The weather influences all of the organisms in our ecosystems as well as our own experiences when we explore these ecosystems. To put your observations in a global context, you should become familiar with the information necessary to understand the role weather plays in the well being of the ecosystem.

Begin by reading the weather section (pages 54 - 61) in National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest by Peter Alden and Dennis Paulson. You will also find the following web sites to be useful for collecting the weather data for your specific location.

Weather Underground - weather conditions throughout the United States as well as other countries

rWeather Real Time Road and Weather Traveler Information - Washington state weather conditions

National Weather Service, Seattle - weather conditions for Washington and Oregon

KOMO ABC 4 Seattle: Weather - weather conditions for Washington and northern Oregon

For each of your field trips or observations you should note the following information:

• type of weather - sunny, partially cloudy, cloudy, foggy, raining, hailing, snowing, etc.
• type of clouds - cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus, stratus, cumulus, etc.

When you return from your field trip you should collect the following information:

• the time that the sun rises and the time that the sun sets on the day of your field trip
• the time that the moon rises and the time that the moon sets on the day of your field trip
• the high and low temperatures for the day of your field trip
• the high and low barometric pressures for the day of your field trip
• annual rainfall to date
• annual snowfall to date (if applicable)

From this information you can calculate the length of the day* which influences the number of hours that diurnal animals have to forage for food and the number of hours that nocturnal animals experience moonlight**. If there are not enough hours to feed, animals must migrate to another location or hibernate / estivate .

* Calculate the number of hours between sunrise and sunset to determine the number of hours of daylight

** Calculate the number of hours between moon rise and moon set to determine the number of hours of moonlight

Note: the intensity of moonlight is not constant like it is with sunlight; moonlight is most intense at the full moon and it is least intense at the new moon