Why does a lot of hail, rain, or snow fall at. some times and not others?
This unit develops science ideas about weather, climate, and water cycling. During the unit, your child will conduct investigations where they analyze data to draw models to help explain a sudden hailstorm and a large midwestern winter storm in the United States.
Imagine a sunny day then suddenly cars and the pavement are hit with hail, some the size of golf balls! In the first half of the unit, students watch videos of such hailstorms. These hail storms occurred in different locations and different times of the year. Some hail storms accompanied strong winds and rain! Together students are encouraged to wonder and to investigate what causes hailstorms and eventually storms in general, like rain. Students then continue to revise their model drawings to help explain what causes local weather events like hail storms and rain.
In the second half of the unit, students expand their learning to think about large scale weather events, like a major winter storm.
Students are shown a weather report and forecast from the Today Show from January 2019. This snowstorm traveled from the Midwest further Northeast building up snow (almost a foot of snow). Students evaluate their previous models to help explain this event. They analyze weather forecast data, identifying useful patterns to help explain this new winter storm.