Every card in Weather and climate, Year 7: more practice
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- The instrument that measures how much rain has fallen
A rain gauge
HintIt collects the water in a container.
WhyRainfall is measured in millimetres (mm) of depth collected over a period such as a day.
- In what unit is rainfall usually measured?
Millimetres (mm)
HintIt is a depth, not a volume.
WhyOne millimetre of rain is a layer of water one millimetre deep over the ground.
- Why is a thermometer kept in the shade, in a ventilated box, when measuring air temperature?
So direct sunlight does not heat it and give a false reading
HintAir temperature is not the same as how hot a thermometer in the sun gets.
WhyWeather stations use a screen that lets air through but blocks the sun, so the reading reflects the air itself.
- Which type of rainfall is caused by the ground being heated by the sun, making warm air rise?
Convectional rainfall
HintCommon on hot summer afternoons.
WhyThe rising warm air cools, water vapour condenses into cloud, and heavy showers or thunderstorms often follow.
- Which type of rainfall happens where warm air meets cold air and the warm air is pushed up?
Frontal rainfall
HintNamed after the boundary between the two air masses.
WhyThe lighter warm air rides up over the heavier cold air, cools and condenses. Many UK wet spells are frontal.
- In relief rainfall, which side of the hills is usually drier, the windward side or the leeward side?
The leeward side
HintThe air has already lost its moisture by then.
WhyAir rises on the windward side and drops its rain. Descending on the other side, it warms and holds its moisture. This is the rain shadow.
- For all three types of rainfall, the air must first do what?
Rise and cool
HintWater vapour only condenses when it is cooler.
WhyRising air cools, vapour condenses into droplets, and clouds form. When the droplets grow heavy enough, they fall as rain.
- Air that reaches Britain from the Arctic in the north is described as polar maritime. Is it likely to be warm or cold?
Cold
HintThink where it began its journey.
WhyPolar maritime air is cold and showery. It crosses the sea on its way south, picking up moisture.
- A tropical continental air mass reaching Britain in summer brings what kind of weather?
Hot and dry
HintIt begins over warm land, far from the sea.
WhyContinental means it has formed over land, so it carries little moisture. In summer it can bring heatwaves.
- Britain is an island with several different air masses reaching it. Why does this make the weather change so often?
Different air masses with different temperatures and moisture keep arriving
HintEach air mass brings its own character.
WhyBritain sits where polar and tropical, sea and land air meet, so conditions can change within days or hours.
1★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0029
2★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0030
3★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0031
4★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0032
5★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0033
6★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0034
7★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0035
8★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0036
9★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0037
10★ KS3-GEOG-WEA-0038
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.