Topic: Extreme Weather

Transition Resources for Year 6/ Post SATS

climate graph

Transition Resources for Year 6/Post SATS

These resources are designed to be used in one session with year 6 (10/ 11 year old) students. Although they will support numeracy, literacy and various other aspects of the curriculum, they are designed to prepare students for secondary school rather than support the year 6 curriculum.

There are 6 suggested activities. Although they are designed to be run sequentially, you may choose to use only some of the activities, or to supplement them with your own ideas.
It should be possible to use these activities with any class size.

Many people, including Ellie Highwood, Cristina Charlton-Perez, Helen Johnson and Laila Gohar, have contributed to these resources.

Guidance Notes – START HERE!

Activity 1 – the Difference between Weather and Climate

Powerpoint: Weather-or-Climate

Word Doc: Weather-or-Climate

Activity 2 – Climate Change Graphs

Powerpoint: Climate Change Picture

Excel: Lollipop

Activity 3 – Climate Change Lucky Dip

No resources required

Activity 4 – Weather Risk Game

Powerpoint: Weather Risk Game

Word Document: Money

Activity 5 – Flooding/ Floating Gardens

Powerpoint: Floating Garden Challenge

Activity 6 – Greenhouse Bulldog

No resources required

Case Study – Heatwave

Family playing on the beach
Family playing on the beach

The heatwave of 2003

More than 20,000 people died after a record-breaking heatwave left Europe sweltering in August 2003. The period of extreme heat is thought to be the warmest for up to 500 years, and many European countries experienced their highest temperatures on record.

Physical Impacts

Effects of the heatwave

Immediate responses to the heatwave

What happened to cause the heatwave?

Physical Impacts

Low river flows and lake levels
The River Danube in Serbia fell to its lowest level in 100 years. Bombs and tanks from World War 2, which had been submerged under water for decades, where revealed, causing a danger to people swimming in the rivers. Reservoirs and rivers used for public water supply and hydro-electric schemes either dried up or ran extremely low.

Forest fires
The lack of rainfall meant very dry conditions occurred over much of Europe. Forest fires broke out in many countries. In Portugal 215,000 hectares area of forest were destroyed. This is an area the same size as Luxembourg. It is estimated millions of tonnes of topsoil were eroded in the year after the fires as the protection of the forest cover was removed. This made river water quality poor when the ash and soil washed into rivers.

The satellite image shown in Fig. 1 shows forest fires in southern Portugal and Spain in September 2003. The fires are shown by the red dots and smoke is in white.

Melting glaciers
Extreme snow and glacier-melt in the European Alps led to increased rock and ice falls in the mountains.

Effects of the heatwave

About 15,000 people died due to the heat in France, which led to a shortage of space to store dead bodies in mortuaries. Temporary mortuaries were set up in refrigeration lorries. There were also heat-related deaths in the UK (2,000), Portugal (2,100), Italy (3,100), Holland (1,500) and Germany (300).

Human effects

  • Heat-stroke — normally we sweat, and this keeps us cool on hot days. On very hot days our bodies may not be able to keep cool enough by sweating alone, and our core body temperature may rise. This can lead to headaches, dizziness and even death.
  • Dehydration — this is the loss of water from our bodies. It can cause tiredness and problems with breathing and heart rates.
  • Sunburn — damage to the skin which can be painful and may increase the risks of getting skin cancer.
  • Air pollution — it is thought that one third of the deaths caused by the heatwave in the UK were caused by poor air quality.
  • Drowning — some people drowned when trying to cool off in rivers and lakes.

The Met Office provides the Department of Health with heatwave warnings (Heat-Health Watch) to prepare the NHS, health professionals, carers and the general public for the effects of extreme heat.

Summers as hot as 2003 could happen every other year by the year 2050 as a result of climate change due to human activities.

