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Warmer Nights and Ozone Alerts in a Growing Town

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Warmer Nights and Ozone Alerts in a Growing Town

Use a school weather station's records to argue how growth changes the air.

Part 1: Two weather stations

Read the passage and Table 1, then answer questions 1–4.

The Station by the Ball Field

1In 2004, science teacher Mr. Henrik Saarinen and his students set up a weather station on a pole beside the ball field at Brindle Falls Middle School. When it was built, the school stood at the edge of town, next to corn fields. Today it is surrounded by houses, stores and parking lots. The station records the temperature, wind and rain every ten minutes and sends the readings to a forecast app that many families in town use. This year, eighth grader Delphine Okonkwo joined the weather club and noticed something in the app's history: summer nights in town seemed to be getting warmer.

2Delphine wanted to know whether the whole region was warming or mainly the town. She compared the school's records with a second station, run by the water district at Lone Pine Reservoir, 25 km from town. The land around the reservoir is forest and pasture and has changed very little since 2005. Both stations use the same kind of thermometer, in a shaded white box about 2 m above the ground. Table 1 shows summer averages of the night low, the coldest temperature of each night.

3On a clear July day, the club pointed an infrared thermometer at surfaces near the school. At 3 PM, the asphalt parking lot read 52 °C, a dark shingle roof read 48 °C and grass in the shade of a maple tree read 29 °C. At 10 PM, the asphalt still read 31 °C and the roof 27 °C, while the shaded grass had cooled to 22 °C.

4The forecast app also shows air quality alerts. Ground-level ozone is a gas that forms when gases in vehicle exhaust react with each other in strong sunlight, mostly on hot, still afternoons. High ozone can make breathing harder, especially for people with asthma, so the regional air agency sends an alert on days when ozone is forecast to reach unhealthy levels. The club counted the alert days in each summer.

5Finally, Delphine asked the town planner, Ms. Priyanka Dube, for the town's records (Table 2). Paved and roof area is the share of the town's land covered by pavement and buildings. Tree cover is the share of the land shaded by tree crowns. Next month the town council will vote on a plan for 2035, when about 140,000 people are expected to live in Brindle Falls.

Table 1: Summer Averages (June–August)
YearSchool night low (°C)Reservoir low (°C)Ozone alert days
200517.817.23
20151917.47
202520.417.612
1.
Use Table 1. Subtract the reservoir's night low from the school's night low in each year.

In 2005, the school's summer night low was °C warmer than the reservoir's. In 2025, it was °C warmer.

2.
Use Table 1. Find how much each station's summer night low rose from 2005 to 2025.

The school station's night low rose by °C. The reservoir station's night low rose by °C.

3.
Kai, another club member, says, "Summers are just getting warmer everywhere. Our town's growth has nothing to do with it." Which evidence best shows that the town's growth also played a part in the warmer nights?
Question 3 options
4.
Use paragraphs 1 and 3. Which explanation best connects the infrared readings to the town's warmer nights?
Question 4 options

Part 2: More people and more use per person

Use Table 2, Table 1 and paragraphs 4 and 5 to answer questions 5–8.

Table 2: Brindle Falls Town Records (summer averages for driving and power)
YearPopulationPaved + roof area (%)Tree cover (%)Driving/person (km/day)Home power (kWh/day)
200560,00018304028
201585,00026254431
2025110,00035194835
5.
Total driving = population × driving per person. In 2005, the town's residents drove a total of about 2.4 million km per day.

In 2025, they drove a total of about million km per day. That is times the 2005 total.

6.
From 2005 to 2025, the number of ozone alert days grew to four times as many, while the population did not even double. Which explanation fits the page best?
Question 6 options
7.
Delphine wants to show that growth has two parts: more people, and more use by each person. Sort each change in Brindle Falls by which part it mainly shows.
8.
Circle each record that shows the town's growth changing land and living things, not only the air.

Part 3: The plan for 2035

Use everything on the page to answer questions 9–11.

9.
Suppose Brindle Falls reaches 140,000 people in 2035, each person drives even more, and tree cover keeps falling. Which prediction do the records support best?
Question 9 options
10.
The council wants a plan that would most likely lower both the town's night heat and its ozone alerts. Which plan should Delphine support?
Question 10 options
11.
At the council meeting, a resident says, "Our hot nights and ozone alerts come from regional weather, not from our town. Growing bigger and driving more have not changed our air." Write an argument for or against this claim. State your claim, use at least three pieces of data from the tables or the passage, and explain how growth and use per person affect the atmosphere.