HowtoAnalyseWeather

DatawithExcel
Austin Nodland
David Garca
Lluis Valls

Introduction
MicrosoftExcelisapowerfultoolfordataanalysisandplotting.Itisusedfrequentlyin
accounting,science,engineering,andotherfields.Thisguidewillwalkyouthroughabasic
ExcelexampleusingweatherdatafromAccuWeather.com.Bytheendofthisguide,youwillbe
abletoenterdata,performcalculations,andcreategraphs.

Toperformtheseinstructions,youmusthavebasiccomputingknowledge.Youmustknowhow
touseawebbrowserandopenaworkbookinExcel.

DescriptionofEquipment
MicrosoftExcelhasbeenunderheavydevelopmentfordecades,soithasmanyfeatures.In
thistutorial,wewilllookatonlyafewofthese.WewilluseExceltoenterdata,perform
calculations,andcreategraphs.Tobespecific,wewillusefollowingfunctions:AVERAGE,MIN,
andMAX.Wewillalsocreateascatterplotwithsmoothlinesandmarkers.

ListofMaterialsandEquipmentNeeded

Webbrowser,suchasInternetExplorerorGoogleChrome
MicrosoftExcel2013

Directions
FindWeatherData
1. OpenyourwebbrowserandnavigatetoAccuWeather.com.
2. TypeBarcelona,Spainintothesearchbox,thenpresstheenterkeyonyourkeyboard.
WeatherinformationforBarcelona,Spainwillappear.

3. ClickMonth.
AcalendarviewofweatherdataforBarcelona,Spainwillappear.

4. Adjustthemonthandyear,toJuly2015.
WeatherdataforJuly,2015willappearinthe
calendar.

AnalyseWeatherData
1. OpenMicrosoftExcelandstartanewworkbook.
Anewworkbookistheblankdocument
thatappearswhenyouopenMicrosoftExcel.Aworkbookcancontainmultiple
spreadsheets.
i.
RightclickonthetabatthebottomofthescreenthatsaysSheet1,andclick
Rename.
ii.
TypeinBarcelona,andpresstheenterkeyonyourkeyboard.

2. RecordthehighandlowtemperaturesfromJuly1,2015toJuly7,2015inBarcelona.
i.
CreatetheheadingsDate,High,andLowincellsA2throughC2,
respectively.
ii.
Enterthedatesfrom7/1/2015to7/7/2015undertheDateheader.
iii.
EnterthehighandlowtemperaturesundertheHighandLowheaders,
respectively.
ThesecanbefoundonthecalendaronAccuWeather.comfromthe
lastsectionofthisguide.
Note:
Anynumberofdayscanbeenteredinthisway.Simplyaddanotherrowforeach
additionalday.

3. Calculatestatisticalinformationaboutthetemperaturesenteredinthepreviousstep.

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.

CreatetheheadingsMaximumHigh,MaximumLow,AverageHigh,
AverageLow,andAverageincellsE2throughE6,respectively.
AdjustthewidthofcolumnEtofittheheadings.
Enter=MAX(B:B),withoutthequotationmarks,incellF2.
Thiswilldetermine
themaximumnumberincolumnB,whichisthemaximumhigh.
Enter=MIN(C:C),withoutthequotationmarks,incellF3.
Thiswilldeterminethe
minimumnumberincolumnC,whichistheminimumlow.
Enter=AVERAGE(B:B),withoutthequotationmarks,incellF4.
Thiswill
determinetheaverageofallnumbersincolumnB,whichistheaveragehigh.
Enter=AVERAGE(C:C),withoutthequotationmarks,incellF5.
Thiswill
determinetheaverageofallnumbersincolumnC,whichistheaveragelow.
Enter=AVERAGE(B:C),withoutthequotationmarks,incellF6.
Thiswill
determinetheaverageofallnumbersincolumnsBandC,whichistheaverage.

4. ClickScatterwithSmoothLinesandMarker.
Anewscatterchartwillappear.


5. Clickonthechart,thenclickSelectData.
Thedataselectionwindowwillappear.

6. Type=Barcelona!$A:$C,withoutthequotationmarks,intotheChartdatarangebox,
thenpresstheenterkeyonyourkeyboard.
Thescatterchartwillbeupdatedwiththe
temperaturedata.


7. Makefinalchartadjustments.
i.
Clickonthechart,thenrightclickonthetitle,andclickEditText.
ii.
TypeinWeatherData.
iii.
Dragthesquaresonthecornersofthecharttoresizethechart.
iv.
Dragthecharttothedesiredlocation.