Key to Weather Map Symbols · Earth and Space Sciences Reference Tables (ESSRT)

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The Key to Weather Map Symbols from the Reference Tables for Earth and Space Sciences (ESSRT) explains the symbols used on weather maps, including how to read a station model. It primarily supports HS-ESS2-8.

What the Key to Weather Map Symbols shows

At the top, a sample station model shows where each reading is plotted around the station circle: temperature and dew point in °F, visibility in miles, present weather, wind, sky cover, sea-level pressure and the pressure trend over the previous three hours. The rest of the key decodes the symbols: wind speed in knots and wind direction; sky cover from no clouds to completely overcast; weather conditions such as rain, snow, drizzle, thunderstorms, showers, hail, fog, tornadoes and hurricanes; high and low pressure; and cold, warm, stationary and occluded fronts. A note explains that sea-level pressure is plotted in tenths of millibars with the leading 10 or 9 omitted, so 103 means 1010.3 mb and 987 means 998.7 mb.

Regents Exam Questions

Released Regents questions that cannot be answered without this table, listed by exam. Each link opens the question with its answer key; the standard is the one the question assesses. The exams through August 2026 were given with the earlier edition of the ESSRT, which has the same table.

Exam	Cluster	Question	Standard
June 2026 Earth and Space Sciences Regents	Conditions of a Polar Vortex Event	Question 18	HS-ESS2-8