Weather Science Fair Projects: Topic Ideas

Here are some suggestions for projects to test a hypothesis. We give one possible hypothesis for each project, but many others are also possible. After stating your hypothesis, design and carry out an experiment to test it.

1. How does the temperature change during the day?

   One possible hypothesis:
   The temperature is lowest at midnight and highest at high noon.

2. What is the difference between the temperature in direct sun and in the shade? Is the difference always the same?

   One possible hypothesis:
   The temperature in the shade is at least 10º F but no more than 20º F cooler than in the sun.

3. How accurate is weather prediction? Compare the accuracy of two or more TV meteorologists.

   One possible hypothesis:
   The meteorologist on Channel 3 is more often right than the meteorologist on Channel 7.

4. How does weather affect human emotion?

   One possible hypothesis:
   People are more often sad, depressed, or moody on cloudy days than on sunny days.

5. Does weather affect test scores? Should teachers give tests on rainy days so students perform better?

   One possible hypothesis:
   Students do better on tests on rainy days than on sunny days.

   You could test this hypothesis by giving a timed test such as a math addition or multiplication test to the same people on very different weather days. Do they score better or faster in good or bad weather? You could also look at any data on SAT scores (Scholastic Aptitude Test, usually required for entrance to a university) to see if any research has been done correlating them to weather conditions.

Here are some suggestions for research projects to find out how much scientists already know about these things.

6. How do clouds and cloud formation relate to weather patterns?
7. What are clouds made of? What are the different kinds of clouds and how are they different?
8. What causes the wind to blow? Are hurricanes and tornadoes just high winds?
9. How are tornados formed and what causes them?
10. What causes hail? Why are some hailstones larger than others?
11. Does solar activity such as sunspots or coronal mass ejections affect weather on Earth?
12. Can you outrun a typical tornado or hurricane as it moves across the earth? Should you try? Why or why not?
13. Is air pressure related to weather as some aneroid barometers suggest with the words that are printed on them?