Weather Instruments

weather balloon

An instrument released into the atmosphere that records temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction. Data is sent by radio to monitoring stations on the ground. As you see in this picture the weather balloon expands as humidity, temperature, and pressure increases.

thermometer

Instrument used to measure temperature in degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius. As you can see in the picture the red line in the middle shows what the temperature is in Fahrenheit and Celsius.

anemometer

It measures wind speed in miles per hour. Like you see in this picture you can tell that the wind blows inside the cones and turns the turbine.

radar

It's an acronym: Radio Ranging and detection. Used to measure speed, size, and density of cloud formations by echoing of a pulse of microwave radiation off of distant objects. As you can see in the picture a dish like this and technology helps one of these work.

relative humidity

It's the percentage of water vapor in the air that's compared to the maximum amount the air could hold. As you can see in this graph above it shows the concentration and absorbency of the relative humidity.

wind sock

Used mostly by aviators to find wind direction for a safe takeoff and landing and a truncated cloth cone used to indicate wind direction. As you can see in the picture the wind moves the wind sock.

Sling Psychrometer

Used to measure relative humidity. Has 2 thermometers, one with a wet bulb, and the other dry. After spinning, the difference in temp. between the two thermometers is used to find relative humidity.

barometer

measures atmospheric air pressure usually in in inches of mercury or millibars. As you can see in the picture there is two needle points that measure atmospheric pressure.

weather satellite

orbit the earth and provide wide range of data about the earth's atmosphere. As you can see in the picture it shows a satellite and says that it can show cloud cover, warm and cool regions, and invisible water vapor.

wind vane

Determines the direction of the wind, wind is named by the direction of its origin. For example: SW winds blow from the southwest to the northeast. As you can see in this picture the wind blows and moves the arrow to which way the wind is blowing.

air hygrometer

Instrument that measures amount of water vapor in the air based on the change in length of horsehair responding to changes in humidity. As you can see in the picture it's a circular object that has one needle point that shows how much water vapor is in the air.

visibility

Max viewing distance calculated by an automatic system that takes in to account humidity, precipitation, dust, etc. It's measured in miles. As you can see in this picture you can't see past the fog very well.

rain gauge

Measures how much it has rained in a period of time in the United States, rainfall amounts are measured in inches.