AMSEDU Investigation 2A Climate Studies

2. The sloping blue line in Figure 2A-1 shows the overall trend in yearly average temperature over the 1895-2018 time period. Based on the temperature values at the two ends of the trend line, the contiguous U.S. average annual temperature increased by about ___ degrees Fahrenheit over that time period.

A) 1.9

14. How many days had temperatures of 0°F or lower?

A) 9

11. What month had the highest average temperature?

A) June

29. Incursions of maritime tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico ________ make it to Grand Island.

A) do

33. Note the vertical line that appears when you drag your cursor across the graph. This ________ enable you to retrieve the observed daily maximum and minimum temperatures for each day of the current year to date.

A) does

27. According to Figure 2A-5, this is ________ the total for 2018.

A) less than

6. The resulting plotted data (Figure 2A-3) reveals that the annual average precipitation trend in Arizona has been ________. Compare this with the average annual precipitation trend for the contiguous U.S. reported in Item 4 above.

A) slightly positive (upward)

8. The date of the year's first fall frost was about ________ October.

B) 11

25. Over the year the mean wind speed is ________ mph from a direction coded as 17 (tens of degrees measured clockwise from north), meaning essentially from the south. [Wind from due south would be coded as 18.]

B) 11.1

3. According to the information on the plotted graph in Figure 2A-2 and the table below it, the contiguous U.S. annual average precipitation during the 1895-2018 time period was ________ in.

B) 30.93

15. In 2018, Grand Island experienced about ________ times more Heating Degree Days than Cooling Degree Days.

B) 6

18. This occurred during 2018 in the month of ________.

B) July

28. Also included as part of the LCD, Annual Summary is a brief narrative describing the location and climatic aspects of the area surrounding the local NWS office. According to the Grand Island description in Figure 2A-7, its climate is described as primarily ________ in nature.

B) continental

30. Grand Island's east to west upslope terrain produces episodes of ________ when winds are from the east.

B) fog and low stratus clouds

5. According to your investigation of temperature and precipitation climate data, for well over a century the contiguous U.S. has experienced average annual trends of ________.

B) increasing temperature and precipitation

31. The Climatological Report that appears covers a time period most closely coinciding with _________.

B) yesterday

4. According to the precipitation per decade trend line indicated on the graph in Figure 2A-2, the change in the contiguous U.S. annual average precipitation over the entire period of the record was about ________ in.

C) +2.1

21. The total number of days in 2018 where an inch or more of snow had fallen was ________.

C) 14

10. What was the average temperature that month?

C) 23.7 degrees Fahrenheit

16. On how many days in the year were thunderstorms reported?

C) 35

13. How many days in the year had temperatures of 90°F or higher?

C) 37

24. The mean number of days per year with thunderstorms is ________.

C) 43.7

1. In Figure 2A-1, the black horizontal line marks the 1895-2018 average temperature, which was near ___ degrees Fahrenheit.

C) 52.94

20. The total number of days when there was at least a trace of precipitation (equal to or greater than 0.01 in.) was ________.

C) 63

22. According to Figure 2A-6, the normal monthly temperatures (Normal Dry Bulb) range from a low of 25.1°F in January to a high of ________°F in the month of July in Grand Island, NE.

C) 76.2

12. What was that temperature?

C) 76.5 degrees Fahrenheit

23. The Highest Daily Maximum temperature ever recorded at Grand Island was ________°F in August 1983.

D) 110

26. The normal yearly total precipitation is ________ in.

D) 26.66

7. Assuming that frost occurs if the temperature falls to 32°F or lower, the approximate date of the last spring frost in 2018 at Grand Island when the minimum temperature dropped to 32°F was about ________ April.

D) 28

19. The total precipitation for the year (Water Equivalent: Total) was about ________ in.

D) 30

17. The strongest gust of wind, as reported in the Maximum 3-Second Wind category, was a speed of ________ mph.

D) 89

9. What month had the lowest average temperature ("Average Dry Bulb")?

D) February

32. The image that appears graphically provides temperature data that includes current year ________.

D) all of the above