severe and unusual weather
A value of sea level pressure that you would typically see on a weather map is
1000 millibars
Standard sea level pressure is approximately
1013 millibars
When a north wind blows in, temperature decreases. What method of heat transfer best describes what is happening?
Advection is transporting cold air into the area
All thunderstorms require the presence of a unstable atmosphere. Which of the following items could you use to identify this?
CAPe on a sounding (Stuve)
"Bolt from the Blue" lightning flashes are a very dangerous type of _____ to _____ lightning flash.
Cloud, ground
Colorado lows tend to have greater snowfall amounts than Alberta Clippers because
Colorado lows have a close proximity to a moisture source
Which of the following statements best describes the difference between CONVECTION and ADVECTION?
Convection in the atmosphere occurs when warm causes air to move vertically and advection occurs when air moves horizontally to fill in the void left by rising air.
Temperature in the troposphere decreases with height, indicating that the Earth's surface is heated from below. Which of the following plays a role in this process?
Convection transfers warm air molecules near the earths surface to higher altitudes
This force is a force that arises solely from the Earth's rotation and causes moving objects to curve from their initial direction.
Coriolis Force
A color scale is used to display velocity as measured by a Doppler radar. Which color indicates wind moving toward the radar?
Green
A thunderstorm is approaching and you feel a cool air rushing out from the thunderstorm. What is this called?
Gust front
Geostationary satellites monitor the Earth's weather systems by sensing electromagnetic radiation coming from the Earth in what channels?
Infrared water vapor and visible
Which of the following best describes the process by which a rainbow is formed?
Light is refracted upon entering a raindrop, reflected off of the back of that raindrop, and refracted again upon leaving the raindrop
Thunder is caused by________. It is the rapid _______ and _______ of air causes a shockwave that we hear as thunder.
Lightening, expansion contracting
A meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the anvil of a thunderstorm.
Mammatus cloud
Sizes of Hail
Penny- .75 golfball- 1.75 tennisball-2.50 baseball-2.75 softball-4.00 grapefruit-4.5
According to the laws of radiation, If the average temperature of the sun decreases it would emit most of its radiation
at longer wavelengths
Severe thunderstorms require the presence of vertical wind shear. Which of the following items could you use to identify this?
Wind barbs on a stuve diagram
An anticyclone is
a high pressure system that has air spiraling out of it.
A cyclone is
a low pressure system that has air spiraling into the center
What is most likely to occur when a mass of warm air moves into a region occupied by colder air?
a warm front will form and warm air will be forced upward
A process where heat is not exchanged between a mass and its environment is called a(n)__________process.
adiabatic
What causes the sky to appear white
aerosols nearly equal in wavelength cause all colors of light to be scattered equally
Clouds are most likely to form when
air rises due to heating of the earths surface
Radar gathers information about precipitation by measuring the
amount of energy scattered back to the radar
Hurricane categories are assigned based on
an estimate of the fastest sustained winds
ASOS stands for
automated surface observing station
If convergence in the upper atmosphere EXCEEDS surface divergence more air molecules will
be added to the surface than removed and the surface pressure will increase
The sky appears blue because...
blue light is scattered most easily by gas molecules in the atmosphere
Extratropical cyclones are beneficial in that they
bring rain to the agricultural producing regions of the US
Cold air over the Great Plains contributes to blizzard conditions
causing a large pressure gradient to form over the great plains creating strong winds
Polar orbiting satellites
circle the earth in a direction over the arctic and antarctic
this phase change that occurs when water vapor in the atmosphere turns directly to ice is
deposition
Extratropical cyclones
derive energy from latent heat released during condensation
Doppler radar is able to detect wind speed by
detecting change in frequency of the scattered electromagnetic energy
high pressure centers are associated with
divergence at the surface and convergence aloft
A stream of descending air within a thunderstorm is called the
downdraft
latent heat is
energy associated with phase change
During which phase change is latent heat absorbed from the atmosphere?
evaporation sublimation
The pressure gradient force is directed from higher to lower pressure`
everywhere
An approaching extratropical cyclone would be identified by a___________ barometer reading.
falling
All thunderstorms require the presence of a lifting mechanism. What meteorological feature and product would you examine to determine if this were present?
fronts on a surface weather map
A column of air that is only experiencing convergence will
have a higher mass and an increased surface pressure
diameter of lightening
inches
Data from weather balloons are
incorporated into weather forecasting models
Iowa city IA is under the influence of a continental tropical airmass. If a maritime tropical airmass moved over Iowa City, the dewpoint temperature will
increase
A value of sea level pressure that you would typically see on a weather map is
isobars
A storm with freezing precipitation is called an ice storm if
it causes structural damage
What is the altitude in the atmosphere where a rising parcel of air first become saturated?
lifting condensation level
Which of the following is a precursor for a tornado?
mesocyclone
mesocyclone
mesocyclone components
a saturated parcel of air that is lifted will expand and cool at the
moist adiabatic lapse rate
In Which of the following cities would a person see on average the most thunderstorms in a year?
orlando FL
A stable air mass is a mass of air which, if pushed up, will tend to
remain cooler than the surrounding air and sink
An unstable air mass is a mass of air which, if pushed up, will tend to
remain warmer than the surrounding air and rise.
the Coriolis force deflects a freely moving object to the __________in the northern hemisphere and to the _____________in the Southern HEMISPHERE.
right, left
What feature typically forms over the gust front when a warm air is lifted?
shelf cloud
which of the following thunderstorm types is least likely to produce 2 inch hail?
single cell thunderstorm
A blizzard-producing extratropical cyclone develops, what direction does the associated Arctic air mass move?
southward
A hurricane is a name given to a strong tropical cyclone that has
sustained wind in excess of 74 mph
The Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate is defined at the rate of cooling or warming
that takes place in a rising or descending parcel of unsaturated air
storm surge is
the abnormal rise in sea level associated with the movement of a hurricane over a coastal region
why do sunsets appear red
the long path of the atmosphere at sunset completely scatters away the shorter wavelengths of light
Wind can be defined as
the movement of air relative to the earths rotating surface
Why can you sometimes see lightning, but can't hear thunder? As the sound waves propagate into the warmer air at lower levels:
the sound wave is refracted upward so you can't hear the thunder beyond a critical distance
Infrared energy sensed by weather satellite is related to what property?
the temp of the highest surface visible from the satellite
Which of the following contributes to the location of tornado alley?
this region aligns with the typical orientation of the jet streak during supercell outbreaks
early in its lifetime a cold front moves
to the south
What is a balanced Earth energy budget
total amount of solar energy absorbed by the earth and its atmosphere is equal to the total amount of energy emitted by the Earth and its atmosphere
the dew point temp is the temperature at which
water vapor condenses into liquid
Air pressure is defined as the force per unit area exerted on a surface by the _______ of air molecule above that surface.
weight