NJ State Climatologist: Monthly Climate Maps
Data, Graphs, and Maps
Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Earth and Space Sciences
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Provided by Rutgers University
What it is
- This interactive map from Rutgers University allows students to explore historical climate data for the state of New Jersey.
- Students can select any month, back to January of 1997, to locate data on mean temperature, mean minimum, mean maximum, extreme minimum, extreme maximum, precipitation, and snow.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This interactive resource gives students an abundance of information to work with in an easy-to-understand way.
- This resource is an especially great tool for struggling readers, as they can work with the information without being bogged down by text.
Prerequisites
- Students should understand the terms mean, maximum, and minimum.
- A general understanding of the geography of New Jersey might be helpful but is not necessary.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Social Studies classes can use this resource to explore and discuss the ways geography and climate intersect.
- After introducing the data in the resource, have students choose a month and year (e.g., when they were born, when they started school, or when they went on vacation) and have them explore the maps. Conduct a class conversation about what students noticed and wondered about the maps.
- As an extension, have students compare and contrast two of the same months over several years. What do they notice? What is or is not surprising?
- Other related resources include this interactive map that shows forests and land use and this article about the climate of New Jersey.
From the scientist review
This resource depicts monthly climatic data in New Jersey and can be presented in a map form to ease interpretation. The dataset is accurate and the resource is recommended for teaching.
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Hosted on climate.rutgers.edu
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