Global Maps of Precipitation Changes
Data, Graphs, and Maps
Grades9, 10, 11, 12Earth and Space Sciences, Geography
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by Probable Futures
What it is
- In this interactive map from Probable Futures, students will see how the different warming scenarios affect the distribution and intensity of precipitation around the world.
- Students can see which locations are more likely to experience extreme precipitation events as global warming increases up to 3°C and compare it to 0.5°C of warming in the recent past.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This resource contains a lot of information that students can easily toggle between.
- Learning about potential impacts can illustrate to students just how serious a few degrees of warming can be.
Prerequisites
- Before showing students this map, teachers should explain to students the concept of a 1-in-a-100-year storm and why a hotter planet would increase its likelihood.
- Students should understand climate change and that less aggressive approaches to mitigation will lead to increased warming.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Students can use the En-ROADS Climate Solutions Lab to experiment with mitigation strategies that will result in different warming scenarios. Students can use the map to determine how their strategies reduce or fail to reduce the chances of extreme precipitation and other impacts.
- Students can also look at adaptation strategies for dealing with extreme storms. Students can look at the damage extreme weather events cause and design solutions to these problems.
- Using artists like Jill Pelto as inspiration, students can use the data to create climate change art that warns others about the risks of inaction.
- Some students may have trouble differentiating between the colors on the map. Encourage these students to click on the areas of focus, which will result in a pop-up to display that area's expected outcome.
From the scientist review
Students can explore this interactive map to learn about key climate variables under six warming scenarios, which will give them a better understanding of past and present climate trends as well as future climate expectations at various spatial locations. The data layers, labels, and map features look great. This resource is well-sourced and is recommended for use in the classroom.
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Hosted on probablefutures.org
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