Environment and social effects

  • Water supplies — drinking water supplies were affected in some parts of the UK and hosepipe bans introduced.
  • Tourism — many parts of the UK reported increased levels of tourism as people decided to holiday in the UK while the weather was unusually dry and hot.
  • Agriculture — many chickens, pigs and cows died during the heat in Europe and crops failed in the dry conditions. This led to higher food prices. It is thought to have cost European farming 13.1 billion euros.
  • Transport — some railway tracks buckled in the heat. The London Underground became unbearable. Some road surfaces melted. Low river levels prevented some boats from sailing.
  • The London Eye closed on one day as it became too hot in the cabins.
  • Energy — two nuclear power plants to close down in Germany. These rely on water for cooling in the power generation process.

In pictures

Fig 1. Satellite image.
Fig 1. Satellite image.
A river with low levels of water
A river with low levels of water
A forest fire
A forest fire
Family playing on the beach
Family playing on the beach

Immediate responses to the heatwave

  • France requested aid from the European Union to deal with the effects.
  • Public water supply shortages occurred in several countries, including the UK and Croatia, which led to a temporary ban on using hose pipes.
  • TV news, internet and newspapers informed the public on how to cope with the heat — drinking plenty of water, wearing cool clothing, and staying in the shade in the middle of the day.
  • Network Rail in the UK imposed speed restrictions for trains when the temperature was above 30 °C. This was to help avoid trains derailing when railway lines might have buckled
  • Workers around Europe altered their working hours. Some refuse collectors started earlier to pick up rapidly decomposing rubbish from the streets.

What happened to cause the heatwave?

Weather chart

Fig 2. Weather Chart for midday on 5 August 2003.
Fig 2. Weather Chart for midday on 5 August 2003.

It shows an area of high pressure over most of Western Europe. Air is moving around the high in a clockwise direction, bringing a hot, dry tropical continental air mass to the UK at this time. This pattern occurred for much of the rest of the month. High pressure areas usually bring little cloud and warm conditions in summer.

You can find out more about weather charts in the weather section of the Met Office website.

Satellite imagery
The satellite images below confirm there is very little cloud over most of Europe.

Fig 3. Satellite Image of north-west Europe at 2 p.m. on 5 August.
Fig 3. Satellite Image of north-west Europe at 2 p.m. on 5 August.

Fig. 3 shows a visible satellite image of north-west Europe at 2 p.m. on 5 August. Visible satellites show what you would see if you were in space looking down at Earth. White areas show were there is cloud, the brighter the shading the deeper the cloud. The dark areas show cloud free areas. On Figure 12, the darker areas over most of Europe show the area has thin or little cloud.

Fig 4. Satellite Image for north-west Europe at 2 p.m. on 5 August.
Fig 4. Satellite Image for north-west Europe at 2 p.m. on 5 August.

Fig. 4 shows an infrared satellite image for north-west Europe at 2 p.m. on 5 August. Infrared satellite images measure the temperature of the cloud or ground surface. The dark areas show surfaces that are warm and where there is no cloud. The whiter shading indicates cold cloud. The darker the shading of the land, the hotter it is.

 

You can find out more about satellites on the MetLink website.

Maximum temperatures
Many parts of Europe saw their temperature records broken during this summer, including the UK. A sweltering 39 °C was recorded in Brogdale in Kent on 10 August 2003, a record high which still stands today.

European rainfall
Rainfall over much of Europe was below what is normally expected during the months of June, July and August. The long-lasting high pressure system tended to reduce the amount of rain that fell.

As a result of the European heatwave:

  • A joint Met Office/Department of Health project called the Heat-Health Watch now gives advanced warning of UK hot. weather. It operates every summer from 1 June to 15 September.
  • The French government has made efforts to improve its prevention, surveillance and alert system for people such as the elderly living alone.

