Intro Quiz: How do we use climate graphs?

Video: How do we use climate graphs?

﻿Hello, you wonderful lot. I'm Miss Sully, and welcome to your geography lesson. This is lesson five out of 11 in the weather and climate unit. In today's lesson, we'll be looking at climate graphs and how to gather information about temperature and precipitation from them, and use that data to then compare different locations. In this lesson, you will need a pen, paper, so that can be your geography book or any paper that you have, and you will also need a calculator. Okay. Pause the video to make sure you have everything that you need, and use that time to clear any distractions away. Great. Now that we have everything that we need, can you please write down today's title, which is on the screen, and that is "How do we use climate graphs?". So pause the video to get that written down at the top of your page. Okay? Now that's done, let's get started. As geographers, we describe the climate of an area by studying its climate graph. A climate graph displays the temperature and the precipitation, which means the rainfall of a particular area. And on your screen, we can see the climate graph of Belfast, which is the capital of Northern Ireland. Now this could come across as a very confusing graph with lots of information on it. So, let's break it down step by step. The X-axis, highlighted in green at the bottom of the graph, shows us different letters. So, each letter represents the month of the year. So, the first J is January, then F for February, and so on. So, what month is represented by the letter S on a climate graph? Is it option one, March? Option two, July? Option three, September? Or option four, November? So you have three seconds to shout the correct answer at the screen. Three, two, one. What is it? Correct, it's option three, September. Great work. Let's keep going. So, we're now going to focus on the Y-axis. In a climate graph, we always have two Y-axis. One is on the left, and one is on the right. Our left Y-axis shows us the temperature of Belfast measured in degree Celsius. This is presented on the climate graph by the red line graph. Each month's average temperature value is plotted in the middle of the month, and then connected in a smooth red line. Our right Y-axis shows us the precipitation in Belfast measured in millimetres. This is presented on the climate graph by the blue bars of the histogram. So, let's say we all decided to go and visit Belfast in Northern Ireland in October. We would want to know what to pack with us. We can find out by studying the climate graph. The first step will be to find October on our X-axis. And we know that October is represented by the letter O. Point at the letter O on the screen in three, two, one. Well done! So next, we need to find out what the temperature will be like in October in Belfast. This is where we need to make sure that we're using the correct Y-axis. The temperature is on the left Y-axis, so we need to measure the value, which is the red dot in the centre of the month, against the numbers on the left Y-axis. It's sometimes a lot easier to draw a line from the value point to the correct axis to have a clear reading like so. So we can see that the temperature is 10 degrees Celsius. Our final step is finding out what the average precipitation is in October. So, we've got to look at the blue bar and measure it against the right Y-axis. Let's add the line across to help us with the reading. We can see that the precipitation level is just under 100 millimetres, so we can estimate, which means a little guess, that it'll be around 98 millimetres. We now know what to pack with us when we go to Belfast, as we know that the average temperature in October is 10 degrees Celsius, and on average, there is around 98 millimetres of rainfall. I definitely recommend a nice, warm raincoat. So, let's pause and check our understanding on how to get information from a climate graph. The climate graph is for Dubrovnik in Croatia. You need to fill in the gaps for the four sentences on this screen, by writing them out on your piece of paper. So, pause the video to complete the task. Great work. Let's go through the answers. So, the red line represents temperature measured in degrees Celsius, and we always need to make sure that we use that unit when we write down our readings. The blue bars represent precipitation measured in millimetres. The highest amount of precipitation fell in November, and was 210 millimetres. And the lowest temperature fell in January, and was around six degrees Celsius. For the rest of the lesson, we're going to be using climate graphs and data to compare the climate in two locations in the UK. We will be looking at Glasgow, which is located in Scotland, and Oxford, which is located in England. As you can see, the graphs look slightly different, with more of the months showing to support you. However, the temperature is still measured along the left Y-axis, and the precipitation is on the right Y-axis. To begin, I'd like you to use all the skills we've learned so far in this lesson to describe Glasgow's climate, using the climate graph. Some of the measurements will have to be estimates, which is why you'll find sentences like temperatures of around something. You'll be giving a guess of some sort as it isn't overly clear for some of them. When we go through the answers, I'll give you a range