Q&A Hero

Q: On a weather map, ________ fronts are shown by a line with triangular points on one side. A) warm B) cold C) occluded D) stationary

Q: If you were 200 kilometers ahead of the surface position of a warm front, you would find the frontal surface at a height of about ________ km overhead. A) 0.5 B) 1.0 C) 1.5 D) 2.0

Q: If you live in the Midwestern United States or Canada and you experience several days of winter temperatures below -20C with clear weather, you are undoubtedly experiencing ________. A) a Continental Polar air mass B) a Maritime Polar air mass C) a Continental Tropical air mass D) a cyclonic storm

Q: The southeastern United States lies in the heart of the "horse latitudes" where normally we would expect desert conditions. Why isn't this area a desert? A) Continental polar air masses disturb the pattern by periodic influxes of cold air. B) Maritime polar air masses disturb the pattern by driving pacific moisture across North America. C) Continental tropical air masses derived from Mexico disturb the pattern when these air masses are drawn northward by cyclonic storms. D) Maritime tropical air masses derived from the Gulf of Mexico disturb the pattern when these air masses are drawn northward by cyclonic storms.

Q: A continental Polar (cP) air mass that originates in Siberia and is subsequently altered to ________ when crossing the north Pacific A) cP B) mP C) cT D) mT

Q: This air mass may produce an occasional "nor'easter" in the winter. A) cP B) mP C) cT D) mT

Q: The air masses that have the greatest influence on weather conditions in the central United States are ________. A) cP and mT B) mP and cP C) cT and cP D) mP and mT

Q: A maritime Polar (mP) air mass is ________. A) cold and dry B) cold and humid C) warm and dry D) warm and humid

Q: Continental tropical air masses are most prominent in what part of North America? A) the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico B) the Pacific Northwest C) the Midwestern United States and Canada D) the Southeastern United States

Q: A cT air mass is ________. A) cold and dry B) cold and humid C) warm and dry D) warm and humid

Q: An air mass from the Gulf of Mexico is labeled ________. A) cP B) mP C) cT D) mT

Q: When an area is experiencing several consecutive days of rather constant weather, it is probably ________. A) warm-front weather B) cold-front weather C) air-mass weather D) occluded front weather

Q: Discuss the formation and growth of tropical cyclone (hurricanes) and how winds aloft affect their formation.

Q: Why does the central United States from Texas to the Ohio Valley experience the greatest frequency of tornadoes on Earth? What time of year do they occur and why?

Q: Describe the sequence of events that occur when a fully developed midlatitude cyclone passes just to your north, including cloud sequences, frontal passages, and barometric conditions.

Q: What type of front is illustrated in the diagram below?

Q: What type of front is illustrated in the diagram below?

Q: What type of front is illustrated in the diagram below?

Q: Label the air masses on the diagram below.

Q: At the center of a hurricane is a relatively calm region called the ________.

Q: In the western Pacific, hurricanes are called ________.

Q: The new generation of weather radar that is capable of detecting motion directly is called ________ radar.

Q: When conditions appear favorable for tornado formation, a(n) ________ is issued for areas covering about 65,000 square kilometers.

Q: The electrical discharge of lightning rapidly heats the air, which in turn causes it to expand explosively to produce ________.

Q: By international agreement, lesser tropical cyclones are given different names based on the strength of their winds. When a cyclone's strongest winds do not exceed 61 kilometers (38 miles) per hour, it is called a(n) ________.

Q: When an active cold front overtakes a warm front, a(n) ________ front forms.

Q: The boundary between air masses having different densities is called a(n) ________.

Q: A large body of air that is characterized by a homogeneity of temperature and moisture at any given level is a(n) ________.

Q: Hurricanes most often develop in late summer.

Q: Hurricanes form between the latitudes of 5 degrees and 20 degrees.

Q: The greatest storm surge and highest winds occur in the right-front quadrant of Northern Hemisphere hurricanes.

Q: In a hurricane, the greatest wind speeds and heaviest rainfall occur in the region called the eye.

Q: A tropical depression has stronger winds than a tropical storm.

Q: Intense tropical cyclones with winds above 109 kph are called hurricanes, typhoons, or cyclones, depending on the part of the world where they form.

Q: Doppler radar aids tornado detection by detecting motion within clouds.

Q: A tornado watch is issued by the National Weather Service after a tornado has been sighted in an area.

Q: Tornadoes are cyclonic, while hurricanes are anticyclonic.

Q: Tornadoes are most often generated along the cold front of a middle-latitude cyclone.

Q: Vortices within a tornado vortex, called suction vortices, often cause the greatest destruction within a given tornado.

Q: The summer months (June through August in the Northern Hemisphere) are the period of greatest tornado frequency.

Q: At any given moment on Earth, there are about 100 active thunderstorms.

Q: Thunder is produced by lightning.

Q: Most severe thunderstorms that occur in the middle latitudes form along or ahead of cold fronts.

Q: Thunderstorms are usually associated with nimbostratus clouds.

Q: Lightning never occurs in the tropics.

Q: Divergence aloft helps maintain surface lows.

