A variety of instruments are used to record regular data on the weather. The most important instruments are described below.
Hygrometer – An instrument used for measuring humidity.
Anemometer – An instrument for measuring the speed of the wind.
instrument for measuring air pressure. The most accurate type is the mercury barometer, which measures the distance pressure forces mercury up a glass tube containing a vacuum.
Sunshine Recorder – An instrument used to indicate the amount the number of hours of sunshine in a day.
Cloud Recording – The recording of cloud type and cloud cover is done manually, using the naked eye. Meteorologists measure cloud cover in eights of the sky or oktas.
0 oktas – a completely cloudless sky
8 oktas – the sky is fully clouded over
Weather such as rain, wind or snow, happens all around us every day. In the last century or so, the climate seems to have changed unusually quickly. The planet’s average temperature is rising, with alarming effects – see Ecosystems and Global Warming factfiles for further information.
KEY STAGE 3 – Understanding the weather; measuring the weather, depressions and anticyclones.