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MAKING YOUR OWN WEATHER STATION

You may have a weather station at your school or home, a thermometer and a barometer on the wall even one outside. These will provide you with air temperature and air pressure readings. You may have a rainfall gauge all these will help you with your molewatch. Wind speed can be estimated with the Beaufort scale or measured by making your own anemometer


Beaufort Scale

The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure for the intensity of the weather based mainly on wind power. The scale was created by the British naval commander Sir Francis Beaufort around 1806.

Beaufort number     Wind speed MPH     Wind Speed Knots      Description       Sea conditions               Land conditions
           0                              <1                           <1                        Calm                        Flat                              Calm
            1                             1-3                            1-3                    Light air                  Ripples without crests      Wind motion visible in smoke
            2                             4-7                             4-6                  Light breeze            Small wavelets                        Leaves rustle
            3                             8-12                           7-10                Gentle breeze         Large wavelets               Smaller twigs in constant motion                     4                             13-18                         11-16              Moderate breeze         Small waves                   Small branches begin to move                     5                           19-24                          17-21               Fresh breeze       Moderate longer waves                Smaller trees sway
            6                            25-31                         22-27               Strong breeze       Large waves with foam crests       Large branches in motion
            7                            32-38                          28-33                Near gale          Sea heaps up foam begins to streak     Whole trees in motion
            8                            39-46                          34-40                  Gale           Moderately high waves breaking crests     Twigs broken from trees                 9                            47-54                          41-47              Severe gale        High waves with dense foam              Light structure damage
           10                            55-63                          48-55                 Storm           Very high waves. The sea surface is white    Trees uprooted.
                                                                                                                                                                            Considerable structural damage            11                             64-72                           56-63           Violent storm            Exceptionally high waves         Widespread structural damage  
           12                             73-82                            64-71            Hurricane            Sea completely white with driving spray.    Massive widespread                                                                                                                                                                                             damage to structure


MAKE AN ANEMOMETER 


MATERIALS: •

5 three-ounce[small] paper Cups • 2 drinking straws • pin • paper punch • scissors • stapler • sharp pencil with an eraser

HOW TO MAKE
Take four of the Cups and use the paper punch to punch one hole in each, about a half inch below the rim. Take the fifth cup and punch four equally spaced holes about a quarter inch below the rim. Then punch a hole in the centre of the bottom of the cup. Take one of the four cups and push a  straw through the hole. Fold the end of the straw and staple it to the side of the cup across from the hole. Repeat this procedure for another one-hole cup and the second straw. Slide one cup and straw assembly through two opposite holes in the cup with four holes. Push another one-hole cup onto the end of the straw just pushed through the four-hole cup. Bend the straw and staple it to the one-hole cup, making certain that the cup faces the opposite direction from the first cup. Repeat this procedure using the other cup and straw assembly and the remaining one-hole cup. Align the four cups so that their open ends face in the same direction either clockwise or counter-clockwise around the centre cup. Push the straight pin through the two straws where they intersect. Push the eraser end of the pencil through the bottom hole in the centre cup. Push the pin into the end of the pencil eraser as far as it will go.

Now your anemometer is ready for use!

EXPLANATION: An anemometer is useful because it rotates with the wind. To calculate the velocity at which your anemometer spins, determine the number of revolutions per minute (RPM). Next, calculate the circumference (in feet) of the circle made by the rotating paper cups. Multiply your RPM value by the circumference of the circle and you will have an approximation of the velocity of at which your anemometer spins (in feet per minute). Your anemometer doesn't need to be pointed in the wind for use. Note: Some forces are being ignored including drag and friction for this elementary illustration, so the velocity at which your anemometer spins is not the same as wind speed.


MAKE A RAIN GAUGE

MATERIALS:
• clear jar
• ruler
HOW TO MAKE :
Put a jar outside in an open area before it starts raining. After it stops raining, measure how many millimetres of rain are in the jar with your ruler. *You can also use a jar to see how much water is in snow. Put 25mm of snow in a jar, then bring it inside and let it melt. Heavy wet snow will have a lot more water in it than dry fluffy snow.



Recording the weather is important and soil thermometers are available and quite cheap as are thermometers used in glass houses available from garden centres, these will provide a max and a min temperature.


cheap rainfall gauges are also readily available

RECORDING YOUR DATA

Simple spreadsheets can be used to record data or a notebook, be sure to record the date and time of each record. 

Molewatch have template sheets for weather and if you require one please email us