Weather Final Practice Quiz (Exam 2)

1. An ordinary thunderstorm begins to dissipate when

When the downdraft spreads throughout the cloud and cuts off the updraft

When all the precipitation particles in the cloud turn to ice

Lightning neutralizes all the electrical charge in the cloud

When solar heating at the ground begins to decrease

2. The extent of property damage from hail depends on

The hardness of the hail

The size of the hail

All of these factors

The angle of impact of the hail

3. Lines connecting points of equal pressure are called

Contours

Isobars

Isotherms

Millibars

4. A type of thunderstorm that does not commonly produce hail is a(n) _______ thunderstorm

Ordinary

Multicell

Squall line

Supercell

5. Geostationary satellites

Are in orbit around the sun, not the earth

Orbit the earth once in 24 hours

Orbit the earth about once every 5 hours

Orbit the earth in about 100 minutes

6. To correctly monitor horizontal changes in air pressure, the most important correction for a mercury barometer measurement is the correction for

Gravity

Altitude

Density

Temperature

7. An ordinary (air-mass) thunderstorm is most intense during the ______ stage

Dissipating

Mature

Multicell

Cumulus

8. On an upper-level chart, normally we find warm air associated with pressure, and cold air associated with pressure

High, high

Low, low

High, low

Low, high

9. Compared to an mP air mass, mT air is

Warmer and moister

Colder and drier

Colder and moister

Warmer and drier

10. The coldest of all air masses is

MP

MT

CT

CF

CA

11. A ______ usually indicates clearing weather or fair weather

Steadily rising pressure

Steadily falling pressure

Constant pressure

Fluctuating pressure

12. A group of thunderstorms which develop in a line one next to the other, each in a different stage of development, are called

A thunderstorm cluster

Air-mass thunderstorms

Mature thunderstorms

A multicell thunderstorm

13. At a warm front, the warm air

Sinks and cools

Rises and cools

Sinks and warms

Rises and warms

14. When two air masses collide at a front, one air mass is pushed upward by the other. This is because

Pressure is falling in one air mass and rising in the other

One air mass is moving faster than the other

One of the air masses encounters topographical features on the ground

One air mass is denser than the other

15. Which statement below is NOT correct concerning the Coriolis force?

It deflects winds in opposite directions in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

It can cause winds to change direction, but not to increase or decrease in speed

It causes the winds to deflect to the right in the Northern Hemisphere

It is strongest at the equator

16. The wind around a surface low pressure center in the Southern Hemisphere blows

Counterclockwise and inward toward the center

Counterclockwise and outward from the center

Clockwise and inward toward the center

Clockwise and outward from the center

17. Which of the following on average are responsible for the most fatalities each year?

Floods

Tornadoes

Hail

Lightning

18. Isobars on a surface weather map represent

Locations with the same dew point temperature

Locations with the same temperature

Fronts

All of these

Locations with the same sea level adjusted pressure

19. Hail grows by

Collisions with graupel

Accretion of supercooled droplets

Collisions with frozen raindrops

Sublimation

20. Which of the following explain why it is possible to see clouds on satellite images taken at night?

The clouds emit infrared radiation

The clouds reflect light coming from the moon

The clouds emit visible light

The clouds reflect visible light from the sun

21. Monitoring river levels in the U.S. is mainly conducted by

Automated stations

Observers from the community

Police and fire departments

National weather service employees

22. In cloud-to-ground lightning, the stepped leader travels and the return stroke travels __

Upward, downward

Downward, downward

Upward, upward

Downward, upward

23. Occluded fronts may form as

Overrunning occurs along a warm front

A cold front overtakes a warm front

A warm front overtakes a cold front

A cold front overtakes a squall line

24. The weather conditions associated with the flood of '93 included a strong stationary high pressure system sitting over

North Dakota

Texas and Oklahoma

The southeast US

The central plains

25. Cyclonic flow means ______ in either the northern or southern hemisphere

Circulation around a low pressure center

Circulation around a high pressure center

Counterclockwise flow

Clockwise wind flow

26. A conditionally unstable environment needed for thunderstorm development means that air above the lowest levels of the atmosphere must ______ with increasing height

Cool slowly

Cool rapidly

Warm slowly

Warm rapidly

27. Sheet lightning is caused by

The flash occurring inside the cloud

The stepped leader traveling the original path

A very low cloud base

Wind spreading the ionized channel

28. From the gas law, we know that if pressure is kept constant, density must _____ as temperature increases

Stay the same

Increase

Decrease

29. A station at an altitude of 900 m (about 3000 feet) above sea level measures an air pressure of 930 mb. Under normal conditions, which of the values below do you think would be most realistic sea level pressure for this station?

900 mb

930 mb

1020 mb

1010 mb

1000 mb

30. What stage of the lightning process produces thunder?

Return stroke

Positive streamer

Stepped leader

Building electrical potential

31. What percentage of lightning flashes reach the earth's surface?

80

100

60

20

40

32. Which statement is true?

To occur, flash floods require a well defined stream channel

Flash floods only occur at night

Flash floods can occur during drought conditions

Only intense rainfall can produce a flash flood

33. Cloudy ice in a hailstone indicates the hailstone formed in an environment that was

Below freezing, very cold

About 0 degrees c

Below freezing, moderately cold

Warm (above freezing)

34. The surface pressures at the bases of warm and cold columns are equal. Air pressure in the warm column of air will with increasing hight _ than the cold column

Decrease, more slowly

Increase, more slowly

Increase, more rapidly

Decrease, more rapidly

35. For a weather radar, range is determined by

Timing the return of the pulse

Measuring the frequency shift of the pulse

Satellite sensors

The strength of the pulse returning to the radar

36. The flood of 1993 had its greatest impact during the _______ months

Spring

Winter

Summer

Fall

37. The lifting mechanism in which cold air from one thunderstorm pushes up the air outside of the storm is called

An outflow boundary

The anvil process

Convective lifting

Topography lifting

38. Observations indicate that ball lightening

Lasts for up to 10 seconds

Does not occur indoors

All of these are true

Is extremely bright

Does not move

39. The strength of the radar energy that returns to a weather radar is called the

Shift

Range

Pulse

Reflectivity

Velocity

40. If you see a lightening stroke and then, 15 seconds later, hear the thunder, the lightning is about ___ miles away

15

45

3

5

41. Severe thunderstorms are different from air-mass thunderstorms in that severe thunderstorms

Contain thunder and lightning

Have an anvil

Have a tilted updraft in the mature stage

Have a strong updraft and downdraft

Contain hail

42. The best path for large hailstone growth in a thunderstorm cloud is the freezing level and nearly

Above, vertical

Below, vertical

Above, horizontal

Below, horizontal

43. In cloud-to-ground lightning, the stepped leader makes contact with

Objects on the surface

A dart leader

A positive streamer

A return stroke

44. What is considered the "fuel" that enables thunderstorm development?

Convection