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ToolZeit – WeatherSpark

What’s it do or what’s it for?

WeatherSpark is a weather forecasting tool on the web with satellite visualization and past present and future graphs.

Basic Features

It shows a satellite image for current weather along with graphs showing past, present and future precipitation, wind  and temperature all on an easy to follow timeline. Speaking of timelines you can also travel back in time and see what the weather was like in the past.

If you need to plan for the future there is a Forecast button that gives you 7 days in advance along with current conditions. In addition to that you can get sunrise, sunset times along with current phase of the moon.

An Averages page gives you averages for the area you are looking for loads of data. From Temperature to Daylight to Cloud cover they have averages for that.

How do you see it being used by an educator or student?

WeatherSpark puts the weather data in a nice visual way that can be read and understood by children in upper elementary through high school. Whether it is interpreting graphs or learning meteorology  or just planning ahead for that field trip or class picnic, WeatherSpark is something that should find a place in your classroom. Please note it is Flash based so it won’t work on most mobile devices.

How we rate it

Ease of Use (How easy is it to learn and get started? Navigation is easy or difficult.) – 5

Looks/Aesthetics/Design (How does it look.) – 4

Editing/Customization/Feature set (Can you make it work the way you want it? Use it in different ways or is it totally locked down or very few features )  - 5

Bang for the buck (Is it cost effective? Freenium and Pricing Plans, Education Deals? Trial version available??) - 5

Educational Value (Meets the needs of teachers and/or students in or out of the classroom)   - 5

Overall Rating – 5

Cost – Ad Supported/$20 per year to remove the ads

Links

WeatherSpark http://weatherspark.com/

WeatherSpark Features and Help http://weatherspark.com/features_and_help

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