that you could have written, which you will get correct. Remember to use the red line graph for temperature and measure against the left Y-axis, and the blue bar for precipitation measured against the right Y-axis. So, pause the video to complete the task. Well done. Let's go through the answers. So, the hottest month in Glasgow is in July because that is where the highest red point is, okay? That means it's hot. And we need to measure against the left Y-axis. It's not on the line, which is 15 degree Celsius. It's just below, which I've given 14 degree Celsius. If you've written 13 degree Celsius, or 14 degree Celsius, give yourself a tick. The coldest month then, we need to look at the lowest red point, and that is in January. February is also similar, but January is slightly lower down, which means it's colder. I'm going to measure it again, against the left Y-axis. So we see the bottom is zero. The next line up is five. Halfway would be 2.5, but it's slightly above that, which makes it three degree Celsius. If you've given two or three degree Celsius, give yourself a tick. The month that received the highest amount of precipitation would have the tallest blue bar, and the tallest blue bar is in the month of October. And we need to measure that then against the right Y-axis, and we get to 140 millimetres. If you've written 139 millimetres, 140, or 141 millimetres, give yourself a tick. The driest month is where we need to look at the shortest blue bar, and that is in the month of April. Okay? We measure that, again, against the right Y-axis, and the answer is 69 millimetres. If you've written 68, 70, or 69 millimetres, you can give yourself a tick. You're doing so well, so let's keep going. Now that you've shown that you can gather data by filling in the gaps, you're going to describe the climate graph for Oxford. Make sure to use the success criteria to help you structure your sentences. So, we'll need to find the hottest month and temperature, the coldest month and temperature, the wettest month and amount of rainfall, and the driest month and amount of rainfall. So, best of luck. Pause the video to complete the task. So here are the answers. As you can see, I have written in bullet points next to the success criteria. I know that you have answered this better than I have as you have written in full sentences. So the answers are, the hottest month was July, and the temperature was around 17 degrees Celsius. So remember, it can be slightly below or above that, so I would give it either 16 or 18 is also correct. The coldest month and temperature was January, and it was around three degrees Celsius. Again, if you've given yourself three or maybe four degrees Celsius, give yourself a tick. The wettest month was in December. You can see they're all quite consistent here, but it was in December, and it was 75 millimetres. If you've written 74 or 76, you can also give yourself a tick. And the driest month was in February and it was 49 millimetres. So if you wrote 48, 49, or 50 millimetres, give yourself a tick. Really excellent work there. We're now going to look at the data in more detail. On the screen, you can see the temperature and the precipitation in the table, and it represents the data of Glasgow. Using that data, we're going to calculate the range temperature, the mean temperature, range precipitation, mean precipitation, and total precipitation. This might seem quite overwhelming, but we're going to do this together. So, first of all, we're going to calculate the range temperature, which means the high temperature minus the lowest temperature. Please write the subheading, range temperature, on your piece of paper. So we're going to write every single step down as we go. So you might want to pause the video after every step to make sure that it's all written down. The two numbers needed for this calculation is highlighted in the table. So we're going to write down 14.5 takeaway three, so the highest temperature minus the lowest temperature. I want you to calculate that either using a calculator or in your head. So shout out the answer in five seconds. Three, two, one. Well done. It's 11.5 degrees Celsius. So that means the difference in temperature, between winter and summer is 11.5 degrees Celsius. So, we're now going to calculate the mean temperature, using the numbers highlighted. So, the mean temperature is the average temperature of the year, so we need to add up all the temperatures and divide by the amounts of months. So, the first step is writing the subheading, mean temperature. Okay, now, we need to show all our workings out, and add up all the temperatures. Pause the video to get that written down. Once you've calculated the total, press play. Great, shout out the total in three, two, one. So the total is 101.9 degrees Celsius. On the screen, you can see a forward slash, then 12. That is because we are dividing 101.9 by the amount of months, which is 12. What's the answer to that? Shout out the answer in three, two, one. Yes, it's 8.453 recurring. So because the temperatures are rounded to one decimal place, we're going to do the same for our answer, which is 8.6 degrees Celsius. We're now going to do the same but for precipitation. So, we're going to start with range precipitation, which is the highest amount take away the lowest amount. So, let's write the subheading, range precipitation. We then write 140, which is the highest, in millimetres, take away 62, which is the lowest. What's the answer to that? Shout out the answer in five seconds. Three, two, one. Great work! It's 78 millimetres. Now it's time to do the mean precipitation, where we add all the amounts and divide by the amount of months. So, our first step is writing the subheading, mean precipitation. The next step is writing our workings out like this. So, this is where we add up all the precipitation measurements. This is where it might be handy to have a calculator with you, but don't worry, if not, pause the video to give yourself enough time. So, the total is 1,183, and we need to divide it by 12 because it's the total amount of months. 