Q: Surface cyclones are accompanied by divergence aloft.

Q: In a mature middle-latitude cyclone, the warm front precedes the cold front.

Q: When an occluded front passes, the temperature drops dramatically.

Q: An occluded front is depicted on a weather map as a line with semicircles on one side and triangular points on the other side.

Q: Precipitation associated with a cold front is usually more intense and shorter in duration than precipitation generated by a warm front.

Q: Cold fronts usually move more slowly than warm fronts.

Q: Warm fronts generally have steeper slopes than cold fronts.

Q: Continental polar air masses seldom influence the weather south of the Great Lakes.

Q: Air masses that form in the Gulf of Mexico are classified as mT.

Q: A cT air mass is dry and warm.

Q: Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern. tropical storm tropical depression hurricane tornado

Q: Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern. tornado cyclone anticyclone hurricane

Q: Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern. cold front stationary front warm front occluded front

Q: Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern. cP mT cA mP

Q: A Category 5 hurricane in the open water can obtain top wind speed comparable to ________. A) a plane flying near supersonic speed B) an F4 tornado C) an F1 tornado D) the top speed of an old style Volkswagen beetle

Q: The greatest loss of life during a natural disaster occurred during ________. A) Hurricane Katrina B) a tornado in the Midwest C) the 1900 Galveston hurricane D) a 1959 blizzard in the Midwest

Q: Tornadoes have embedded secondary vortices called suction vortices. Hurricanes also have embedded secondary vortices, they are called ________. A) storm surge vortices B) hurricane suction vortices C) tropical cyclone secondary vortices D) tornadoes

Q: Hurricanes generally are ________. A) larger than tornadoes B) smaller than mid-latitude cyclones C) areas of heavy rainfall and strong winds D) all of these

Q: In Hurricane Katrina, the storm came ashore heading almost due north and the eye passed between the towns of Slidell, Louisiana and Waveland, Mississippi. Slidell, LA suffered heavy flooding and moderate wind damage while Waveland, MS was totally destroyed without a single building standing within 200m of the coastline. Both cities experienced the eyewall of the storm where the winds are strongest, so why was the destruction so different? A) Slidell was just lucky and experienced a temporary lull in the storm. B) Waveland caught the right front quadrant of the storm, with maximum storm surge and wind. C) Slidell must be a sheltered coastline, or protected behind a levee system. D) Waveland must have been at a lower elevation than Slidell.

Q: In the folk song "Wasn't That a Mighty Storm," the singer describes an event during the Galveston hurricane of 1900: "The trains they were loaded, with people leaving town, but the tracks gave way with the water, the trains they went on down." What hurricane phenomena was the author of this song describing? A) tornadoes embedded in the eye wall B) heavy rain and winds blowing a trestle over C) storm surge D) river flooding washing out train trestles

Q: The eye of a hurricane is ________. A) the portion with the highest wind speeds B) warmer than the rest of the storm C) along the leading edge of the storm D) the area of most intense rainfall

Q: When a hurricane moves onto land, it rapidly loses its punch; that is, the storm declines in intensity. Which of the factors listed below contribute to this loss of punch? A) disruption of outflow by strong winds aloft from the jet stream B) lack of warm, moist air to feed latent heat driven convection C) heating from below by the land surface D) formations of mesocyclones within the storm disrupt the circulation

Q: Tropical cyclones, which are called hurricanes in the Atlantic, are called ________ in the western Pacific A) cyclones B) typhoons C) tornadoes D) willy willy's

Q: Why has Doppler radar been very valuable in preventing loss of life by tornadoes? A) It can detect development of thunderstorm rotation and mesocyclone formation associated with tornadoes. B) It can detect the speed of a thunderstorm to allow accurate forecasting of arrival time of a tornado and its track. C) It can detect hail moving through the thunderstorm, allowing hail forecasts and its association with tornadoes. D) It can "see through" heavy rain and directly image tornadoes embedded in thunderstorms with heavy rain.

Q: Tornadoes of F1 to F2 in strength account for ________. A) most of the property destruction caused by tornadoes B) most of the deaths by tornadoes C) most of the tornadoes observed D) most of the weird phenomena ascribed to tornadoes

Q: What type of local wind pattern is illustrated in the diagram below?

Q: Considering the theory of plate tectonics and the movement of landmasses over geologic time, would you expect atmospheric circulation of the past to be the same as we see today? Why or why not? Consider the factors that determine global wind patterns and whether they have changed over time.

Q: Why are coastal and mountainous regions often much more windy than other locations at similar latitudes? Also, from this and earlier chapters on meteorology, are there other weather characteristics that are perhaps unique or different for these areas?

Q: On the weather map below, describe the wind pattern and the relationship between the winds and isobars.

Q: "Perhaps more than any other single measurement, atmospheric pressure is the best indicator of current and changing weather conditions." Briefly discuss why this statement is correct.

Q: An instrument that measures wind speed is called a(n) ________.

Q: A north wind blows from the ________ to the ________.

Q: Warm winds that move down the leeward side of mountains are known as ________.

Q: The surface wind zones that flow from the subtropics toward the equator are called the ________ winds.