DSE Geography: Weather and Climate — Tutor Lesson Plan (monsoons, typhoons, urban heat island)

2026-11-01

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary geography

Students know the summer wind is south westerly, but not why it reverses, and answer why a typhoon has an eye with because it is hot.

Objectives — The student can explain the seasonal wind reversal with pressure gradients, describe the structure of a tropical cyclone and its formation conditions, and give two causes and two remedies for the urban heat island.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Pressure and wind	Wind blows from high to low pressure	Deflected by the Coriolis effect
Water cycle	Evaporation, condensation, precipitation	Condensation needs nuclei
Location of Hong Kong	About 22 degrees north	Subtropical, South China coast

02 Lesson flow (60 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-8 min	Prerequisite check	Which way does wind blow	High to low pressure
8-22 min	Monsoons	Winter continental high, summer oceanic high	Draws both seasons
22-40 min	Cyclone structure	Eye, eyewall, spiral bands	Labels three parts
40-50 min	Formation	Sea at least 26.5 C, Coriolis, weak shear	Lists three conditions
50-56 min	Heat island	Concrete stores heat, little evaporation, waste heat	Two remedies
56-60 min	Exit check	Three questions marked	Works alone

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Monsoons are a land and sea temperature difference

In winter the cold continent forms a high and wind blows from land to sea, so Hong Kong gets the north east monsoon and dry cool weather.
In summer the heated continent forms a low while the cooler sea is a high, so wind blows inland and Hong Kong gets the south west monsoon, humid and wet.
Annual rainfall is about 2400 mm, most of it between May and September, fed by the summer monsoon and tropical cyclones.

Student draws the pressure centres and wind arrows for both seasons.

Scene 2: A cyclone is an organised heat engine

Evaporation from warm sea supplies energy, rising vapour condenses and releases heat, the central pressure keeps falling and winds strengthen.
Formation needs sea surface temperature of at least 26.5 C, enough Coriolis effect (poleward of about 5 degrees) and weak vertical wind shear.
Structure: the eye with sinking air and a lull, the eyewall with the strongest winds and rain, and outer spiral bands.

Student explains why a typhoon weakens quickly after landfall (it loses its warm sea and meets more friction).

Scene 3: The urban heat island is a night-time effect

Concrete and asphalt absorb and store heat and release it slowly after sunset; vegetation is scarce so little cooling comes from evapotranspiration; air conditioning and traffic add waste heat; tall buildings block ventilation.
Together these can leave the urban night several degrees warmer than the countryside.
Remedies: more greenery and green roofs, ventilation corridors, lighter coloured surfaces.
The environmental lapse rate is about 6.5 C per kilometre, so climbing 1000 m cools the air by roughly 6.5 C, which is how you estimate a hilltop temperature.

Note: the heat island is clearest at night, the daytime difference is much smaller.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Pressure and wind	Winter continental high	High to low, then deflect	North easterly
Structure	Eye and eyewall	Describe weather by position	Eyewall strongest
Formation	Why not at the equator	Coriolis effect too weak	Poleward of 5 degrees
Data	Urban and rural temperature curves	Compare the two	Widest gap at night

Sanity check (teach this): Wind always blows from high to low pressure, so an answer running the other way means the pressure field was misread; a tropical cyclone needs warm sea, so it cannot form inland or over cold water.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Temperature drop after rising 1000 m	6.5 C	6.5 C per km
Why no cyclones at the equator	Coriolis effect too weak to spin them up	Needs 5 degrees or more
When is the heat island strongest	At night	Concrete releases stored heat

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Wind drawn from low to high	reverses the pressure gradient	Wind runs from high to low: turn the arrow around.
Cyclones placed at the equator	hottest sea means most typhoons	There is no Coriolis effect at the equator, so they cannot form.
Eye and eyewall confused	calls the eye the stormiest part	The eye is sinking air; the eyewall is the strongest.
Heat island called a daytime effect	says noon is the worst	It peaks at night as concrete releases heat.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

DSE Geography practice paper (weather and climate) — Data response questions 2 to 3: climate graphs and the heat island
Secondary geography chapter index — All chapters

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Cooling over 1000 m	6.5 C	All right: move to climate change
Minimum sea temperature for a cyclone	26.5 C	One wrong: re-teach formation
When the heat island peaks	At night	Two wrong: repeat scene 3

09 Tutor FAQ

How do monsoons differ from land and sea breezes?

Monsoons are seasonal, sea breezes daily, but both come from a temperature contrast.

Why does Hong Kong get so many typhoons?

It sits on the north west Pacific track and the summer sea is warm.

Do figures need memorising?

The broad pattern, about 2400 mm a year with a wet summer and dry winter, is enough.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.