Reading a Weather Forecast

Lab Brief #4

🎯 Your mission

Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).

⚡ The twist

Today's mountain was yesterday's ocean floor.

What you'll learn

A forecast combines temperature, chance of rain, wind speed and direction. The percentage is not how hard it will rain but how likely rain is anywhere in that area, which is why a 40% forecast often means a dry afternoon.

Key words

forecast
A prediction of the weather, made from current measurements and past patterns.
probability of precipitation
The chance that measurable rain falls somewhere in the forecast area.

Make a hypothesis first

Guess: where will the water go first?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

notebook
thermometer

⚠️ Safety first

Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "forecast" and "probability of precipitation" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Record the forecast for your area each morning for a week and the actual weather each evening. Count how many days matched and work out the forecast's success rate.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

A 40% chance of rain means rain is:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

Wind on a forecast is given as speed and:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🌋 There are 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth right now.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Today's weather, tomorrow's beach, next century's coastline — all this.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Look at the sky for 5 minutes and try to predict tomorrow's weather.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the slowest change you can think of?”

🌦️Share card

Share this experiment

Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.

Reading a Weather Forecast

Next Smart Experiment

Share this experiment

Reading a Weather Forecast

Done with science? Try something else

Your Cart (0)