Further information on the Met Office main site
Met Office Event Summary

Further information on other websites
BBC News articles on the August 2003 European heatwave

Web page reproduced with the kind permission of the Met Office

A Level

AQA AS/A Level Geography
OCR AS/A Level Geography
EdExcel AS/A Level Geography
WJEC/ Eduqas AS/A Level Geography

Independent Investigation

A guide to collecting weather data from the RGS student guide to the A Level independent investigation (Non-examined Assessment – NEA) and some further ideas.

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y_UdPbThbtQ

Carbon and Water Cycles; Weather and Climate

Carbon, water, weather and climate a PowerPoint presentation focussing on recent changes to the carbon and water cycles, and how the two cycles interact.

Climate and Weather – an overview for A level, on the RGS website.

Climate change updates for A level geography – supporting the 2016 specifications.

Background information for teachers on the water cycle and the carbon cycle.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/LBe4LTLOLvU

Deforestation, the water cycle and the carbon cycle in the Amazon.

Extensive information from the Cool Geography site: Case study of a tropical rainforest setting to illustrate and analyse key themes in water and carbon cycles and their relationship to environmental change and human activity and more generally on the carbon and water cycles.

Depressions, Anticyclones and Synoptic Charts

Weather Charts

Weather Systems

Mid-latitude weather systems video (with downloadable resources)

Depression based exercise where students draw contours of temperature, pressure and precipitation to work out what the system looks like: Student worksheets and notes for teachers. Simpler versions of the same exercise can be found on the KS3/4 web pages.

Use WOW data to track a cold front across the UK and work out its speed.

track a cold front across the UK and work out its speed practical excercises.

weather forecasting exercise

Shipping Forecast weather system excercise teachers notes and worksheet.

There are some more teaching resources covering weather systems and weather maps on the GCSE resources page.

Tropical Weather

Monsoons – a resource looking at the link between rainfall and food production in India. Teachers notes and Excel data sheet.

Some useful links about Super typhoon Haiyan/ Yolanda

Extreme Weather

Extreme Weather

Extreme weather in the UK

Climate and Climate Change

Climate Change with sections on atmospheric structure, composition, solar radiation, climate feedback mechanisms and ozone depletion.

Other Weather

Clouds

A case study of orographic rainfall and Foehn winds in Scotland with images for students Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5.

An exercise using height/ temperature graphs to investigate atmospheric stability, lapse rates and cloud formation with a worksheet for students and an introductory Powerpoint.

Articles from Physics Review and Science in School.

Investigate How big is a raindrop collect data and analyse mode, mean and median, range, interquartile range and standard deviation etc.

This lovely animation explores integration through Is it better to walk or run in the rain?.

A one hour tutorial on Climate variability, change and water resources from MetEd (requires free registration). The level is suitable for A level.

GCSE resources

Severe Storms

severe storm diagram
This three-dimensional model is taken from a paper entitled Airflow in convective storms by K.A.Browning and F.H.Ludlam published in the April 1962 issue of the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society (Volume 88, p

Including hail, downdraughts and cloudbursts

hailstructureIt was reported in The Times newspaper on 15 April 1986 that a hailstorm lashing Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, had killed nearly 50 people and injured more than 400. The storm had brought winds of about 60 mph and hailstones weighing up to 2 lb (nearly 1 kg). Houses had been flattened, communications disrupted and the windscreens of more than 700 cars shattered. In such conditions, an umbrella was no use whatsoever; even a riot shield may not have provided adequate protection! According to Dick File, in Weather Facts (Oxford University Press, 1991), this storm (which struck on 14 April 1986) killed 92 people and produced hailstones that weighed 1.02 kg.

The heaviest hailstones to fall on the United Kingdom did so at Horsham, West Sussex, on 5 September 1958 and weighed 140 g. They were almost the size of a tennis ball. When they hit the ground, they were travelling at speeds in excess of 100 mph (50 m/s). If you find this surprising, do a little calculation, using the formula:
V2 = u2 + 2as where u is the initial speed, v the terminal speed, a the acceleration (in this case, due to gravity) and s the distance travelled. For a hailstone falling from a height of 500 m through still air, v = 100 m/s! The impact of a missile the size of a tennis ball travelling this fast is much more serious than that of a cricket ball hit for six.

