Weather Map Symbols
& Station Models

Vocabulary — tap a card

One card opens at a time and auto-flips back after 8 seconds. Cards never lock — review as often as you need.

Matching — term to meaning

Tap a term on the left, then tap its meaning on the right.

Reading: The Station Model

A station model is a shorthand way of plotting many weather measurements around a single point on a map. Instead of writing words, meteorologists place numbers and symbols in fixed positions so that any reader can decode the weather at a glance.

The center circle shows sky cover — the fraction of the sky hidden by clouds. The air temperature (°F) sits at the upper left and the dewpoint (°F) at the lower left. The sea-level pressure is plotted at the upper right as a three-digit code in tenths of a millibar. A wind staff points in the direction the wind is blowing from, and the barbs on the staff report wind speed in knots.

When air masses with different temperatures meet, the boundary is called a front. A cold front is drawn with triangles, and a warm front is drawn with semicircles; both symbols point in the direction the front is moving.

ESRT p.18 — Key to Weather Map Symbols

Build Your Understanding

Use what you read to complete each task.

Tutorial — Interactive Station Model

Tap each part of the model to learn what it means and how to read it.

How to Code & Decode Sea-Level Pressure

Sea-level pressure is plotted in tenths of a millibar with the leading 9 or 10 omitted. To decode the 3-digit number: place a decimal before the last digit, then add a 9 or 10 in front so the value lands in the realistic range (about 940–1060 mb).

ESRT p.18 — Pressure key

Practice — Read the Code, Convert the Pressure

Each station model below has a coded sea-level pressure at its upper right. Read the code off the model, convert it to millibars, type your answer, and press Check.

Relative Humidity from a Station Model

A station model gives you the air temperature and the dewpoint. The closer these two numbers are, the higher the relative humidity. When temperature and dewpoint are equal, the air is saturated (relative humidity = 100%) and fog or precipitation is likely. A large gap means dry air and low relative humidity.

Coding the Pressure (Data Table — 4 pts)

For each station, write the 3-digit code that would appear on the station model. Then fill the dewpoint column with "high" or "low" relative humidity based on the temperature–dewpoint gap. Complete all cells, then press Check.

Build Two Station Models (4 pts)

For each station you are given the weather data. Tap a data chip, then tap the spot around the blank circle where it belongs. Correct placements lock into the model; the wind staff and sky cover draw themselves. Note: the pressure is given in millibars, but the chip shows its coded form — that coded value is what gets plotted on the upper right of a station model.

The Map

Five station models are plotted across New York State. Read each one to answer the questions, then draw the fronts.

Read the Stations

Find the Low & Draw the Fronts — Map 1 (5 pts)

The map of the Northeast United States below shows 20 station models. Read the pattern, then draw the fronts that separate the air masses.

Start by finding the Low-pressure center (L): it sits where the coded pressures are lowest and the fronts meet. Drop the L there first. Then draw each front and tap the side the symbols point toward — cold-front triangles point the way the cold air is moving (toward the warm air), and warm-front semicircles point the way the warm front is moving (toward the cooler air).

Find the Low & Draw the Fronts — Map 2 (5 pts)

A new storm over the same region. The 20 station models are in different places — read the pattern and build the surface map again.

Drop the L on the lowest pressures, then draw the cold and warm fronts and tap the side the symbols point toward.

Data Table (Part 3)

Station Models Built / Drawn

Map 1

No front map saved.

Map 2

No front map saved.

Written Responses (Part 1)

Questions & Answers