Meteorologists measure daily weather conditions. They use tools and make observations to gather data about different factors that make up weather. These weather factors include temperature, precipitation, cloudiness, and wind speed and direction. They look for patterns in the data. The patterns help them predict future weather, like thunderstorms and hurricanes. Patterns that repeat over many years also help define seasonal weather.

The data on these maps is the average monthly temperature for April in different years. Meteorologists can compare temperatures for different areas. They might notice if temperatures for a season change or stay the same over time.

Find your location and complete the following table. The colorbar below the maps is the key to reading (or interpreting) the data on the maps. The colors stand for different temperatures.

Click each picture to see a larger map.