Autumn temperatures in North America change dramatically depending on where you are. In Winnipeg, the average temperature falls about 31°F between September and November. In Honolulu, it falls only about 4°F. This free interactive simulator from This Month™ lets students explore that difference city by city, from the first cool days of September to the chilly end of November.
What is the Autumn Across North America simulator?
Autumn Across North America is a smartboard-friendly simulator in our Earth Science Lab series. Students choose a city on a map of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, then watch how its temperature changes from September to November. The simulator covers 16 cities, from tropical Cancún to subarctic Anchorage, so students can compare places with very different climates in one activity.
Every city shows a typical monthly average temperature, and the simulator can switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius at any time.
How students explore autumn temperatures in North America
The simulator has three levels so one activity works across the elementary grades.
- Grades K-1: Students read a friendly thermometer for September, October, or November. They talk about what to wear, notice whether the trees are changing color or staying green, and see how the same temperature can be written in two ways (°F and °C).
- Grades 2-3: Students compare all 16 cities on ranked bars, warmest to coldest, and find which places cooled the most and the least from September to November.
- Grades 4-5: Students read a line graph that follows each city from August to December, compare two cities side by side, and study a data table showing how much each place cooled.
Why do autumn temperatures in North America vary so much?
Several things work together after the September equinox, which arrives around September 22-23.
- Earth’s tilt. The Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the Sun, so days get shorter and the Sun sits lower in the sky. Each patch of ground receives less heat.
- Oceans slow the cooling. Water holds summer heat longer than land. In the simulator’s data, Vancouver and Winnipeg sit at nearly the same latitude, yet Vancouver, beside the Pacific Ocean, cools about 16°F while Winnipeg, far from any ocean, cools about 31°F.
- The tropics barely change. Near the equator the Sun stays high all year. Cancún cools about 5°F, and Mexico City, high in the mountains, only about 3°F.
- Leaves respond to the season. As days shorten and nights cool, trees stop making green chlorophyll, and yellow and orange colors show through. Cities with long, warm days all year keep their green leaves.
Celebrate Metric Day with Celsius
October 10 is Metric Day (10/10), and this simulator is a gentle way to try the metric system. Canada and Mexico measure temperature in degrees Celsius, so the simulator includes a °F / °C button and a set of Celsius landmarks: 0°C is freezing, 10°C is cool enough for a jacket, 20°C is pleasant, and 30°C is hot. Younger students simply notice that the numbers change while the weather stays the same. Older students can convert a temperature by hand with the formula and check their answer with the °C button.
Learning goals and standards for teachers
A collapsible teacher panel inside the simulator lists nine learning goals, each linked to the standards it supports. Teachers choose Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, or New York to see the matching standards, including NGSS performance expectations, Georgia Standards of Excellence, and the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. They can check the goals they covered and copy a short summary for lesson plans or reporting. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
Tips for using the simulator in class
- Ask students to predict which city will cool the most before they explore.
- Pick two cities with similar latitudes, such as Vancouver and Winnipeg, and ask students to explain the difference using the ocean.
- Try the °C button on October 10 for a quick Metric Day activity.
- Use the simulator on a smartboard so the whole class can compare cities together.
About the data
The monthly temperatures in the simulator are rounded approximations of typical conditions for each city, not measurements from a single year. Leaf-color timing is also a typical pattern and varies from year to year.
Looking for more science from This Month™? Explore our guides to Solstices and Equinoxes and Moon Phases.