1,183 divided by 12 is 98.583 recurring, which rounded up to the whole number is 99 millimetres. We've stuck to whole numbers for precipitation because that's how it's shown in the table. So, the mean precipitation is 99 millimetres. Finally, we have the total precipitation. You've already worked this out in the mean precipitation because we added all the measurements of precipitation. So, write down the subheading, and then we already know that the answer is 1,183. Right, so it's now your turn to independently do the same calculations, but for Oxford. Remember to show all your workings out and you can use a calculator to support you. So, pause the video to complete the task. Excellent work, geographers. Let's assess our answers. So, I'm not going to read them in detail. However, if you do want to check your workings out, please feel free to pause the video as we go. So, first of all, we have the range, which is 13.8 degrees Celsius, and the mean, which is 9.8 degrees Celsius. And that's all for temperature. For precipitation, the range is 26 millimetres, the mean is 63 millimetres, and the total is 759 millimetres. Really great work. So, now that we know more about the locations, which of the following is true? Is it option one? Overall, the climate in Glasgow is hotter than in Oxford and has a higher amount of precipitation. Or is it option two? Overall, the climate in Glasgow is colder than in Oxford and has a higher amount of precipitation. So, pause the video for 30 seconds to write the correct answer down. The correct answer is option two. So overall, the climate in Glasgow is colder and has a higher amount of precipitation. So we've now arrived at our main task. The following people are looking to move to the UK. They have some preferences regarding the climate they are after. You must suggest which place would be best for them to settle. And that's going to be either Glasgow or Oxford. So, let's have a look first at what the success criteria is asking us to focus on. So we need to name the location, either Glasgow or Oxford. We need to mention the overall climate, the rainfall, and the temperature at that location. So, let's look at the cyclist together. So, the cyclist said, "I am looking to move to a place in the UK where the climate is good for cycling. Therefore, I do not want wind or rain. I prefer warm summers and cold winters." So, let's read this model answer. The cyclist should move to Oxford. So they've named the location. As it is more suited for cycling as the climate is drier than Glasgow. So, overall climate, done. Oxford also has mild summers and cold winters, with the highest temperature reaching 16.8 degrees Celsius in July. So, and again, I've mentioned the temperature. The total rainfall is rather low at 759 millimetres, however, it is consistent throughout the year. Another success criteria checked, okay? So again, there's four pieces in success criteria, so four places to tick in your paragraph. Okay, so it's now your turn to do the same for the fisherperson. So, the fisherperson said, "I am looking to move somewhere in the UK where the climate is good for fishing. So rainy days would be great for us. Also, we would prefer to not be too cold." Okay. So, pause the video to complete the task. Remember, check against that success criteria. Well done on completing your answer. Here's something you could have written. The fisherperson should locate in Glasgow. So that's the first success criteria ticked. This is because there is plenty of rainfall, with 1,183 millimetres in total in a year. Tick. Overall, Glasgow has a wet and cold climate. Another one. And then the average temperature is 8.5 degrees Celsius, which is not too cold for fishing. And that final one ticked. Okay? So, that's just something you could have written. It could have been worded slightly different, but make sure that you've had the four mini targets in the success criteria. That's it for today's lesson, you've really tackled those mathematical skills head-on. So we now know how to read a climate graph, how to gather data from the climate graph, and how to use that data to compare locations. Next lesson, we'll be looking at high pressure events in the UK. Excellent work today. I'm so proud of you. Bye!

Exit Quiz: How do we use climate graphs?

Completed: How do we use climate graphs?

In this lesson, we will be learning about climate graphs and how we can use them to describe the average temperature and rainfall of a year. We'll also be using climate graphs to compare two locations in the UK.

Geography

How do we use climate graphs?

Introductory Quiz

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Final Quiz

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