Deck 10: Thunderstorms and Tornadoes

Question 1

Generally there are three stages involved in the development of thunderstorms.They are:

A)cumulus stage,mature stage,and dissipating stage.
B)cumulus stage,mature stage,and deconstructing stage.
C)cumulus stage,adolescent stage,and dissipating stage.
D)cumulus stage,dissipating stage,and deconstructing stage.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Thunderstorms can be associated with these weather activities:

A)cyclones.
B)hurricanes.
C)tornadoes.
D)cyclones,hurricanes,and tornadoes.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Why is very humid air near the surface a necessary ingredient for severe thunderstorms?

A)High humidity strengthens the cold front.
B)High humidity makes the air more dense.
C)High humidity makes the rising air cool more rapidly.
D)Lapse rates are larger in humid air.
E)More latent heat is then available as energy for the storm.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following U.S.states experiences the most thunderstorms each year?

A)Florida
B)Texas
C)Colorado
D)Oklahoma

Question 5

At what time of day is an air-mass thunderstorm more likely to develop?

A)midafternoon
B)midnight
C)midmorning
D)pre-dawn

Question 6

The term cyclone is BEST defined as:

A)a hurricane.
B)a violent tornado.
C)any circulation around a low-pressure center.
D)a storm that develops over an ocean.

Question 7

Why are thunderstorms most likely to occur in the afternoon and early evening?

A)Atmosphere is most unstable at that time.
B)Upper-level winds are too fast at night and in morning.
C)Water-vapor contents are too low at night.
D)It takes all day for them to mature.
E)Lower atmosphere is too unstable in the morning.

Question 8

Tornadoes and midlatitude cyclones are similar in that:

A)both are areas of low pressure.
B)both are most common and well-developed in the winter season.
C)both have conspicuous surface fronts.
D)both form in the trade-wind belt.

Question 9

An air mass thunderstorm is most intense during the ________ stage.

A)multicell
B)cumulus
C)dissipating
D)mature

Question 10

Which of the following is likely during the mature stage of a thunderstorm?

A)lightning
B)light winds
C)light precipitation
D)no precipitation

Question 11

Thunderstorms form when ________,humid air rises in a(n)________ environment.

A)warm;stable
B)cold;unstable
C)warm;unstable
D)cold;stable

Question 12

The greatest proportion of thunderstorms occurs in the:

A)middle latitudes.
B)subtropics.
C)polar regions.
D)subarctic regions.
E)tropics.

Question 13

Why is strong heating of the ground by the Sun associated with thunderstorms?

A)reduces the relative humidity
B)reduces the dew point
C)increases the wind speed
D)increases the pressure gradient
E)leads to greater instability

Question 14

The circulation in the immediate vicinity of a thunderstorm is:

A)anticyclonic.
B)variable and gusty.
C)cyclonic.
D)calm.

Question 15

What causes the dissipating stage of a thunderstorm?

A)converging surface winds
B)loss of radiant energy from cloud top
C)release of latent heat within the cloud
D)converging winds aloft
E)spreading downdraft cuts off air inflow

Question 16

About how many thunderstorms take place on Earth every day?

A)300
B)1300
C)5000
D)45,000

Question 17

A tornado is a small,very intense example of the:

A)Coriolis effect.
B)anticyclone.
C)jet stream.
D)geostrophic wind.
E)cyclone.

Question 18

In which of the following places are thunderstorms most common?

A)central Nevada
B)central Florida
C)northern Wisconsin
D)west of Hudson Bay (Canada)
E)The occurrence of thunderstorms at all of these places should be about the same.

Question 19

Thunderstorms and large cumulus clouds are characteristic of:

A)all polar air masses.
B)isothermal lapse rates.
C)all warm fronts.
D)unstable air.
E)stable air.

Question 20

What is entrainment?

A)the process of cool,dry air being pulled into a thunderstorm by the downdraft
B)warm,moist air fed into a thunderstorm by the updraft
C)rotation from the parent cloud transferring into a tornado
D)a line of thunderstorms,one feeding into the next

Question 21

Thunderstorm tops most likely occur:

A)in the lower troposphere.
B)in the middle stratosphere.
C)in the mesosphere.
D)near the tropopause.

Question 22

The feature identified by Letter D is:

A)the gust front
B)a cold front
C)the storm's anvil
D)experiencing very calm conditions

Question 23

The leading edge of a gust front is frequently associated with:

A)heavy precipitation.
B)the development of a new cumulonimbus cloud.
C)tornadoes.
D)hail.

Question 24

The feature identified by Letter F is:

A)a mammatus cloud
B)a feature marking the downdraft
C)an overshooting top
D)a roll cloud

Question 25

About what percent of thunderstorms in the United States become severe?

A)10%
B)20%
C)25%
D)50%

Question 26

Downdrafts totally dominate the ________ in the development of a thunderstorm.

