NOAA Temperature and Precipitation Tools

Salish Kootenai College

This activity provides information on how to access and use a wealth of data and tools from NOAA to analyze climate through time. A video tutorial and background information are provided and show students how to interact with and use tools to analyze temperature and precipitation data for specific cities, states, countries, and the world.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

This resource does not provide instructions for use in an educational setting, but a worksheet is provided that can guide you through it. It might require close teacher supervision for some student groups. It could be helpful for teachers to watch the video and then lead students through its use. The choice of Montana and the range of data in the examples could make it hard for some students to connect back to local or national trends. It could also be seen as cherry-picking data by a climate skeptic. Educators may want to explore the data and help students look at other regions and date ranges. It would be better for teachers to choose local examples to demonstrate and instruct students on these tools. It is a bit dry, especially the video showing students how to use the tools, and could be hard for students to stick with it without the teacher providing scaffolding or support.
The tools are an excellent way to connect students to near-real-time data. The tools are full of effective information, and there is a video walking you through how to use them. There are report outlines that students can use to create a report of weather and climate data from various locations, and allow students a chance to explore in a more open, broad way. Writing such a report can be translatable to a workforce skill. Sequencing, guidance, and engagement for using the tool are included, however, the educators and students will need to make sure their reports are consistent and meet the expectations of the classroom.
There is a note about a requirement from the website to download the latest Adobe Flash Player. However, the data and website has a usable interface that allows students open exploration as is. This is a great tool if you are familiar with NOAA resources and navigation, but it could be more challenging to use for educators who are not.