HS-ESS2-8 | Air Masses and Weather

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Evaluate data and communicate information to explain how the movement and interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.

Clarification statement: Examples of evidence sources could include station models, surface weather maps, satellite images, radar, and accepted forecast models. Emphasis should focus on communicating how the uneven heating of Earth’s surface and prevailing global winds drive the movement of air masses and their corresponding circulation patterns, the interaction of different air masses at frontal boundaries, and resulting weather phenomena.

Assessment boundary: Analysis is limited to surface weather maps and general weather patterns associated with high and low pressure systems.

Reference Tables

Relevant reference tables:


Assessment

What assessment of HS-ESS2-8 might look like on a NY state exam.

Exam Cluster Question
August 2026 Canary Islands Hotspot Question 13
The Gulf Question 37
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’pai Volcano Question 44
June 2026 Conditions of a Polar Vortex Event Question 14
Conditions of a Polar Vortex Event Question 15
Conditions of a Polar Vortex Event Question 16
Conditions of a Polar Vortex Event Question 17
Conditions of a Polar Vortex Event Question 18
Lake Nyos Question 32
January 2026 Rubber Ducks and Pacific Ocean Trash Question 6
Rubber Ducks and Pacific Ocean Trash Question 7
August 2025 Horse Latitudes Question 16
Horse Latitudes Question 17
Horse Latitudes Question 18
Horse Latitudes Question 19
Horse Latitudes Question 20

Performance Level Descriptions

PLDs communicate the knowledge and skills expected of students to demonstrate proficiency in each Learning Standard. NYS assessments classify student performance into one of five levels.

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Level 1: Use data and/or patterns of movement and interactions of air masses to identify the resulting changes in weather conditions or identify one factor that drives the movement of air masses or from those provided, use evidence from maps to account for weather conditions or given weather conditions, identify evidence found on maps that account for one of these conditions.
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Level 2: Use data to identify the patterns of movement or the interactions of air masses and the resulting changes in weather conditions or to identify factors that drive the movement of air masses or from given weather conditions, identify evidence from maps that supports these conditions.
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Level 3: Evaluate data and communicate information to identify the patterns of movement and/or interactions of air masses and/or the resulting changes in weather conditions.
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Level 4: Evaluate data and communicate information to explain how the movement and interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.
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Level 5: Collect and analyze global and regional weather data using tools, technologies, and/or models, to communicate in multiple formats how the movement and interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions.

Vocabulary

Terms from the Earth & Space Science Glossary that come from this standard or from the released exam questions that assess it.

From this standard
  • air masses
  • circulation patterns
  • density
  • Earth’s surface
  • forecast models
  • frontal boundaries
  • high and low pressure systems
  • mass
  • model
  • observations
  • prevailing global winds
  • radar
  • satellite images
  • station models
  • surface weather maps
  • uneven heating
  • weather conditions
  • weather patterns
From released exam questions

NGSS Dimensions

Performance expectation HS-ESS2-8 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices
  • Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information: Communicate scientific ideas (e.g., about phenomena and/or the process of development and the design and performance of a proposed process or system) in multiple formats (including orally, graphically, textually, and mathematically).
Disciplinary Core Ideas
  • Weather and climate: Concepts of density and heat energy can be used to explain observations of weather patterns.
Crosscutting Concepts
  • Patterns: Different patterns may be observed at each of the scales at which a system is studied and can provide evidence for causality in explanations of phenomena.
  • Patterns: Empirical evidence is needed to identify patterns.
Page contributors: Conrad Richman, Caroline Leonard
Earth and Space Science | HS. Weather and Climate
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