Planning Basket-Repair Days in a Desert Town

Weather Beside the Basket Workshop

A desert town holds basket-repair workshops in a courtyard. People bring worn baskets and learn to mend them. The workshop leader, Ms. Vega, wondered which seasons would usually have mild afternoons and less wind. Wind can scatter the light paper instruction cards used at the tables.

Step 1: A science club chose 12 observation dates spread through each season. Members chose the dates before seeing weather forecasts. They repeated this plan for two years. That gave them 24 observation dates for each season when they combined the records.

Step 2: On each date, an adult recorded air temperature and wind speed at 2 p.m. The club used the same shaded thermometer and the same wind meter in fixed places beside the courtyard. The seasons changed, but the equipment, locations, and reading time stayed the same.

Step 3: Members placed each temperature reading in one group: cool meant below 60°F, mild meant 60°F through 84°F, and hot meant 85°F or higher. They counted a date as windy if the wind speed at 2 p.m. was 15 miles per hour or higher.

Step 4: The club combined the two years of observations. The table groups the temperatures, and the graph shows windy dates. Both displays describe the same 24 observation dates per season.