Should you ever get the chance, collect some large hailstones and cut them in half. You may find a layered structure, with alternate layers of clear and opaque ice (as in the picture on the right, which shows a section of a hailstone viewed by transmitted light). The layers are acquired in different parts of the storm clouds. As hailstones fall, they collect tiny water droplets, which flow around them and freeze. If no air is trapped, the ice is clear.

The storm which struck the Wokingham area of Berkshire on 9 July 1959 produced hailstones more than 2.5 cm in diameter. This storm was studied in detail by Professor Frank Ludlam of Imperial College and his team of co-workers, who produced a striking three-dimensional model of the airflow with-in the storm and explained how large multi-layered hailstones may form in such weather systems.

diagram of severe storm 3
This three-dimensional model is taken from a paper entitled Airflow in convective storms by K.A.Browning and F.H.Ludlam published in the April 1962 issue of the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society (Volume 88, pp.117-135).

In the diagram on the right, streamlines of air in which condensation occurred are shaded. The surface areas affected by rain and hail are shown by, respectively, grey and black shading. Heights are shown in thousands of feet. Precipitation formed in air which entered the storm near position H. As shown, the precipitation was carried across relative to the storm to around 13-15,000 feet, whereupon it fell and re-entered the strong updraught near posit-ion O. Some precipitation particles reached altitu-des of 30,000 feet or more and grew into large hail-stones before falling again, forward of the strong updraught, near position H’. The storm moved from left to right, with rain on its left flank and a squally ‘gust front’ (shown as a cold front) on its right flank. Behind the storm, chilled air reached the ground.

severe storm diagram

The diagram on the right shows a vertical section through a typical severe hailstorm (moving from right to left) and is also taken from Ludlam’s 1961 article in Weather. Compare this diagram with the three-dimensional model above

The paths of the air are drawn as if the storm was stationary. They are, therefore, relative streamlines. The dashed lines are trajectories of small hailstones. The thick full line shows the trajectory of a large hailstone.

To some extent, the features shown on this vertical section occur also in vigorous cumulo-nimbus systems which do not produce large hail. Students can look out for mamma, the udder-like cloud feature that hangs under the anvil and other parts of the cloud. How are mamma formed? Students can also observe gust fronts and measure the temperature drop that occurs when a storm passes. It is often several degrees Celsius. Perhaps, with the help of someone who has a car, they can map areas of rain and hail relative to moving storms.

severe storm diagram 2
This diagram has been taken from The microburst hazard to aircraft by J.McCarthy and R.J.Serafin, published in Weatherwise in 1984 (Volume 37, pp.120-127)

In severe storms, downdraughts may be as strong as 30-40 m/s and reach the ground as ‘down-bursts’. These are dangerous, as the diagram above shows. Downbursts spread out near the ground. An aeroplane that flies into such an outflow first encounters an increasing head-wind (at 1 and 2), which adds to the speed of the speed of the air flowing over the aircraft’s wings and thus increases lift. At 3, however, the strength of the downdraught begins to reduce the altitude of the aircraft; and at 4 and 5 the aircraft experiences both a tail-wind (which reduces air speed and lift) and a downward force from the downdraught. Over the years, there have been many air disasters caused this way, especially in North America.

Cloudbursts

On 15 August 1952, the village of Lynmouth in North Devon was devastated by a torrent of water which poured off Exmoor; 34 people died. On 29 May 1920, in and around the Lincolnshire town of Louth, 22 people died when water from a storm over the Wolds caused the River Lud, normally a small stream, to rise 5 m above its normal level. In Dorset and Somerset, there have been similar occurrences; and in all cases, severe storms caused the havoc. When such storms occur in the British Isles, the wind in the upper troposphere is typically from the south-west, with the wind in the lower troposphere from a north-easterly point (and pressure low to the south and south-west). If this flow is lifted orographically, the storm may become stationary and deposit several inches of rain in a short time. Thus, it is places below slopes that face northwards or north-eastwards that are most at risk.