A)dissipating stage
B)mature stage
C)cumulus stage

Question 27

In the development of a thunderstorm,sharp and cool gusts beginning at the surface are characteristic in the ________.

A)cumulus stage
B)dissipating stage
C)mature stage

Question 28

Downdrafts and updrafts found side by side relate to the ________ in the development of a thunderstorm.

A)dissipating stage
B)mature stage
C)cumulus stage

Question 29

Which feature of the thunderstorm is created by the gust front?

A)Letter A
B)Letter D
C)Letter C
D)Letter F

Question 30

Some of the most dangerous weather is produced by a type of thunderstorm called a(n):

A)gust front.
B)updraft.
C)roll cloud.
D)supercell.

Question 31

The gust front occurs:

A)during the development of thunderstorm clouds.
B)near the anvil part of a thunderstorm cloud.
C)at the leading edge of a thunderstorm downdraft.
D)on the lee shore of the Great Lakes.

Question 32

What does the term mesocyclone refer to in reference to a tornado?

A)the rotation of the updraft in the parent thunderstorm
B)a high-altitude tornado
C)a false-alarm tornado warning
D)a very large tornado

Question 33

An overshooting top means that:

A)a thunderstorm will definitely produce a tornado
B)the thunderstorm has very strong updrafts causing the cloud to grow into the stratosphere
C)the thunderstorm is dissipating.
D)lightning strikes will be especially intense.

Question 34

A roll cloud forms in association with which other common thunderstorm feature?

A)the precipitation
B)the anvil
C)the updraft
D)the gust front

Question 35

Refer to the diagram of a thunderstorm above to answer the following questions.
Where would you expect to find precipitation occurring in this thunderstorm?

A)Letter A
B)Letter B
C)Letter D
D)Letter E

Question 36

The feature identified by Letter F is most likely:

A)the beginning of a new thunderstorm cell
B)the sign of an intense downdraft
C)in the mesosphere
D)in the stratosphere

Question 37

Where in the thunderstorm would you be most likely to find mammatus clouds?

A)Letter C
B)Letter D
C)Letter E
D)Letter F

Question 38

An air mass thunderstorm rarely lives long enough to create very severe weather because:

A)the downdrafts quickly become strong enough to stop the updraft and influx of moisture to the storm.
B)the atmosphere is generally fairly stable when these storms develop.
C)there is rarely enough moisture available to keep the storm alive for longer than 30 minutes.
D)wind shear causes the storm's updraft to become tilted.

Question 39

Updrafts dominance relate to the ________ in the development of a thunderstorm.

A)cumulus stage
B)dissipating stage
C)mature stage

Question 40

This type of cloud brings thunderstorms.

A)cumulus
B)altostratus
C)nimbostratus
D)stratocumulus
E)cumulonimbus

Question 41

Because of the tremendous pressure gradient associated with a strong tornado,maximum winds approach ________ miles per hour.

A)100
B)300
C)600
D)1000

Question 42

Which of the following statements is not true of tornadoes?

A)generally move from the southwest toward the northeast
B)usually occur along the warm front of a midlatitude cyclone
C)most common in the Midwest and Great Plains
D)associated with cumulonimbus clouds
E)occur most frequently in the spring of the year

Question 43

Over the last 30 years,which of these has caused the FEWEST weather related deaths on average in the U.S.?

A)lightning
B)hurricanes
C)tornadoes
D)floods

Question 44

Which of the numbers listed below best represents the percentage of thunderstorms that produce tornadoes?

A)about 10 percent
B)slightly more than 50 percent
C)nearly 25 percent
D)less than 1 percent

Question 45

Which of the following demonstrates the correct order of the phases involved in a lightning stroke?

A)Step leaders,return stroke,separation of charges,flow of negative charge into ground,dart leader
B)Charge separation,step leaders,return stroke,flow of negative charge into ground,dart leader
C)Dart leader,charge separation,flow of negative charge into ground,step leaders,return stroke
D)Charge separation,dart leader,step leaders,flow of negative charge into ground,return stroke

Question 46

Which type of lightning is least likely?

A)within the same cloud
B)cloud-to-Earth
C)cloud-to-cloud

Question 47

Extreme evaporative cooling can sometimes produce explosions of straight-line winds called:

A)gust fronts.
B)downbursts.
C)tornadoes.
D)air bombs.

Question 48

________ are relatively narrow,elongated bands of thunderstorms that develop in the warm sector of a middle-latitude cyclone,usually in advance of a cold front.

A)Roll clouds
B)Mesocyclones
C)Squall lines
D)Supercells

Question 49

The terms leader,flash,and stroke are used when describing:

A)squall line formation.
B)the stages of a thunderstorm.
C)the passage of a hurricane.
D)lightning.
E)a tornado.

Question 50

In the United States,a mesoscale convective complex is most likely to develop in:

A)the Great Plains.
B)the Pacific Northwest.
C)New England.
D)the Gulf of Mexico.

