Satellite images
• Inside the winter_storm folder, create a folder called winter_images.
• Place all the satellite images in winter_images.
• Order the satellite images by date and time then rename them as wintersat01, wintersat02, wintersat03, and so on.
• Convert all of the wintersat images to TIFF format using GifConverter (MAC) or Paint Shop Pro (PC).
• Save the images as wintersat01.TIFF, wintersat02.TIFF, and so on.
• Weather reports
• Inside the winter_storm folder, create a folder called winter_reports.
• Place all weather reports in winter_reports.
• Sort the weather reports by station/city.
• For each station/city, order the reports by date and time and rename them.
• Text-based reports --- denverT01, denverT02, and so on.
• Graphics-based reports --- denverG01, denverG02, and so on.
• Email reports
• Inside the winter_storm folder, create a folder called winter_observations.
• Place all the email messages in winter_observations.
• Sort the observations by city/school.
• For each city/school, order the reports by date and time and rename them denverE01, denverE02, and so on.
• Make a master list of all your files
3. Analyze your data
• Start Scion Image (PC) or NIH Image (Mac) version 1.59 or later.
• Select Open from the File menu, open the winter_images folder, and select the Open All option in the dialog box.
• Select Windows to Stack in the Stack menu.
• Select Animate from the Stack menu. The numbers 1-9 across the top of your keyboard control the speed of the animation.
• Write a paragraph describing the animation and the features of the storm that it shows.
• Based on the weather reports from each city, create a series of graphs showing the passage of the storm.
• Daily Hi/Lo temperatures
• Precipitation
• Wind velocity and direction
• Add notes to each graph based on the email reports from each city/school.
• Predict the path of the storm for the next three days.
• Create a map that demonstrates the previous and projected path of the storm.
• From your graphs, predict the temperature, wind velocity, and precipitation for another location.
• Compare your predictions with actual reports and propose reasons for any differences.
4. Summarize your findings and reactions by writing a press release for the local radio station or produce a weather report presentation with visuals and graphs for a television report.

Extensions Determine the scale of your image. Use NIH Image to determine the distance that the storm front moves in 24 hours. Calculate the storm's speed. Predict the exact time the storm will reach a state capitol. Make an animated snow cover of the United States movie, using snow cover maps.