Weather Merit Badge
Twelve requirements, nine of them explanations and drawings. Three take arranging: a week-long weather log from an instrument you make, or a visit to a weather professional; a five-minute safety talk to a group, with the outline approved first; and discussing the safety rules with your family.
Elective Merit Badges Merit Badges Outdoors Requirements Safety STEM
The plan behind this
Most of this badge is explaining. Three parts are not
Requirements 1 and 3 to 9 are explanations, two of them with drawings: the cross sections of a cold and a warm front in 4, and the water cycle in 7. Three things take arranging:
| requirement | what it needs | why it takes arranging |
|---|---|---|
| 10 (one of two) | a week of daily records, or a meeting with a professional | a clock, or somebody else's time |
| 11 | a group to talk to for at least five minutes | an audience, and an outline your counselor approves first |
| 2 | your family | the safety rules are discussed with them, not only with your counselor |
Requirement 10: ONE of two
| route | what it needs |
|---|---|
| 10(a) make an instrument and keep a log | a wind vane, anemometer, rain gauge or hygrometer you make, then one week of records at the same time every day, with the forecasts alongside |
| 10(b) a visit or a conversation | a National Weather Service office, a weathercaster, a private meteorologist, an agricultural extension officer or a university meteorology instructor |
10(a) is seven days that cannot be shortened, and every entry is at the same time of day. Build the instrument first, then start the week.
The talk in 11 reuses requirement 2
Requirement 11 is a talk to a group, such as your unit or a Cub Scout pack, on the outdoor safety rules for lightning, flash floods and tornadoes. Those are among the rules requirement 2 asks you to give. Do 2 first, write the outline from it, and get your counselor's approval before the talk is booked.
What this page is
The Weather merit badge, drawn so the week-long log, the approved talk and the family discussion stand out from the explanations around them. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year. The free official pamphlet is the fuller guide.
Sources for this page
- Weather Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-12-31 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .