Educator's Weather Videos
Each video correlates to science standards. Many come with a teacher's guide with exercises, experiments, written quizzes, or coloring pages. All of these target specific grade levels and are available by subscription as streaming video, with each video further divided into segments. These programs are produced by Alan Sealls, an educator, an AMS Fellow, and an award-winning meteorologist and producer. All are HD. These copyrighted videos are distributed only by DiscoveryEducation and by boclips under the name "Weatherthings". Go to those websites for subscription or licensing detail.
Weather Start 4-part animated cartoon SERIES for grades k-2, available in English, Spanish, and Canadian French. Each program is 15 minutes. Weather and Seasons; The Sun, Heat and Air; Storms, and Clouds; Rain and the Water Cycle. The littlest kids are introduced to the wonders of weather. The basics of air, water, and heat are woven into stories, along with other principles of meteorology.
Hands on Weather 3-part SERIES for grades 3-6. Programs are 3 to 4 minutes. Air; Heat; Water. How the world works is easier to grasp when one can physically apply the laws of nature. Weather lessons come alive for students in simple weather experiments and demonstrations for home or school, using everyday materials.
Weather Smart 10-part SERIES for grades 3-8. Programs are 15 to 18 minutes. Tornadoes; Thunderstorms; Hurricanes; Climate; Forecasting and Weather Instruments; Heat, Wind and Pressure; The Water Cycle and Clouds; Ozone and Pollution; Winter and Snow; Weather. The Weather Smart is designed to make kids smarter in weather, covering the full spectrum of basic weather, from fundamentals to appreciation and safety.
Water Smart 4-part SERIES for grades 3-8. Each program is 15 minutes. Water in the Air; Water on Earth; Water as a Natural Resource; The Sun, Water Cycle, and Climate. A comprehensive picture of water's existence, motion, and changes on Earth, and water’s value to Earth and life.
Weather Things 11-part SERIES for high school to adult. Sun, Air, Wind and Atmosphere; Water Cycle, Hydrology and Floods; Clouds; Seasons and Weather Cycles; Radar, Satellite, and Weather Instruments; Lightning and Thunderstorms; Tornadoes; Hurricanes; Atmospheric Optics and Sky Sights; Climate and Climate Change; Meteorology is Weather. Programs range from 22 to 28 minutes. Weather from A to Z, on a level and pacing for older students and beyond. Video and concepts that pique curiosity and science investigation.
Multiple Hurricane programs, 3rd grade and up. Programs range from 9 to 21 minutes. Hurricane Sandy; Hurricane Katrina; Hurricane Matthew; Hurricane Harvey; Hurricane Irma; Hurricane Maria; Hurricane Florence; Hurricane Michael; Hurricane Dorian; Hurricane Laura; Hurricane Delta; Hurricane Sally. Each program covers the respective hurricane as a historical event, focusing on the science of meteorology, and the social impact of the storm.
Hurricane Hunters, 3rd grade and up. 7 minutes. In the United States there are two different groups of hurricane hunters that fly into tropical storms and hurricanes to gather weather data. This is a profile of both groups and how their roles and missions are similar and complementary.
Severe Weather Safety: Watch for the Warning, grades 3-8. 23 minutes. Students and teachers see and learn the basics of severe thunderstorm hazards and how to find safety from threats of damaging wind, flash flood, lightning, and tornadoes. The safety information applies to situations in schools, in homes, and outdoors.
Wildfire Safety, 3rd grade and up. 22 minutes. How, when, and where wildfires happen, with a focus on safety and mitigation. Wildfires impact human, animal, and plant life. Tremendous dollar and human resources go into fighting wildfires.
Rip Current Safety, 3rd grade and up. 14 minutes. The science of what, where, and how, of rip currents. Emphasis is placed on identifying and then avoiding rip currents. Knowledge leads to safety from these killer currents on beaches.
Swim Water Quality, 3rd grade and up. 7 minutes. Water quality for swimming can be compromised by high levels of bacteria and harmful blooms of algae. These can cause illness in people, along with harm to other creatures and plants. It’s a threat on coastal beaches, and on inland lakes.
Deepwater Horizon: Timeline of a Tragedy, 3rd grade and up. 13 minutes. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the largest in United States history. Killing 11 people, it injured people, ecosystems, and economies. This is a review of the facts and statistics, chronologically.
Kilauea 2018: Hawaii's Most Active Volcano, 3rd grade and up. 19 minutes. Raw power of nature is seen in Hawaii regularly, related to seismology and volcanology, with a small impact on meteorology. Kilauea eruptions on a rift zone covered 14 square miles of land, created new land and destroyed hundreds of homes in 2018
Saharan Dust, 3rd grade and up. 7 minutes. Tremendous dust plumes from the Sahara desert can cross the Atlantic to reach the United States annually. The dust is a negative to air quality from west Africa through the Carribean, but it may be a positive in temporarily reducing the threats of tropical storms
Island Cloud Vortex, 3rd grade and up. 4 minutes. Downwind of isolated, small, mountainous islands, a feature known as an island cloud vortex can form. A series of them can line up as vortex streets of cloud vorticies. We see the same basic concept in a stream of water.
Weather Balloons, 3rd grade and up. 7 minutes. Weather balloons are launched around the world, twice a day, at the same time to gather and share data about the atmosphere, using radiosondes. The upper-air data helps meteorologists to create better computer-model forecasts.