Unit 4 WebQuest Project

Weather Watchers

Introduction | Task | Process | Guidance | Resources | Conclusion

Introduction
Some nasty weather is brewing! You've been selected to join an elite group of weather watchers on a whirlwind of an adventure. You'll be gathering and charting data about weather patterns in your own state and doing other meteorological research. You'll also be tracking the path of a tornado that's just touched down. Hurry! Pack your algebra tool kit and your raincoat. There's no time to waste! There are more storms on the horizon!

Weather Challenge 1:
First, gather specific weather information about your home state. After completing your research, create a graph to represent each set of data.

Weather Challenge 2:
Then, given the coordinates of a particular tornado, follow directions to find out exactly what towns the tornado hits.

Weather Challenge 3:
Finally, research one of three weather topics and create a report.

Weather Challenge 1:

1. Now that you have officially joined the Weather Watchers Team, your first job is to use your Internet expertise to locate the following information:
   
   
   
   • the temperature for the last 7 days of your local town/city;
     
   • the average temperature per month of your state;
     
   • the average rainfall per month of your state; and
     
   • the number of natural disasters (drought, earthquake, fire, flood, hurricane, or tornado) your state has experienced since 1995.
     
     
2. Once you have gathered all of the data, create a graph for each set of data, for a total of four graphs.

Weather Challenge 2:

A tornado has touched down and left a treacherous path of debris behind it. We need you to follow these directions to find out exactly what towns this tornado hit.

Tornado

1. Locate and label each of the following towns on the coordinate grid below.
   
   

Smallville (-7, 9)	Owen (8, 0)	Capital City (0, -10)
Perry (-2, -5)	Rome (4, 6)	Jasper (10, -2)
Conner (2, -3)	Georgetown (-8, 4)	Lima (0, 7)





2. A tornado has passed through this area before. The path the tornado took through this area lies along a series of lines given by the functions below. Graph the portion of each line that contains the tornado's path.
   
   
   
   
3. Which towns in this area did the tornado hit?

Weather Challenge 3:

Create a 1-2 page report on one of the following topics:

• climatology and meteorologists,
  
• the annual weather of two different regions, or
  
• a specific type of natural disaster.
  

Weather Challenge 1:

1. Remember, when graphing data you must take into consideration the items that you are graphing. You can choose from the following types of graphs:
   
   • bar graph,
     
   • line graph,
     
   • stem-and-leaf plot, or
     
   • circle graph.
     
     Refer to Chapter 2 to review each type of graph.
     
     
2. Remember to label the x- and y-axis of your graphs. Your x-axis must increase by equal increments, and your y-axis must increase by equal increments. In addition, you must give each graph a title.

Weather Challenge 2:

1. Remember, coordinates must be written in the (x, y) format.
   
2. Also, y-coordinates are affected by up or down commands, and x-coordinates are affected by left or right commands.

Weather Challenge 3:

1. Use the following format to write your 1-2 page paper:
   
   
   

   Name
   Date		Title
   I	Introduction Paragraph  • Include a topic sentence
   II	First Body Paragraph
   III	Second Body Paragraph
   IV	Conclusion •Restate your topic sentence.

   
   
2. When writing about climatology and meteorologists, include answers to the following questions:
   
   
   
   • What kind of classes do meteorologists take in college?
     
   • What does a meteorologist actually do?
     
   • What is climatology?
     
   • How do meteorologists use math in their daily work?
     
     
3. When comparing the annual weather of two different regions, include answers to the following questions:
   
   
   
   • What is the average temperature of each region in different seasons?
     
   • What physical factors affect the weather of each region? Does the location of each region affect the weather?
     
   • What are the advantages and disadvantages in terms of weather of each region?
     
   • What kind of weather does each region experience in each season?
     
     
4. When writing about a particular natural disaster, include answers to the following questions:
   
   
   • How many cities/states were affected by this natural disaster? Which cities/states were affected?
     
   • What caused the natural disaster to occur?
     
   • How many people were affected by this natural disaster?
     
   • What year did the natural disaster occur?
     
   • Some different natural disasters to research are droughts, earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis.

Resources

Listed below are some helpful Web sites that you will find useful on your storm chasing escapades! Remember, you are not limited to these sites.

Job Guide 2003
NOAA
Weather.com
USA Today

Conclusion
Wow! You tackled every challenge the weather has thrown at you! We were proud to have you as a member of our Weather Watchers Team. You used your impressive mathematics skills to accomplish some difficult tasks. We hope you are more weather-wise for your experience. Congratulations on a job well done!