CHAPTER I.
The work outlined in this chapter is adapted to the lower grades in the grammar school. It is assumed that the pupils have already had some preliminary training in the simplest non-instrumental weather observations, such as can readily be made during the primary school years. For the convenience of teachers who may desire it, a brief outline of work suited to the primary school grades is here given. It is desirable that even older scholars be given some such training as this before they take up the exercises of Chapter II.
The central idea in this elementary work is to train the children in intelligent weather observation, so that they may come to appreciate what our typical weather changes are; that they may recognize the types as they recur, and may see how each example differs from, or accords with, those that have preceded it. We are all so directly affected by the weather conditions prevailing at any time that even the youngest children are forced, unconsciously to be sure, to take some notice of these changes. The work of the teacher is, therefore, simply to direct attention to what is already seen.
When the children come to school on some snowy winter day, with a northeast wind, chilling and damp, attention may be called to the need of overshoes and overcoats, to the piling up of the snow in deep drifts at certain places near the school or in the town, while in other places the ground is left bare; to the ease with which snowballs may be made, and to other facts which will very readily suggest themselves. A day or two after such a storm, when the sun is shining bright in a cloudless sky, when there is no wind and the air is dry, cold, and crisp, the contrasts between these two weather types should be brought out. Instead of snow we now have sunshine: instead of a damp, chilling northeaster we now have a calm
and the air is dry; snowballs cannot easily be made in the early morning because the snow is frozen hard and is too dry, but towards noon, if the temperature rise high enough, there may be thawing on the tops or sides of the snowdrifts, and there the snow becomes soft enough for snowballing. Another weather type, often noted during our winter in the central and eastern United States, and strongly contrasted with both of the preceding conditions, is that which brings us a warm, damp, southerly wind, frequently accompanied by heavy rains. As these damp winds blow over snow-covered surfaces they become foggy and the ground is said to “smoke”; the heavy rain rapidly melts the snow; slush and mud make bad walking; rivers and brooks rise rapidly, perhaps overflowing their banks; low-lying places become filled with standing water. These and other features should all be brought out by the teacher, not by telling the class of them directly, but by judicious questioning, and they should be contrasted with the conditions which may immediately follow, when the storm has cleared off, and when the low temperatures brought by a cold wave, with its dry northwest wind, have resulted in freezing lakes, rivers, and brooks, and when skating and sliding may be indulged in. Early summer weather conditions, with their characteristic warm spells, cumulus clouds, thunderstorms, and (near the coast) sea breezes, furnish another long list of typical changes that should be just as carefully noted and described as the more striking winter characteristics. Autumn types add further to the list, which might be extended almost indefinitely.
One whole year of the grammar school course may well be given to the observations suggested in Chapter I, provided that there is no need of hastening on to the more advanced work. The advantage of extending the course over a whole school year is great, because such extension gives opportunity for becoming familiar with late summer, autumn, winter, spring, and early summer weather types, and this is far better than attempting to crowd all the work into one short season. The interest of a class can easily be kept up throughout a school year by means of a progressive system of observations. It is best to vary the observations from time to time, and to arrange them so that, beginning with the more simple, they shall gradually become
more complete and more advanced as the year goes on. Thus, starting with temperature observations alone, these may be continued for one or two weeks before they are supplemented by records of wind direction and velocity. After some practice in the observation of these two weather elements (say during one month), data as to the state of the sky may be added. Cloud observations themselves may well be graded during successive weeks, so that, beginning with the simplest notes concerning amounts of cloudiness, the pupils shall gradually advance to the point of observing, and perhaps even of sketching, the common cloud forms and their changes. Thus an important step will have been taken towards appreciating the need of a standard cloud classification, which may be given later.
The addition of records of precipitation completes the list of simple non-instrumental weather observations, and these records, as well as the cloud records, can easily be graded, so that, during successive weeks, every week’s work shall be different from that of every other week. In this progression from the simpler to the more complicated observations lies the secret of making the work attractive. Nothing will sooner check interest in the study than the necessity of making exactly the same observations day after day and week after week throughout the year. A graded course of non-instrumental observation, such as is suggested, gives a very practical general knowledge of our common weather types and changes, and of the relations of one weather element to another. The questions asked under the different headings in this chapter are designed to awaken the interest of the scholars, and to call their attention to the more important points of diurnal, cyclonic, and seasonal changes in weather elements. The teacher will readily think of other questions which may be suggested for the consideration of the class.
Although the non-instrumental records are of little value for future reference, as compared with the instrumental observations, they should nevertheless be systematically preserved by the class in their record books. After discussion of the daily observations made by the different scholars, or by one of their number, the records may be written upon one of the blackboards reserved for this purpose.
At the close of the day, or the next morning, the blackboard notes should be entered in a record book kept in the schoolroom. The teacher may guide in the discussion of the observations; may suggest points overlooked by the scholars; may draw comparisons between the weather conditions of other weeks and of other days. This talking over of the observations is most important, as it never fails to bring out much of interest.