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Name:_________________________ Date:___________________________
For this RWLO, you will download real climate data from your location using the Internet
and use Microsoft Excel or similar spreadsheet program to create a climatogram. Once
completed, you will make a recommendation regarding the "best" and "worst" time of
the year to visit your city.
A. Practice using a Climatogram: Rio de Janeiro
Climatograms are frequently included in travel books and tourism brochures so
interested visitors can select the "best" time of year to visit a certain location. Look at
the climatogram for Rio de Janeiro below. The blue bar graphs correspond to the
average monthly precipitation in inches and are plotted along the Primary left Y-axis.
The line graphs correspond to the average monthly high (red), mean (orange), and
low (yellow) temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit (F).
2. Which month or months do you think are the "worst" time of year to visit Rio
de Janeiro? Why?
2. Locate your City: Follow the directions below to locate your city.
a. Go to The Weather Channel web site (www.weather.com).
b. Enter the name of your city or zip code in the "Local Forecast" and click
the "Go" button. If you are not redirected to the exact location, select your
city from choices listed.
c. Scroll down below the Doppler Radar image to the "10-Day Forecast"
table and click the button.
d. You should now see a bar chart for the "Monthly Averages for [Your City]".
Just below the chart, scroll down until you see a table that lists the Months,
Avg. High, Avg. Low, Mean, Avg. Precip., etc.
e. Verify that the radio button for "English Units" is selected and proceed to
the next step.
2. Enter the Data: You will now enter the monthly averages from the weather web
site for your city into the Excel spreadsheet as in the sample table below. Do not
enter the units of measurements (F, in., etc.), just the numerical values. Also,
don't forget to change "YOUR CITY" to the name of your city.
4. Create your Climatogram: Once you've entered all of the data in the excel
spreadsheet, PRINT and carefully review the following step-by-step instructions
for How to Create a Climatogram. This help file describes how to create a
climatogram using Microsoft Excel.
o How to Create a Climatogram
(http://www.rwlo.org/users/56/Use%20Excel%20to%20create%20a
%20Climatogram/Content%20Material/climatogram.shtml)
2. Which month or months do you think the "worst" time of year to visit your city?
Why?
D. Extra-Credit
1. Add Record High and Record Low temperature lines using the climate data
from the weather web site to your climatogram.