Weather Reports, Graph and Tables

WEATHER REPORTS

     Weather report is a report containing the results of meteorological observations that are in the news as television, newspapers, and radio to be reported to the general public.

Weather report serves to inform the reader or listener news how the weather conditions and the latest updates according to meteorologists. So if there is bad weather that could jeopardize, the public can anticipate in advance.

EXAMPLE :

This is CKNY and I'm Anita Pierce with weather. We couldn't ask for a better day for the first day of Spring. Right now it's fifteen degrees and clear. We're expecting blue skies throughout the day. Though there is only a ten percent chance of showers, this good weather can't last forever. It's raining cats and dogs up north, so we should see rain by morning. Don't forget your umbrella tomorrow. Now, stay tuned for local news.

tables

Purposes

Tables are

• an organiser for an investigation
• a way of presenting data in a report
• an organiser to assist comprehension and thinking.

For investigations with no numerical data it is usually better to use a table to present the data.

A table with numerous variables can be broken down into smaller tables that look at each variable separately. The interaction between the various variables can then be explored.

Structure

• The independent variables (if they have been identified) go in the left hand columns, the dependent variables on the right.

The independent variable

Type of paper towel

Amount of water absorbed (ml)

The dependent  variable

• Any column heading should have all the information needed to define the table's meaning. A categoric variable should include a description of the class. A discrete or continuous variable should identify units and any multipliers (e.g., hundreds of people, millions of dollars, kilometres).
• A title summarises what the table is showing.
• When investigating, the order of the entries is arbitrary. When reporting results, they should be sorted into an order.
• Sometimes it is better to put data into bands, e.g., < 10 years, 10-15 years, 16-20 years… this makes it more manageable, and easier to see trends and patterns.

graphs

Purposes

Graphs are

• a way of exploring the relationships in data
• a way of displaying and reporting data, making it easier to report patterns and relationships, shapes of distributions, and trends.

Structure

Any graph used to report findings should show

• the significant features and findings of the investigation in a fair and easily read way
• the underlying structure of an investigation in terms of the relationships between and within the variables
• the units of measurement
• the number of readings (though sometimes these will be in the accompanying text)
• the range and interval of readings, where appropriate.

It is good practice (but only a convention) to put the dependent variable on the horizontal (x) axis and the independent on the vertical (y) axis.

Bar graphs

Bar graphs should be used for categoric, ordered, and discrete variables. If the number of units in a discrete variable is large it may be displayed as a continuous variable.

Line graphs

Line graphs should be used for continuous variables.

Pie graphs

Pie graphs (sometimes called pie or circle charts) are used to show the parts that make up a whole. They can be useful for comparing the size of relative parts.

Because it is difficult to compare different circle graphs, and often hard to compare the angles of different sectors of the pie, it is sometimes better to choose other sorts of graphs.

Histograms Use histograms when y-axis gives the frequency of, or occurrences for continuous data that has been sorted into groups, for example, 20-24 metres. All bars are usually of equal width. They can be turned into line graphs by connecting the middle of the top section of each vertical bar. Histograms are not joined up bar graphs and should not be used for categoric data (unless the number of units in each group is large).