Forecasting and Storms

Question 1

Violent Storms are formed when…

Answer 1

When the warm air is moist and the cold front is moving quickly, cumulonibus clouds form, producing short but often violent storms.

Question 2

True or False: If the humid air is unstable, it is pushed slowly up over a moving cold front; then cumulonimbus clouds may form and bring thunderstorms.

Answer 2

TRUE

Question 3

True or False: Warm fronts can also create heavy rains if advancing, warm very humid overtakes a fast moving cold air mass. When that happens, nimbocumulus clouds pile up at the base of the front, bringing heavy rains over large areas.

Answer 3

FALSE

Warm fronts can also create heavy rains if advancing, warm very humid overtakes a slow moving cold air mass. When that happens, nimbostratus clouds pile up at the base of the front, bringing heavy rains over large areas.

Question 4

True or False: Snowstorms form much like rainstorms, but they occur in colder clouds.

Answer 4

TRUE

Question 5

True or False: Severe snowstorms are called blizzards.

Answer 5

TRUE

Question 6

True or False: Precipitation and storms are also indicated on weather maps.

Answer 6

TRUE

Question 7

What are isobars?

Answer 7

Barometric pressure shown by lines drawn between areas of equal atmospheric pressure. These lines are called isobars.

Question 8

What 3 forecasts do meteorologists make?

Answer 8

Short range forecasts, medium range forecasts and extended forecasts.

Question 9

True or false:
Extended forecasts predict weather conditions over the next 12-48 hours.

Answer 9

FALSE
short-range forecasts predict weather conditions over the next 12-48 hours. They give detailed predictions of temperature, cloud cover, wind speed, and rainfall.

Question 10

True or false:
Predictions beyond 2 days are considered extended forecasts.

Answer 10

FALSE
predictions beyond 7 days are considered extended forecasts.
Extended forecasts are limited to predicting general trends in the weather and cannot give specifics.

Question 11

True or false:
It may never be possible to accurately predict weather far in advance because small changes at the start of weather patterns lead to wide variations at the end.

Answer 11

TRUE

Question 12

True or False: Thunderstorm is a short-lived, intense weather system that produces strong winds, heavy rain or hail, lightning, and thunder. These storms happen most often in the winter and fall in tropical and midlatitude zones. They usually occur early in the morning after the ground has become quite warm.

Answer 12

TRUE

Question 13

What is the first stage of thunderstorms?

Answer 13

During the cumulus stage, warm air that is quite a bit warmer than its surroundings rises from the ground; a cumulus cloud forms as warm humid air rises and condenses into tiny cloud droplets. Very little rain is produced in this stage, but there may be some lightning.

Question 14

What is the second stage of thunderstorms?

Answer 14

During the mature stage, the fully formed cumulonimbus tries to reach near the tropopause, it is flattened out by overhead winds. The water droplets become too big for the updraft to support and rain begins to fall. Downdrafts can become very gust. Thunder, lightning, strong rain and sometimes hail fall.

Question 15

What is the third/final stage of thunderstorms?

Answer 15

During the final stage, the thunderstorm dissipates or dies out, as it uses up its supply of water vapor.

Question 16

Lightning is…

Answer 16

Lightning is the electrical discharge of energy from storm-clouds. It can heat the air to 30,000°C. it forms during a thunderstorm when positive and negative charges build up within the thundercloud or between the cloud and. the earth’s surface.

Question 17

How does a lightning form?

Answer 17

First, electrical charges build up in the cloud. The friction of rapidly moving ice crystals or raindrops builds up the electric charges. As they hit each, electrons are knocked off and charges begin to accumulate. The positive charges collect near the the top of the cloud and the negative charges collect near the bottom. The negative charges attract positive charges on the ground. Then, the beginning of aa lightning bolt, which is called a stepped leader, forms when the negative charges stretch toward the ground.

Question 18

True or False: A stepped leader reaches down from the cloud and a negatively charged return stroke reaches up from the air.

Answer 18

FALSE
A stepped leader reaches down from the cloud and a positively charged return stroke reaches up from the ground.

Question 19

True or False: Thunder is the sound that results from the rapid heating and expansion of air.

Answer 19

TRUE

Question 20

True or False: When the pressure between the positive and negative charges becomes too high, the charges are released as lightning. As the air heats up from the lightning, the rapid increase in temperature cause the air to expand. The sound that results from the rapid heating and expansion of air is called thunder.

Answer 20

TRUE

Question 21

True or False: Thunderstorms cannot produce violent tornadoes.

Answer 21

FALSE

Thunderstorms can produce violent tornadoes.

Question 22

True or False: A tornado is a rotating funnel of air that has a high wind speed and a low central air pressure. Tornadoes are usually attached to the base of a thundercloud. High winds may cause rising warm air to rotate. Wen this happens, the cloud begins to spin at incredible speeds, forming a tornado. Many funnel clouds gyrate through the troposphere without touching down, but when the spinning section of the cloud reaches down to the earth’s surface, the funnel cloud becomes a tornado and it can cause severe damage. tornadoes can rise and touch down in a random path across the earth.

Answer 22

TRUE

Question 23

What is a reddish evening sky caused by?

Answer 23

A reddish evening sky is caused by light interacting with dry dust particles, so a red evening sky indicates that dry weather is coming.

Question 24

What does a gray evening sky mean?

Answer 24

A gray evening sky means that the atmosphere is heavy with water droplets that will probably fall the next day.

Question 25

True or False: If clouds look red in the morning, the sun is setting in clear skies to the west with clouds approaching from the east.

Answer 25

FALSE

If clouds look red in the morning, the sun is rising in clear skies to the east with clouds approaching from the west. (This indicates that a storm system to the west is moving your way.)

Question 26

When did modern weather forecasting begin?

Answer 26

Modern weather began after the barometer, which measures atmospheric pressure.

Question 27

True or False: The thermometer measures humidity in the air.

Answer 27

FALSE

The thermometer measures temperature.

Question 28

When were the barometer and thermometer invented?

Answer 28

17th and 18th centuries.

Question 29

What are all the modern instruments used?

Answer 29

Barometer, thermometer, hygrometer which measures humidity and the anemometer which measures wind speed were used in the early forecasting.

Question 30

What do radiosondes do?

Answer 30

Radiosondes measure the temperature, pressure, and humidity at the different heights of the atmosphere.

Question 31

What do weather balloons do?

Answer 31

Weather balloons calculate wind speed and direction by tracking the position of the radiosondes they carry. Radio transmitters then send the information to a receiver on the ground.

Question 32

What do radars do to help meteorologists?

Answer 32

Radars help meteorologists track storms.

Question 33

What is the newest type of radar?

Answer 33

The Doppler radar. (This radar helps meteorologists to track precipitation within a storm and identify areas of rotation, which indicate tornadoes.

Question 34

True or False: A weather map is one basic tool for organizing.

Answer 34

TRUE

Question 35

When do meteorologists use weather maps?

Answer 35

Meteorologists use weather maps when they are forecasting weather.