Location and Climate of Texas

Today, we started talking about Texas climate and the factors that affect it. I opened the class with a video presentation about the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, also known as Isaac's Storm. Today marked the 115 year anniversary of the storm and it remains the worst natural disaster to ever strike the United States.

After the video, students took notes on the Location and Climate of Texas (Chapter 2, Lesson 3). Important facts to know are the two factors that most directly influence climate: location and elevation. Students should understand and be able to discuss how the Gulf of Mexico and the elevation of a place affect Texas climate. Also discussed were the various types of severe or extreme weather we see in the Lone Star State. Students should be able to name 4-5 such weather extremes and explain what they are in some depth. Today's notes are below.

Once the day's notes were completed, I gave each student a handout showing the location of the major rivers, cities and regions of Texas. We discussed briefly but will work on them tomorrow in class. The two handouts are below the notes.