ATMO 201 Final Exam

Clean air act

1970- law that established national standards for states, strict auto emissions guidelines, and regulations, which set air pollution standardds for private industry

A typical raindrop is how big ?

2 mm

Ozone

A form of oxygen that has three oxygen atoms in each molecule instead of the usual two.

Halo

A ring of light encircling and extending outward from the sun or moon

On a surface weather map that shows a midlatitude cyclone in its mature stage , the warm sector is located :

Ahead of an advancing cold front

Which of the following clouds is not normally associated with fast moving air over mountains ?

Altocumulus Castellanus

Record - breaking low temperatures in winter are is most likely associated with which type of air mass ?

CA

Which is NOT a region where midlatitude cyclones often develop ?

Central California

Which cloud is least likely to produce precipitation that reaches the ground ?

Cirrocumulus

A mature mid latitude cyclone may often mimic what punctuation mark ?

Comma

In the northern hemisphere , suppose that the winds aloft are geostrophic and blowing from the north . Low pressure is located to the :

East

ENSO is a large scale oscillation that encompasses these two phenomena :

El Niño / La Niña and the Southern Oscillation .

The scale for tornado intensity , based on damage , is the

Enhanced Fujita Scale :

When water changes from a liquid to a gas , this process is called :

Evaporation

A polar - orbiting satellite remains fixed above a spot on the equator .

False

A pyranometer measures humidity , possibly using human hair .

False

A thunderstorm is a stratocumulus cloud .

False

Assuming the air pressure in the environment is the same for both , a parcel of warm air will be more dense than a parcel of cold air .

False

Convection is the process of heat transfer from molecule to molecule within a substance .

False

Kinetic energy represents the potential to do work .

False

Multi - vortex tornadoes can be created in the laboratory , but they don't exist in nature .

False

The amount of energy radiated by a " black body " is proportional to its temperature raised to the 3rd power .

False

The force balance tornadoes , dustdevils and waterspouts is geostrophic .

False

The world's highest recorded surface temperature is over 150 ° F.

False

Visible imagery allows us to " see " clouds from space at night .

False

Visible satellite pictures can show us low and high clouds by their cloud top temperatures .

False

Water always freezes in the free atmosphere at 0 ° C.

False

Wind Chill is defined for all temperatures .

False

The collision - coalescence process is most effective when clouds are made entirely of ice crystals .

False .

Assuming that the night will remain clear , calm , and unsaturated , e predicted minimum temperature is 32 ° F. Suddenly the wind speed increases and remains gusty throughout the night . The minimum temperature will most likely be : as predicted

Higher than predicted due to mixing

During the ice crystal process ( Bergeron process ) of precipitation formation :

Ice crystals grow larger at the expense of surrounding liquid cloud droplets

On a cold , winter morning , the most likely place for radiation fog to form is :

In a valley

In the stratosphere , the air temperature normally :

Increases with increasing height

In the Atlantic basin , more active hurricane seasons tend to be associated with what atmosphere / ocean phenomenon ?

La Nina

The summer monsoon in eastern and southern Asia develops because Low pressure develops over land and winds blow from sea to land .

Low from sea to land

If we observe very steady light rain that lasts for hours , which type of cloud did it most likely come from ?

Nimbostratus

greenhouse effect is ( are ) :

Nitrogen and carbon dioxide

Basics of rainbow

Occur when rain is falling in one part of the sky and the sun is shining in another

Where are the days and nights of equal length on the equinoxes ?

Pretty much everywhere

Primary vs secondary pollutants

Primary: Toxins released directly in a hazardous form Secondary: Released in nontoxic form however they combine to make smog

Which of the following is NOT a favorable condition for tornadic supercell thunderstorms ?

Strong upper - level convergence along the jet stream

When water changes from a gas to a solid , this process is called :

Sublimation

Which of the following determines the wavelength and amount of radiation that an object emits

Temperature

Why is the sky blue?

The air molecules scatter blue light better than red light, so more blue light reaches our eyes.

In College Station in June , the sun sets at around 8:15 pm local time , and does not rise until around 6:15 am the next morning . Why is the low ( i.e. , coldest ) temperature usually observed near 6:15 am , rather than at 8:15 pm or some other point during the night ?

The amount of outgoing longwave radiation continues to exceed the amount of incoming solar radiation from sunset until sunrise the next morning .

The highest temperature recorded in the U.S. is :

The same as the world record . 134 Deg . Fahrenheit

A land breeze blows from land to sea .

True

A mid - latitude low will tend to dissipate ( " fill " ) if the upper level lows are stacked above it .

True

Heat Index takes into account the humidity in the air to give an apparent " feels like " temperature .

True

Hypothermia can occur at temperatures above freezing .

True

Ice storms ( i.e. , persistent freezing rain ) are more likely to form near a warm front than a cold front .

True

In Bergen , Norway , scientists including Bjerkenes and Bergeron developed the Polar Front Theory just after WWI .

True

In El Niño , the Walker Circulation weakens , or even reverses , as convection shifts to the central and eastern equatorial Pacific .

