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