Hail Prevention

To frighten away the evil spirits that caused hail, primitive tribes used to shoot arrows into storm clouds; and Christians have tried to exorcise these spirits by ringing church bells (a dangerous practice because of lightning strikes on bell towers). Not only arrows, but also cannon-balls, artillery shells and rockets have been fired into storm clouds, but all to no avail. Though there is some evidence that cloud seeding may help to reduce the size of hailstones, there is nothing we can yet do to prevent the formation of severe storms.

Community Weather Memories

toddler paddling

Ask members of your family and community about weather events they remember:

  1. Where was the weather event?
  2. When was the weather event (approximate year and time of year)?
  3. What type of weather was it?
  4. What impacts did it have?

Which weather event story did you find the most interesting? And why?

Extension activity: can you find out any more about the weather event by doing some research online?

20. Tropical Cyclones

Weather and Climate: a Teachers’ Guide

Pathway: Extending Weather

Depressions – Microclimates – Urban Climates – Tropical Cyclones

Lesson overview: In this lesson we explore the structure, location and names for Tropical Cyclones as well as some of their potential impacts.

Tropical Cyclones are intense and extremely damaging storms.  Fuelled by the transfer of heat from the ocean to the atmosphere they can grow into some of the most destructive weather systems on Earth. Tropical cyclones need specific conditions to form and intensify.  These limit the locations in which Tropical Cyclones are able to form.  Called Tropical Cyclones anywhere in the world, they are classified as Typhoons in the North-West Pacific and Hurricanes in the Atlantic and North-East Pacific. A Tropical Cyclone has a distinctive structure, consisting of a clear central ‘eye’, surrounded by extensive cloud bands that spiral outwards and may be hundreds of kilometres long.  They can have severe impacts, causing coastal flooding and widespread damage to both the natural world and human infrastructure. As the climate changes, the most damaging Tropical Cyclones are expected to increase in intensity.

Learning objectives:

  • To understand what weather and hazards are associated with a Tropical Cyclone.

  • To be able to describe the structure of a Tropical Cyclone.

  • To be able to explain how and why Tropical Cyclones form.

Key Teaching Resources

Tropical Cyclones PowerPoint
Tropical Cyclones worksheet
Hurricane Dorian student data
Plotting Tropical Storm locations using GIS – video.

Teacher CPD/ Extended Reading

Tropical Cyclones_More for Teachers 

Alternative or Extension Resources

Further Tropical Cyclone teaching resources

A Hurricane is Approaching: a listening exercise based on a recent National Hurricane Center podcast. 

Tropical storm tracker: grid reference plotting practice

Make a Tropical storm case study infographic using this basic template

A blank Tropical Cyclone case study sheet

Back to Weather and Climate: a Teachers' Guide

Weather and Climate: a Teachers’ Guide

3D Print the Weather

3D model

The RMetS is delighted to have collaborated with CREATE Education to develop instructions to allow schools to 3D print sections of the Central England Temperature Record and use their models to learn about weather, climate, extreme weather and climate change.

These engaging, tactile resources allow students to get a hands-on experience of what climate is and how it can change, and how extreme weather relates to the climate.

The Central England Temperature (CET) data record is the longest instrument record of temperature in the world, with average monthly temperature each month from January 1659 to December 2018.

This project and the accompanying resources allow you to create 3D models that will represent 10 years of temperature data. The models have been designed to interlink, so students can create a series of models to represent larger timeframes. Once the 3D models have been created and 3D printed, there is a tactile resource that can be used in multiple ways in the classroom to visualise and study past weather and climate, and at how the climate of the UK has been changing over time.

