This assignment helps students gain experience and proficiency with the Python pandas package in order to learn how to visualize weather data. Students use Python to get sample outputs and then graph weather data such as maximum and minimum temperatures as well as number of days with rain.
This is the final assignment in a semester long course. Students work up to this assignment by studying related topics in Python as well as general computing topics. To see how this assignment is sequenced within this course, see the following syllabus: https://www.cs.montana.edu/paxton/classes/jbd/. This assignment is labeled "Assignment 6".
This assignment ultilizes data from the Bozeman Montana area. To make this assignment even more relevant and meaningful, consider analyzing weather data from your local area. Such information can be found by visiting websites maintained by the National Centers for Environmental Information (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/) and the U.S. Government (https://www.data.gov/climate/). Additionally, you could invite a meteorologist to speak to your class about the interdisciplinary connections between meteorology and computing.
This assignment uses meaningful and relevant content as well as makes interdisciplinary connections by having a student use Python to model and analyze weather data in a graph. The weather data includes temperature, humidity, rainfall, and other weather data information collected over a period of a year.