On the Use of the GWCC Web Site for Expanding Global Weather Education

In early 2016, the Northeast Weather Forum blog site was transformed into the Global Weather & Climate Center (GWCC) web site (http://www.globalweatherclimatecenter.com).  The intent of the site didn’t change, but the name change was designed to better showcase the site’s intent.  As two of the site’s directors, and now with a growing army of weather correspondents, we are taking the site to those who can benefit from its educationally-focused, globally-based, content (i.e., people like teachers and their students).  Site material will include written and striking visual content.

The GWCC site, being educationally-keyed, is not trying to replicate the myriad of weather web sites currently spread across the web.  There are more than enough of which cover “weather as it happens.”  Our focus is to “make sense” of what is happening or has happened by providing explanations of weather and physical processes and highlighting the applications of that explanation to real life.  Where appropriate, we’ll cover storm-based events, but with a greater focus on the science and safety portions of the event messaging. 

While using the U.S. weather database to advantage, we will also be tapping weather sources globally for meaningful content.  As a result, teachers will have access to authentic, real-time, science-based material that can easily be incorporated into classroom discussions and activities.

This presented paper (hopefully) or poster (we’ll make it work) will provide examples of our GWCC posts and how these could be used in classroom settings.  We’ll be happy to speak to interested teachers to better guide them in the site’s use and to better determine teacher needs.