What is weather?
Weather is what the air is doing right now: hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or windy. It's all happening in the atmosphere, the blanket of air around Earth. Three big ingredients control almost all weather: temperature, moisture (water in the air), and wind (moving air).
🔍 Looking through the lens of CHANGE
Weather is one of the best examples of CHANGE on Earth! As you explore, look for these big ideas about change:
- Change is inevitable (it always happens).
- Change can be natural or caused by people.
- Change can be positive or negative.
- Change can be orderly or random.
- Change is linked to time.
- Change creates more change.
🔒 Earn all 4 badges to unlock the Change Lens writing challenge.
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The Storm Lab
Change the ingredients. Watch the weather change!
⚡ Quick tries:
🔗 Change log
🎯 Storm missions
📒 Weather collection
Discover at least 10 kinds of weather and finish all 5 missions to earn the badge.
The Water Cycle
Where does rain come from? Where does it go?
Earth has been using the same water for billions of years! It just keeps changing form: liquid, gas, and solid. Tap each stage to learn about it.
Put the cycle in order
Start with the sun heating the ocean. Tap the stages in order:
Water cycle check
Be the Forecaster
Read the clues. Predict the weather!
Meteorologists (weather scientists) use clues to predict how the weather will change. One of their best clues is air pressure: the weight of the air pushing down.
Change Over Time
Weather vs. climate, and how Las Vegas changes through the year.
Weather is what's happening today. Climate is the usual weather in a place over many years. Think of it this way: weather is your mood today, and climate is your personality!
🌵 Las Vegas: average high temperature each month
Chart check
Weather or climate?
🏙️ Change caused by people
Cities can change their own weather! Pavement and buildings soak up heat all day and release it at night. This is called the urban heat island effect. It's one reason Las Vegas nights have gotten warmer over the years. Around the whole planet, Earth's average temperature has risen about 2°F since the late 1800s, mostly because people burn fuels like gasoline and coal. In July 2024, Las Vegas hit 120°F, its hottest temperature ever recorded!
Sort the change: natural or caused by people?
Sort the change: fast or slow?
The Change Lens Challenge
Use weather to prove a big idea about change.
Locked!
Earn all 4 badges to unlock this challenge.
Pick ONE big idea about change. Then use evidence from the Weather Lab to prove it. Write at least 3 sentences for each part.