Weather forecasting – the unscientific way

1. By : Hubert Heng Jeremy Tan Weather forecasting – the unscientific way

2. Check the grass for dew at sunrise! Dry grass indicates clouds or strong breezes, which can mean rain. If there is dew, it probably will not rain that day. However, if it rained during the night before, this method will not work.

3. Red sky at night, sailor's delight; Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky during sunset (west) = high pressure system with dry air stirring dust particles, making the sky look red. Since jet streams usually move from west to east, the dry air is moving toward you. A red sky in the morning (east) = dry air has moved past you, and what’s coming is a low pressure system that has moisture.

4. Observe animals! If birds are flying high, there will be fair weather. Seagulls take refuge at the coast if a storm is approaching. Animals get quiet before it rains. Cows lie down before a thunderstorm. Cats clean behind their ears before rain. Turtles search for higher ground 1-2 days before a large amount of rain.

5. Make a campfire! If the smoke swirls and descends, it indicates low pressure. Low pressure = rain.

6. The moon! If the moon is reddish or pale, dust is in the air. But if it is bright and sharp, low pressure has cleared out the dust. Low pressure = rain! A ring around the moon means that there will probably be rain within the next 3 days.

7. The clouds The clouds can tell us a lot of things. For example, there are certain types of clouds. Some clouds are made up of ice crystals so they won’t fall as rain whereas some clouds are made up of water droplets so they fall as rain. Cirrus clouds Cirrocumulus clouds Ice crystals Cirrostratus clouds Altocumulus clouds Altostratus clouds Cumulus clouds Stratus cloud Nimbostratus clouds Stratocumulus clouds Cumulo-nimbus is different because it is made up of ice crystals and water droplets so it creates thunderstorms and hail. Water droplets

8. Pictures of the clouds mentioned Stratocumulus cloud Cirrus cloud Cirrocumulus cloud Cirrostratus clouds Cumulo-nimbus clouds Altocumulus cloud altostratus cloud Cumulus cloud Stratus cloud Nimbostratus cloud

9. Questions for you to ponder over Which of these methods shown do you think is the most effective and accurate? Why? Do you think there are other methods out there that are not shown in this presentation? If yes, which?

10. Jeremy’s Reflection While doing this project, I realised that I had to research and study on the different ways and forms to tell the weather. There are many bizzare ways. I even found a website where people do a rain dance. But, I felt it was unreliable so I did not include it in this presentation. But overall, it was quite manageble. Hubert’s Reflection While doing this project, I learned many different ways of forecasting the weather. I realised that checking the newspaper or watching the TV weather forecast was not the only way of knowing the weather. I found out that nature can tell us a lot of things about the weather, if we bother to open our eyes and observe the things around us.

11. References http://www.wikihow.com/Predict-the-Weather-Without-a-Forecast Waugh, David. Geography - An Integrated Approach. United Kingdom: Nelson 2000, 2002.

12. Thank you very much! For you kind attention. Do you all have any questions?