Weather Lab

Client: Smithsonian Science Education Center

Say you live in the Southwest and a Gulf Loop ocean current is moving in, paired with a Maritime Tropical and a Continental Tropical air mass: what should you wear to school? Here’s a hint: you might want to take an umbrella. Working with experts at the Smithsonian Science Education Center, FableVision Studios developed Weather Lab, an HTML5 online game that helps middle school students visualize how North America’s weather is formed.

Controls of the Weather Lab are simple: choose one ocean current from the green box, and an air mass from each of the orange boxes. Then make a prediction about how to prepare for the day’s weather. Each prediction is for the spring season. If you are correct you will see an animation of a weather event. Teachers use the Weather Lab to encourage students to think critically and make predictions.

A Peek Inside