![]() For the record, it's bad form to say "degrees kelvin." Indeed, the proper way to express the units of absolute temperature is simply "kelvins." The Kelvin scale is used commonly in the physical sciences, and in fact it's the most direct way to describe the relationship between the average speed of air molecules and their temperature (higher temperatures = faster average molecule speeds). So, the melting point of water is 273.15 kelvins and the boiling point of water, at standard pressure, is 373.15 kelvins. ![]() Please note that the number of kelvins = the number of degrees Celsius + 273.15. For example, there's the Kelvin scale (sometimes called the "absolute temperature scale"). There are other temperature scales besides Celsius and Fahrenheit. 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) is the melting point of ice.22.2 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit) represents the "ideal" room temperature.37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) corresponds to normal body temperature.100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) is the boiling point of water.You may also be familiar with some (non-weather) common temperature markers: ![]() To give you some weather context, the North American all-time marks for highest and lowest temperatures are, respectively, 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 degrees Celsius) in California's Death Valley, and minus 81.4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 63 degrees Celsius) at the village of Snag in the Yukon Territory of Canada. By the way, if you ever need to convert between the two scales, the National Weather Service temperature conversion calculator is great! In the United States, we typically express temperature using the Fahrenheit temperature scale, but most countries in the world use the Celsius temperature scale (undoubtedly, you've heard temperature expressed in "degrees Fahrenheit" or "degrees Celsius" before). Thus, air temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of air molecules. At a temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the average speed of air molecules is about 1,000 miles an hour, which translates into ample kinetic energy (energy of motion). As air temperature increases, the molecular dance becomes increasingly frenetic. You see, air molecules are restless little lumps of matter, continually vibrating, wriggling and bumping into their many neighbors. More precisely, temperature is a measure of energy. Temperature: While you probably think of temperature as "how hot or cold something is," that's a pretty ambiguous definition (since "hot" and "cold" are somewhat subjective). Let's start with something I'm sure you're familiar with-temperature. I'll briefly discuss each variable (what it is and its common units of measurement), and then I'll discuss how you can interpret each one on a station model. On this page, we're going to focus on temperature, dew point, visibility, and "present weather" (obstructions to visibility), which I've put in a red box in the station model on the right. Over the next couple of sections, I'm going to introduce you to the key variables displayed on the station model and show you how to interpret one. Commonly, meteorologists display these observations in something called a station model (check out the example on the right), which is a graphical template showing current weather conditions at a weather station (often located at an airport). For meteorologists, the first step in studying the atmosphere is making observations.
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