To accompany feature “Cool Jobs: Wet and wild weather”  

SCIENCE 

Before Reading: 

1. List three reasons why accurate weather forecasts are important to have. 

2. Weather can be dangerous. Give an example of a serious weather event and explain why it can be dangerous to people. 

During Reading: 

1. What was Snowzilla? 

2. What are the three key features needed for a thunderstorm? 

3. Why does warm air rise? 

4. How do scientists draw weather maps? 

5. What is a rain gauge? 

6. How does the Global Precipitation Mission see through clouds? 

7. What are NASA visualizations used for? 

8. What is “stream flow”? 

9. How can the amount of pavement in an urban area affect stream flow? 

10. How can stream flow data help during a flood? 

After Reading: 

1. Give three reasons that might explain why weather forecasts are not always accurate.  

2. Weather forecasts are based, in part, on weather patterns from past years. How might climate change affect that method of producing forecasts? 

MATHEMATICS 

1. The level of a river is 3 meters (9.8 feet) below the surface of a bridge. If the water level continues to rise 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) every 10 minutes, how long will it be until the bridge floods? 

2. Snowzilla dropped a meter (~3 feet) of snow in two days. What was the average rate of snowfall per hour during that storm? Give you answer either in centimeters or inches, and show your work.