PROJECT: KEEPING A WEATHER LOG

KEEPER OF THE LIGHT by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Rachell Sumpter

Juliet Nichols, the lighthouse keeper on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay from 1902 to 1914, is the subject of my book KEEPER OF THE LIGHT (Cameron Kids/Abrams 2022.)

Juliet recorded the weather in her log book twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening.  She also noted activities relevant to running the lighthouse–such as repairs, the delivery of fuel, or a visit of the lighthouse inspector.  She used the information in her log book to write her monthly reports.

Juliet's log for February 1906

You can make your own log to make a record of the weather where you live.

You will need: a large notebook with lined paper, a pencil, outdoor thermometer, graph paper.

Using Juliet’s lighthouse log as a model, write your name, the month, year, and location of your observations in the notebook at the top of the page. Along the left margin, write the numbers, 1-31, one date per line.  Once each day (at about the same time) write down your observations of the sky (clear, partly sunny, overcast, foggy), air temperature (measure with a thermometer), and precipitation (rain, snow, sleet.)    

Sample graph

At the end of each month you can make a simple graph of the daily temperatures.

What was the average temperature for the month? (Hint: Add all the temperatures and divide by the number of days in the month.)