The lesson resources specifically focus on

1. The difference between climate and weather

2. The current climate of the UK

3. The changing climate of the UK

4. Looking at past extreme weather events and researching their impacts on people in the UK.

3D model

Further resources to teach weather, climate, correlation, photosynthesis, regression, the carbon cycle, isotopes and more.

Further resources past climate change teaching resources for secondary geography.

Tropical Cyclone Challenge

Tropical Cyclone Challenge game
Tropical Cyclone Challenge game

Accompanying Worksheet 

Background Information (for Teachers)

Return to our Tropical Cyclone Teaching Resources.

PLAY GAME

Tropical Cyclone Teaching Resources

hurricane katrina
Fig. 1 Satellite Image of Hurricane Katrina, 28 August 2005 at 2045 GMT. Courtesy NOAA/CIMSS/SSEC.

Overview document for teachers – START HERE.

At the bottom of the page, you will also find some further reading/ background information for teachers, if you would like to deepen your understanding of Tropical Cyclones.

Introduction to Tropical Cyclones

Resources for Teachers

Tropical cyclones – the basics PowerPoint.

What do you call a tropical cyclone – physical basemap

What do you call a tropical cyclone – cumulative hurricanes basemap.

Teacher resource – Tropical Cyclone basics answers.

Worksheets and Resources for Students

What do you call a tropical cyclone? (cumulative hurricanes or physical basemap)

What kind of storm?

Where, Why and How do they Form?

Our Tropical Cyclone Challenge– use the online interactive resource with accompanying worksheet to discover the recipe for a Tropical Cyclone.

Resources for Teachers

Tropical cyclones: where, why, how PowerPoint.

Thunderstorm recipe (teacher).

Worksheets and Resources for Students

Thunderstorm recipe

Making things spin.

SST exercise.

Homework task:

A long time ago

Tracking Tropical Cyclones

Resources for Teachers

Tracking tropical cyclones PowerPoint

Worksheets and Resources for Students

Japan Decision Making Exercise

Hazards

Resources for Teachers

Tropical cyclones – hazards PowerPoint.

Hurricane Harvey Links

Storm surge worksheet- answers.

Hazard posters.

Worksheets and Resources for Students

Tropical cyclone hazards worksheet.

Storm surge worksheet.

Case study: Hurricane Harvey and worksheet.

Homework task:

Option 1: Hurricane Harvey case study and Hunting Hazards.

Option 2: Tropical cyclones worksheet

Option 3: GIS hurricane task.

Impacts

Resources for Teachers

Tropical cyclones – Impacts PowerPoint.

Cyclone Idai Links

The many ways a tropical cyclone can kill you (teacher).

Worksheets and Resources for Students

The many ways a tropical cyclone can kill you.

The other effects a tropical cyclone may have.

Personas.

Case study – Cyclone Idai.

Extra: Tracking hurricane Irma.

Responses

Resources for Teachers

Tropical cyclones – responses PowerPoint.

Super Typhoon Haiyan/ Yolanda Links.

Worksheets and Resources for Students

Case study – Haiyan.

Response Decision Making Exercise.

Typhoon Haiyan disaster response.

Homework task: GDACS mapping exercise and maps.

Assessment Resource: Cyclone Fani Decision Making Exercise; Cyclone Fani DME resource booklet.

Background Information for Teachers

Tropical Cyclones in Weather and Climate: a Teachers' Guide

Extreme Weather (global)

Hurricane Katrina

A series of downloadable work schemes and associated PowerPoint presentations on extreme weather for AS/ A2 geography.

Produced by Martin Lawrence

TornadoTornadoes Lesson Plan

TornadoTornadoes Powerpoint

CyclonesTropical Cyclones Lesson Plan

CyclonesTropical Cyclones Powerpoint

Extreme weatherExtreme Weather Lesson Plan

Extreme weatherExtreme Weather Powerpoint

Subscribe to MetLink updates

Weather and climate resources and events for teachers

BACK TO TOP