True

In the evening in mountainous terrain , wind flowing down slope is known as a mountain breeze .

True

In the summer , our trademark SE Texas hot and humid weather is related to a mT airmass .

True

Natural cloud seeding can lead to bands of snow .

True

The atmosphere is largely transparent to the visible wavelengths of sunlight .

True

The development or strengthening of a middle latitude storm system is called cyclogenesis .

True

The key ingredient that is needed for a thunderstorm to be more than ordinary is vertical shear .

True

Warm , moist air is less dense than warm , dry air .

True

When wind flows south along the U.S. West coast , cold nutrient - rich water is brought to the surface by a process known as

Upwelling

What two sets of conditions , working together , will make the atmosphere the most unstable ?

Warm the surface and cool the air aloft

early in the evening . Assuming no major changes to the weather pattern , the low temperature on Tuesday On a clear Monday night , the minimum temperature drops to 38 ° The following night ( Tuesday ) , clouds form night will most likely be :

Warmer than 382F , because the clouds prevent some of earth's radiation from escaping to space

Occluded fronts may form as :

a cold front overtakes a warm front

storms commonly found :

along the Atlantic coast of North America

The Severe thunderstorm / strong tornado season maximum :

begins late winter in the southeast , moves west to the Southern Great Plains , and then north as spring progresses into summer

Current generation Doppler Radar , such as the NWS NEXRAD , has what special capability ?

can depict rotation of a mesocyclone and possibly a tornado through radial velocity displays .

Which of the following clouds are almost always composed of ice crystals ?

cirrus , cirrostratus , cirrocumulus

On an upper - level weather map , normally we find air associated with low pressure / heights .

cold

What type of front would be responsible for the following weather forecast : " Increasing cloudiness and warm today with the possibility of showers by this evening . Turning much colder tonight . Winds southwesterly becoming gusty and shifting to northwesterly by tonight . "

cold front

In the northern hemisphere , flow around a low - pressure center is :

counterclockwise

In the vertical structure of the atmosphere , temperature changes how with height in the 4 primary layers starting from the lowest ?

decreases , increases , decreases , increases

The classic fernlike snowflake is known as a

dendrite

For cyclogenesis to occur along a frontal wave , the winds aloft directly above the wave should be :

diverging

The rate at which the actual air temperature changes with increasing height above the surface is called the :

environmental lapse rate

The downdraft in a thunderstorm is created mainly by :

evaporation of raindrops that make the air cold and heavy

Air that rises always :

expands and cools

The aurora is produced by :

fast - moving charged particles from the sun colliding with air molecules

A good source region for an air mass would be :

generally flat area of uniform composition with strong surface winds

The leading edge of a thunderstorm's cold downdraft is known as the :

gust front / cold pool

A strong wind accompanied by a dust storm is known as a :

haboob

A parcel of air starts at the surface with a temperature of 16C and a dew point of 5C . It is lifted up over one side of a 1000 - meter tall mountain range . When it reaches the other side , this parcel's temperature will be ? Assume the elevations of the starting and ending positions are the same .

higher than 16C

Condensation nuclei that have an affinity ( attraction ) for water vapor are called :

hygroscopic

Severe thunderstorms are capable of producing :

large hail tornadoes flash floods

The wavelength of maximum solar radiation is less than that of terrestrial radiation .

less than

All thunderstorms , even ordinary cell thunderstorms , require :

moisture instability lift

If a tornado is rotating in a counterclockwise direction and moving toward the northeast , the strongest winds will be on its side .

northeastern

The primary factor that distinguishes a supercell thunderstorm from an ordinary thunderstorm is :

rotating updraft

During the winter as you travel toward a warm front ( from the cold side ) , the most likely sequence of weather you would experience is :

snow , sleet , freezing rain , rain

If an air parcel is given a small push upward and it falls back to its original position , the atmosphere is said to be :

stable

A parcel of air starts at the surface with a temperature of 16C and a dew point of 10C . It is lifted up over one side of a 1000 - meter tall mountain range . When it reaches the other side , this parcel's temperature will be ? Assume the elevations of the starting and ending positions are the same .

still 16C

Correct order , starting from lowest :

stratosphere , mesosphere , troposphere , ionosphere

In the Northern Hemisphere , it is warmer in summer than in winter because :

the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun

Although tornado formation is not yet fully understood , one thing we know for sure is that involves :

the vertical stretching of rotation to increase rotational speed

An important principle in the electrification of a cumulonimbus cloud is that :

there is a net transfer of positive ions from a warmer object to a colder object

A small thunderstorm cloud with virga falling out of its base ( i.e. , rain evaporating before it is hitting the ground ) and blowing dust at the ground could warn of a severe hazard to an airplane because :

this could indicate an intense downdraft or microburst

In a La Niña phase of ENSO , Texas in winter can expect to be :

warmer and drier than normal in winter

Ordinary thunderstorms only last about one hour and begin to dissipate when :

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

Lightning may occur :

within a cloud . from a cloud to the ground from one cloud to another cloud