Reading weather records: South Asian cities
Read the weather records of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Dhaka, Kathmandu and Chennai in January, May and July: the highest and lowest temperatures, the daily range, the mean and the rainfall. Compare the cool winter, the hot dry summer and the wet monsoon.
Core concept
Weather records of the highest and lowest temperatures and the rainfall, averaged over many years, describe a place's climate; the mean temperature is (highest + lowest) ÷ 2 and the range is highest − lowest
Topic: Weather and climate
Weather is what the air is like today: hot or cold, dry or wet. Weather stations record the highest (maximum) and lowest (minimum) temperature: How hot or cold something is, measured in degrees Celsius (°C). All key words of each day and the rain that falls. Averaged over many years, these records describe the climate of a place. From them we can work out the mean temperature, (highest + lowest) ÷ 2, and the daily range, highest − lowest. Most of South Asia has three seasons: a cool, dry winter (January), a hot summer before the rains (May), and the monsoon (July), when moist winds from the sea bring heavy rain. Cities by the sea have a smaller range than cities far inland or high in the hills.
What you will learn
- Read maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall from weather records.
- Work out the mean temperature and the daily range.
- Describe the seasons of South Asia, including the monsoon.
- Compare the climate of coastal, inland and hill cities.
Before you start
- Read a thermometer in degrees Celsius.
Materials
- A newspaper weather report, or a thermometer and a rain gauge
Equipment
- A maximum–minimum thermometer
Procedure
- Record Delhi in May.
- Change the month to July and record.
- Change the city to Mumbai and record.
- Record Kathmandu in January.
How this simulation is simplified
- The figures are approximate long-term averages (climate normals) for each month, not one year's weather.