Severe Weather Module

Haiyan Jiang

Department of Meteorology

University of Utah


Learning Objectives

This module is designed to help student learn some basic knowledge about severe weather. This could be exposed to 4th to 6th graders either being parallel with or a follow-up of the basic meteorology curriculum in 4th grade. We will use a lot of satellite pictures to explain the questions like: what is a hurricane or tornado or flash flood; Could a hurricane cause tornado outbreaks or flash flooding; What is the different between hurricane, typhoon and tropical cyclone; how are tropical cyclones distributed across global basins; how does the storm form, what favors strengthening or weakening, what a storm watch or warning means; when should a location be evacuated; what steps can one take to protect life and property from a hurricane, tornado, or flash flood. We will show students some innovative research results on severe weather and climate change. These will help answering the following questions that the students and general public have: is there any trend showing that the number of most destructive tropical cyclones has increased in the past several decades and/or will be increasing for the following decades? Is this trend related to global warming? What could the public do to reduce human-induced global warming? Hands-on activities, computer lab times and one field trip to NOAA national weather service are included to stimulate motivation and interests.


Classroom Visits

  1. Hurricane: lecture (power-point presentation) 45 min, vocabulary review 15 min, quiz 10-20 min

  1. Tornado: lecture (power-point presentation) 45 min, hands-on activity 15 min, tornado safety lesson 10-20 min

  1. Flash Flood: lecture (power-point presentation) 45 min, hands-on activity 15 min, quiz 10-20 min

  1. Severe Weather and Climate: lecture (power-point presentation) 20 min, computer lab 1.5-2 hour


Field Trip

Where: NOAA National Weather Service Office in Salt Lake City near airport (3 hours)

Highlights: 1) Weather Balloon Launching Demo

2) Tornado Simulator