ORHS students get new weather station
Oak Ridge High School students are getting a new weather station that collects climate data.
Lisa Weathers, a science teacher and English learning specialist at ORHS, received a $2,500 grant from Tennessee Valley Authority Bicentennial Volunteers Inc.
She used it to purchase a Davis Instruments weather station and several hands-on kits to use with her Alternate Academic Diploma Earth and Space Science class weather unit, an email from Molly Gallagher Smith, the school’s communications specialist, stated.
It will also be available for use by other classes to use the weather data to supplement their lessons.
The school is working with its information technology team to make the station data public, at which point anyone with a weatherlink.com account can view the real-time data and history from the station.
Weathers shared other possible applications for students in other classes with The Courier News.
Physics classes can use the equipment for setting off student-made rockets and estimating where the rockets will land so students can retrieve them, or helping to decide if it is too windy to shoot off the rockets on the planned day.
Environmental and applied-science classes can compare and analyze charts and graphs.
Mathematic classes can use data in various computations.
Statistics classes can monitor temperatures, winds and other variables for prediction and weather formulas throughout the semester.
Sports teams may use the station as well, she said.
Track teams can use it to check the wind speed as more than 4.37 mph hour is over the allowable wind in establishing records for track and field events.
Football coaches can use the station to determine field conditions, presence of lightning, humidity, and temperatures to prepare for the players’ hydration.
Baseball coaches can use the station information to determine how much rain has accumulated on the field.
In general, the teams can use the weather predictions to decide whether they need to cancel practice or games, and if the wind patterns are positive or negative for play.
Also, the ORHS Wild Band marching band can determine temperature, humidity, rain and other variables for outdoor marching band practice.