Television weather reports represent weather conditions with smiling suns, rainy clouds and flashing bolts of lightning. In studying the weather we need to know where it is raining and where it is sunny, the wind speed and direction, humidity, visibility, pressure and temperature. Smiling suns do not contain enough information about the weather. On the other hand too many numbers drawn on a single map presents a confusing picture. Weather conditions observed at a city or town are best represented on a map using the station model.

The objectives of this lesson is learning how to read and interpret weather maps and decode weather reports. We will begin with the surface weather map, then discuss METARS and finally discuss upper air maps. Future lessons will build on this information and provide additional practice in reading this weather information.

Click on one of the following activities to begin:

• Learn about the surface weather map
• Learn the basics of the station model
• Practice decoding the station model

Depending on your comfort and experience with reading maps, this lesson should take approximately 1 to 3 hours to complete.