Question 51

If you see lightning and then hear the associated thunder 10 seconds later,the lightning flash was about ________ mile(s)away.

A)three
B)four
C)one
D)five
E)two

Question 52

Which of the following should have the steepest pressure gradient?

A)middle-latitude cyclone
B)hurricane
C)tornado
D)typhoon

Question 53

It is impossible to warn people of every lightning flash because:

A)it strikes so frequently and in so many places.
B)it kills few people compared to the other types of severe weather,so it isn't studied as much.
C)scientists don't understand exactly how it forms.
D) people are only struck by lightning a few times each decade,so most don't listen to warnings.

Question 54

A squall line is most likely to develop where?

A)in the middle of a cP air mass
B)along a warm front
C)along a cold front
D)along a dryline in the warm sector of a mid-latitude cyclone

Question 55

Hurricanes and thunderstorms can sometimes cause local floods that are short-lived but high volume.These are called:

A)rapid floods
B)flash floods
C)100-year floods
D)surge floods

Question 56

"Heat lightning":

A)is actually a display of the northern lights.
B)is also called "ball lightning."
C)is brighter than ordinary lightning.
D)occurs more than 20 kilometers from the person observing it.

Question 57

The greatest number of deaths associated with thunderstorms result from:

A)flash flooding.
B)lightning.
C)hail.
D)tornadoes.

Question 58

Drylines are capable of producing thunderstorms because:

A)the dry air mass forces the moist air mass to rise.
B)the moist air mass lifts the dry air mass.
C)there is an abrupt change in temperature across the dryline.
D)the dry air mass is unstable and rising.

Question 59

A dryline generally forms between which two air masses?

A)mP and mT
B)cP and cT
C)cT and mT
D)cP and mT

Question 60

Multiple-vortex tornadoes help explain:

A)why one building is destroyed and the one next to it is untouched.
B)why tornadoes are so short lived.
C)why some tornadoes never touch the ground.
D)what EF rank a tornado should have.

Question 61

During the dissipating stage of a thunderstorm,the downdraft is weaker than the updraft.

Question 62

Entrainment refers to the tendency of thunderstorms to form in a line-like pattern or sequence.

Question 63

Why do most tornadoes in the central U.S.occur during the spring months?

A)Air-mass contrasts are greatest.
B)Divergence of air aloft is greatest.
C)Solar energy is a maximum.
D)Surface air is most humid.
E)Upper-air temperatures are warmest.

Question 64

Large hail is generally associated only with severe thunderstorms.

Question 65

The vast majority of cyclones are hurricanes and tornadoes.

Question 66

Why do most tornadoes tend to travel in the same general direction?

A)Because of their clockwise rotation.
B)They generally occur in a zone of southwest winds.
C)They have an intense pressure gradient force.
D)Tornadoes often occur to the east of the center of a midlatitude cyclone.

Question 67

Conventional radar measures:

A)raindrop motion.
B)raindrop size.
C)raindrop and snowflake motion.
D)rainfall intensity.
E)cloud droplet numbers.

Question 68

The term "cyclone" simply refers to the circulation around any low-pressure center,no matter how large or intense it is.

Question 69

Thunderstorms are not always associated with cyclonic activity.

Question 70

Most precipitation from thunderstorms originates through the collision-coalescence process.

Question 71

The Enhanced -Fujita Intensity Scale (EF-scale)is applied to:

A)tornadoes.
B)typhoons.
C)lightning.
D)thunderstorms.

Question 72

Which association is incorrect?

A)tornado watch - a tornado has been sighted on the ground
B)downdraft - precipitation
C)anvil - front of the thunderstorm
D)mesocyclone - region of tornado formation

Question 73

Tornadoes are most frequent during the:

A)month of September.
B)January-March period.
C)April-June period.
D)October-December period.
E)July-August period.

Question 74

The Enhanced Fujita scale is based on:

A)the level of damage caused by a tornado.
B)the measured wind speeds inside a tornado.
C)the pressure gradient across the diameter of a tornado.
D)the frequency of lightning strikes concurrent with the tornado.

Question 75

Mountainous regions,such as the Rockies in the West and the Appalachians in the East,experience a greater number of air-mass thunderstorms than do the Plains states.

Question 76

Doppler radars:

A)detect lightning strokes.
B)have much greater range than conventional radars.
C)detect condensation nuclei.
D)show the motion of air in clear areas.
E)show the motion of precipitation particles.

Question 77

Of the following states,which is struck by the largest number of tornadoes?

A)North Carolina
B)Ohio
C)Oklahoma
D)New Mexico
E)North Dakota

Question 78

Tornadoes most often move toward what direction?

A)southeast
B)west
C)northeast
D)southwest
E)northwest

Question 79

The airflow pattern aloft is not usually related to severe thunderstorm development.

Question 80

The diameter of a typical tornado funnel cloud would be:

A)50 - 100 meters.
B)150 - 600 meters.
C)1000 - 2500 meters.
D)3000 meters